Building confidence in my dog.

[gillybob]

Etta is a 16 month old she came to me on Thursday and is slowly relaxing.

She was in a pack of 11 and she was at the bottom of the bitches, she is a very soft gentle dog, coming here with only two males she is now the only bitch.

She needs to develop her confidence, she has settled in well with no problems but is still a bit wary.

I know its only been a few days but would love some suggestions on how I can help her feel more confident.

[jemappelle]

Here's a link to a thread I started on a retired Poodle breeding dog that needed a lot of confidence building.  Unfortunately it didn't work out with the cats and the dog, but the advice and video links were great.

 

 

[Tassie]

Find out by trial and error what she finds valuable in the way of reinforcers .. food, probably, but within that .. what kind of food treats does she seem most interested in,    Then reward her for anything she does that you like, whether you've asked for it or not at first, and particularly for anything which shows increasing bravery.

 

And find out by trial and error what she finds worrying, and increase distance from those things at first, and then gradually reduce the distance as she gets less worried .. again rewarding heavily for ability to do simple behaviours in the sight or sound of  those things.

 

Little steps .

[Panto]

Reinforcers is great but also consider teaching her desired behaviours, where you want her to be, behaviours that are favoured. If the focus is on what not to do, then that's what they'll worry about but if they can focus confidently on 'oh this is what my human wants of me', then they're more likely to behave proactively and confidently. Request those behaviours then throw a party of praise when she does it!