Training, Understanding and Love – A Magic Recipe for A Wonderful Shelter Dog

>As a teen, when my dog Pushka died, I knew my father and I would head to the ASPCA to adopt a new dog. I had no idea that we’d walk out with a severely traumatized Sheltie/Husky mix named Max. To make a long story short, Max was severely abused. He was frightened and had trust issues though he was not vicious. He simply didn’t want to be touched. He didn’t growl if you tried to pet him, he jumped. He ran. He scattered.

• Socialization

When my father and I showed interest in Max, we began to work with a trainer who specialized in abused animals through the ASPCA. The first step in rehabilitating Max was to properly socialize him. Most shelter dogs will have some form of a socialization issue, whether they never received enough or like Max, they were socialized in a very negative way.

A poorly socialized dog has had too little communication with humans or has communicated with humans in a violent way. The sooner you begin to re-train your dog to communicate in  a more positive way, clicker training or treat training, for example, the sooner you two will begin to form that all important bond that creates a loving environment in your home.

• Positive Praise Builds Confidence.

Like us, dogs love to be praised for their good behavior. If he sits when asked and it’s reinforced with a click or a treat, it builds his confidence and trust in you. There are also specific confidence building exercises that you can do with your dog.

• Targeting

Most dogs seem to enjoy it and it is incredibly useful for grounding the fearful dog with a familiar task they can perform during stressful moments. What is Targeting? Simply offer your hand, when your dog sniffs it, click and retreat. If your dog won’t sniff your hand, put a dab of something tasty on the tips of your fingers to make it more tempting. Repeat until your dog will enthusiastically place his nose into your hand. Then add a word, such as Touch, just before you offer your hand, to put the behavior on cue. When your dog does this behavior easily, ask him to target when he’s a little worried. His enthusiasm for targeting can overcome his caution. You can also use the target-your hand-to invite him near or past things that are a bit scary for him.

• Tug of War

Another great confidence game, fun for the human end of the tug toy as well. Offer your dog a toy that he likes. Tease him gently with the toy to get him to grab at it. Praise him when he does to generate more tug-play. When he’ll consistently grab the toy and hold on, tug softly to encourage him to tug back, and then add the Tug cue. When he’ll play tug with enthusiasm, teach him to let go by offering a tasty treat as you say give. When he’s confident about playing, you can use this game to raise his confidence level around things that are scary to him.

• Desensitizing and Re-conditioning:

Think of this as therapy for your pooch. Desensitizing him from his negative associations and reconditioning him with more positive associations for these things will help him live a more comfortable life. Begin with the item or thing your dog fears the most at a far enough distance where your dog can still notice it but doesn’t start to truly panic. The instant he notices his fear item, feed him tiny bits, nonstop, of an extremely high-value treat, such as cooked, boneless chicken. Keep feeding tiny bits until the stimulus is gone or you move out of its range.

Practice this until his fearful alert turns into an excited anticipation for chicken. Then, move a little closer to the stimulus and start again. Do it enough, and your dog will think the frightening thing makes chicken happen. It will no longer be scary — he’ll want it to appear so he gets more chicken!

Shelter dogs aren’t always abused or ill behaved. Some are simply eager to get the right kind of attention and once you start to put the effort into him, I’m sure you both will be one big happy family