Mini Case Study of Fearful Adult Canine, Olive

Olive started out afraid to get onto an elevated place. We started her on a non elevated blanket place instead.

Olive is a seven + year old "All American Dog" (mix).

Acquisition History:   Found at a Puppy Adoption Event

Owner History w Dogs:  First Dog as adults

Lives with:  Adults and Kids

Goal:  Able to relax more for possible future boarding or have a dog sitter at the house (basically she is fearful of strange humans and handling by humans, so increasing confidence)

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Olive on Week 1 Day 1 and Hour 1 hanging out on long line and her leash around her favorite things. I am sitting with her letting her decompress from the shock at being somewhere new.

On day 1, Olive came to us with her owner.   It was necessary to do a two leash walk in, as the collar she came with was too loose (meaning she could slip out by backing up), and she was refusing to walk with her owner.   So I lassoed her up in my additional leash that she could not pull out of.  When she saw her owner walk away, then she immediately walked with her owner.  She had realized she could not get out of a collar now (she has been on a harness before, which she can also get out of).




​So right away, Olive is displaying what a very fearful dog can be like.   While people might not think the circumstances are anything to be afraid of, Olive does.   Olive's perception is the only perception that matters at this point.   Her perception is her reality.

Olive's symptoms  and triggers starting on week 1:

• She was not used to a collar or leash, and was defensive (nipping or biting) on a collar and leash if you were close.
• Any closeness or touching at all made her very worried and defensive.  Her neck, her shoulder, her legs, her hips, and her feet are all areas that we are working on with her to accept handling.
• When she walked with me on the long line, she wanted to stay far away.
• Squeaking when she was scared to follow you on leash OR if you were following her on leash.
• Trying to nip or bite when the collar needed to go on or off (just simple slip leash collar).
• ​Hiding in corners or against walls, even in her dog pen.

How did we go about getting Olive to feel more comfortable on Week 1?:

• On day 1, we allowed Olive her space on a long line.  We let her hang out in a room with us on a long line, take relaxation walks with us on a long line, and keep some distance from us.
• Did not force myself on her, unnecessarily.   You do have to take the leash and collar off at some point for her safety, but otherwise, I let her have her space on day 1.
• Normally, I would start with calming exercises, but I felt being so close would be unnecessarily stressful for Olive right away.  So I started on the Place exercise and allowed her not to have to come close to me.
• Make safe areas for the dog to relax on their down time.   It was also important that we did not have to chase her to get her leash and collar on for working.
• I noticed and took note of anything that Olive seemed even slightly excited about.  For instance, her toys are something she likes to engage humans with.
• Since like many dogs, Olive was shut down as far as taking food in Week 1.   I used other ways to gain her confidence.   Things like not forcing myself on her immediately, having her outside for relaxation and relaxation walks that took her mind off how scared she was, and waiting for her to approach me before giving affection.
• Through positive marker words and encouragement, letting her know when she is doing a good job in training.  Olive is very smart and (when her behavior is not holding her back) very quick to catch onto training.   

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Olive enjoying outside with me on a leash but at a distance.

Olive hanging out in the dog room with me on her first day. Notice I allow her to go a distance away from me as she acclimates herself.

Work with Olive, had to start at the very basic level at first.   I remember my most important goals being around the following:

• Getting her used to her collar on and off with the help of a "grab it" instead of my hands.   By the end of the week, I could use my hands and she was over being fearful of the slip leash going over her head and around her neck.
• She is very well house trained, but in the beginning getting her to go outside to go to the bathroom (she never made a mistake inside) was necessary so she would be comfortable.
• Crate training so we could sleep at night, and also this is part of her owner's goal so could possibly be boarded or have a stay in pet sitter.
• Have her follow me on leash instead of dropping to the floor.  I have had a couple of other dogs that have used this as a strategy here lately.  Luckily she is small, so walking towards her usually got her up.   She seems to realize dead weight won't work.

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Those were not very lofty goals, but necessarily to do the real work.   Part of the real work that we could start on right away (on Week 1 Day 1) was the place command.  This is both a command, and when doing the long place, very effective behavioral work. Olive started learning that she could be in the center of the room and be okay.    Also it gets the dog excited about something that they can do without them needing to know anything training wise.  There are three steps before this last step on the video.  Since it was very scary for Olive to get on our elevated places at this time, we started her on a folded blanket as her place:

We also knew that Olive's owners had worked on her with sits with food reward.   Although she was too scared to take food, she knew what sit was and could do it without food.   This way we could work on this skill to become sit stays, and work her on something she was familiar with and made her comfortable to do it.  Also in Week 1, she became familiar with a light collar correction and the marker words we use.  Not only that, Olive learned her 1 minute still and circle sit stays on Week 1, which is unusual.  The following video is actually the start of her Week 2 training with more distractions (outside and loose dogs).   If you imagine this inside, it may give you a feel of how Week 1 went, although she wanted to bite me if I touched her on Week 1.  

The work with green dogs (no real training or foundation) and behaviorally challenged dogs goes through the same environmental and distraction challenges in general.   Week 1 is using very low to mid distractions probably in mostly the same two environments, sometimes one environment.   Week 2, increases the distractions to other people and dogs around (or other things around that we may be training the dog for), and the environment is outside.  Week 3, changes the environment (in general, as not all dogs are ready for this) to more public places, outings, and real life distractions.

There is always a dance going on where you make the work challenging enough, but not so challenging that it will shut the dog down or make them too excited to think.   You do have to challenge a fearful dog to do more than they are comfortable with if you wish for them to become less fearful. On Week 2, Olive got a lot more comfortable with handling, although we have a lot more to do.  I pay a lot of attention to her body language to gauge how comfortable she is feeling.  I can redirect to something else if I feel she is getting to nervous.  Vet visits have been a problem with Olive, so we are doing some muzzle training to make it easier for the vet.   The handling and touching training is to make it more comfortable for Olive.  First she has to get used to the adults doing this with her that she trusts.   Then she can start being walked through trusting strangers more.

Why does Olive have this fear?  I really don't know, and I can only guess at this point.  One guess would be a genetic component. It may be that she developed that fear early on in what we call a fear period.  When she was born, her first owner may not have given the litter and mother the support they needed OR she could have been born as a stray.  Many first time adult dog owners usually do what they think is best to comfort the dog in human ways.  I know from experience with my first dog, that it is easy to "comfort" in a way we would a child and make them more fearful.  It is better to be a calm and confident leader.  This is something it took some time for me to learn.  The bottom line is that while it would be nice if we knew the reason, we don't need to know (unless it is a medical reason that needs to be addressed) to bring that dog forward and improve their confidence and life.  We just need a plan that is going to make sense and make those improvements.