Daycare
Socialization for Confidence
Building
Building Confidence With People
One way to build
confidence in dogs is helping
them to
learn how
to earn what they want. Dogs
relax when they feel some
control over their environment.
Lure-Reward
method training helps dogs learn
a "working
vocabulary"
and positive behaviors such as
coming
when called, and following one
word instructions such as
sit,
down,
watch,
stay
and off.
Another way to
help dogs to gain confidence is
to be gentle and trustworthy.
Never threaten a dog physically
or verbally. Dogs learn best
when your methods are gentle and
allow the dog to succeed.
The dog that is
afraid of people may do better
in an area where people can say
hi to the dog by name and offer
a treat frequently. Label the kennel card “DAYCARE – PEOPLE SHY”.
This means, “Please give
as much positive human contact
as possible”.
Provide at least three
positive experiences with new
people for each day of DayCare.
Give cookies regularly. If
very shy, leave the leash on the
collar to get the pet out frequently.
If
you are introducing the dog to
someone new, cue, “Say Hi!”
The goal is to communicate to the dog, “This person
(or dog) is friendly, and will
not hurt you.” Reward the
dog for any curious, non-fearful
or aggressive behavior.
Supervised
play is the best method of reducing
fearfulness and aggressiveness
for puppies under four months
old. Allow the puppies to play together. If any
puppy gets too worked up, keep
that pup on lead so you can
easily interrupt and remove the
pup from play for a “time out.”
