Using techniques Patricia McConnell writes about in her book titled The Cautious Canine and suggestions given to us by Jenn, our trainer, I’ve totally redesigned our weekly trip to the library.
As McConnell writes in her book, I analyzed the entire experience of going to the library with Annie and how it has always ended up being a scary experience for her. The idea being to determine at what point she starts to become fearful and work back from that point to a point that feels very safe to her. It sounds like it should be a simple thing to take a dog into the library, but for a dog who is afraid of new places, sounds, and people, it’s a real challenge to be worked through.
I started by retracing my steps:
1) getting in the car for a ride to the library – Happy
2) getting out of the car in the library parking lot – Happy
3) walking down the path to the front door of the library – Happy
4) opening the large, heavy and noisy front entrance door to go in – Unhappy
5) heading over to the circulation desk to return books – Fear
6) beyond the circulation desk – More Fear
So – following Patricia McConnell’s advice, we followed steps 1-3. Happy, Happy, Happy. And ended it there at the front door getting lots of her favorite treats. As Jenn always tells us to do… we ended on a Happy note. Annie gleefully walked by my side back to the car, where I threw a handful of treats onto the back seat for her to enjoy on the ride home.
Working with a fearful dog is a first for me. I love Annie and know that with patience and understanding – and help from our professional trainer – we can conquer her fears. I look at how far she has come already – and I am amazed! Now, this has all happened at a very slow rate – but it has happened. Like – she used to HATE going in the car. She actually would run and hide in her crate. Now, she loves it! All will come in due time. And, it will be well-worth the effort.
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