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Five Minute Dog by Personable Pets Dog Training
Quick, practical dog training tips in under 5 minutes—because training your dog shouldn’t take all day.
New episodes drop every Monday.
With over 20 years of family dog training experience, this podcast delivers real-life advice you can actually use. From simple tips and clear explanations to common behavior scenarios, we’ll help you understand why your dog does what he does—and what to do about it.
Training really can be easy. Let us show you how.
Five Minute Dog by Personable Pets Dog Training
#80 Fearful Dog? Play hard to get!
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Touching a fearful dog or shoving a treat in their face will NOT teach them that you are safe. Instead, play hard to get and maybe toss treats until the dog is comfortable with your presence.
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Did you realize that most dog bites come from fearful dogs—and it's usually not even their fault?
We have this bad habit: when we see a dog that's fearful or anxious, we think that if we walk up and touch them or give them a treat, they'll feel better about us. But there are a lot of things wrong with that scenario.
First, we're walking into the dog’s space, which is usually intimidating to anxious dogs. It's always better to let the dog come into your space. And then you're dropping your hand and showing them a treat—but you're physically getting close to them, and the dog starts to panic. Then, usually, they'll make a bad choice and might end up biting.
So the next time you're around an anxious dog, don't try to proactively earn their trust. Instead, play hard to get. Don’t make direct eye contact. If you want to give them a treat, toss it—and toss it to your side so they don’t have to come directly at you.
Give the dog the time he needs to get comfortable with you and your presence way before you try to proactively interact with him.