Three More Tools for Confidence
Any positive training you give your dog will help build his confidence. Each time you ask him to sit or lie down, and he understands, responds, and is reinforced with a click and treat, it helps him become more sure of himself.
There are also specific exercises for building confidence:
Targeting: Most dogs seem to enjoy it, and it's immensely useful for grounding fearful dogs with a familiar task they know they can do during a stressful moment. Simply offer your hand, and when your dog sniffs it, click and treat. If necessary, smear a dab of something yummy and highly scented on your hand to make it more tempting.
Repeat until your dog will enthusiastically bump 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: 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, 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.
Counter-conditioning and desensitization: This approach helps your dog learn a new, positive association for things that really frighten him.
Start with the stimulus (the thing your dog fears) at a far enough distance that your dog notices it, but doesn't yet start to panic. The instant he alerts to the stimulus, 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.
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