Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Not all dogs love
other people.
They might love their people,but not every person that comes
their way.
Does this sound familiar?
Today, we're talking all aboutit.
Welcome to the Puppy TrainingPodcast.
I'm Amy Jensen, founder ofBaxter Bella, the online puppy
school.
Here we are all about helpingyou create the best possible
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experience raising a puppy, fromtraining tips to practical
tricks, all aimed at fostering ahappy, well-behaved dog who
truly feels like part of thefamily.
So if you are ready to enjoythe journey and strengthen the
bond with your dog, let's getstarted.
Hey everybody, thanks fortuning into the puppy training
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podcast.
We are so excited that we justhit 50,000 on Instagram and
thank you guys for beingfollowers, and if you're not one
yet, head over there.
We have a cool giveaway goingon, so check it out.
And then also, with it beingsummer and school is out,
remember that we have a juniortraining course, so it can be on
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your own time, on demand.
It's recorded and availablewhenever, or you can check out
our live schedule as it'shappening throughout the summer.
But get your kids involved intraining.
We make it fun, we teach it ona kid level and it's going to
help your child have a goodrelationship with your puppy.
So check that out if youhaven't already.
Okay, today we are talking aboutdogs who don't necessarily love
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people, and when I say peoplereally I mean strangers, right?
A fairly common question we getasked here at Baxter Bella is
my dog doesn't like strangers.
What should I do Now?
Maybe your dog barks, growls,hides or refuses to approach
people they don't know, or maybethey're great out on walks and
in public places, but they seema little bit territorial or
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overwhelmed at home.
Either way, I want you to knowyou are not alone and your dog
is not broken.
This behavior is pretty commonand it's changeable, especially
when we take a kind, patient andevidence-based approach, using
positive reinforcement andforce-free methods.
Let's unpack today why somedogs are nervous around
strangers, what to avoid and,most importantly, the training
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steps you can take to help yourpuppy feel more confident and
secure.
First off, why is my dog nervousaround people?
There are several differentreasons, and some it might be a
combination of some of thesereasons.
Some it might just be one oranother.
But first of all, lack of earlysocialization.
We're really big on this atBaxter and Bell.
It's really important that inour puppy's critical window,
usually up to around 16 weeks.
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We want to make sure thatthey're learning what's safe and
normal in the world.
If they weren't exposed to avariety of people in calm,
positive ways during this time,strangers may feel scary or
unpredictable.
Number two is we want to makesure that uh, you know, be aware
of any negative pastexperiences.
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So a dog who's been startled orhurt or overwhelmed by a person
, even unintentionally, maygeneralize that fear to new
people.
Number three would be genetictemperament.
Some dogs are just naturallymore cautious or sensitive.
Think of people and howdifferent we are in our
personalities and the ways weinteract with others.
Dogs are similar.
So if your puppy has one ofthese temperaments, it's okay.
Not every dog is a socialbutterfly.
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Number four is territorialbehavior.
We start to see this around theadolescent period, possibly,
but dogs can behave differentlyin different environments.
Your dog might tolerate or evenenjoy people outside the home,
at the park or on walks, butthen suddenly a stranger comes
to your house and maybe theyfeel threatened when that
stranger's entering theircomfortable space.
That's normal too.
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Number five would be touchsensitivity.
Some dogs simply don't likebeing petted by people they
don't know.
This is often about consent,trust and personal space.
Again, think human behavior.
I'm pretty careful about who'stouching my children, right, or
who's touching me, and sometimeswe think, oh, everybody should
be able to touch our dog, anddogs don't necessarily see it
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the same way, so we need to berespectful of their personal
space as well.
Now, before we dive intotraining, let's do a quick
reminder of what we want toavoid.
So this would be what not to doNever force your dog to
interact.
This includes pushing themtoward a person, holding them
still or allowing a stranger tocome approach them, reach in and
pet them if it's not wanted byyour dog, and we can tell a lot
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of that by watching our dog'sbody language.
Next, we want to avoidpunishment.
We don't want to yell, yank onthe leash or correct the dog for
barking or growling, becausethis can backfire and actually
increase the fear.
We also don't want to ignoretheir signals.
So barking, growling or hidingis a way of our dog telling us
how they're feeling.
I'd much rather my dog growl ortry to hide and back away, and
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then I can give them some spacerather than have them bite
somebody because I wasn'tlistening to them, right?
So my dog is saying I'muncomfortable.
We need to listen to that andwhen they understand that we're
listening and we're backing awayand giving them space, they
don't escalate behavior toaggression, which is something
we want to avoid.
Now let's get into thestep-by-step plan and I'll give
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you some exercises you can startpracticing right away to help
your dog, if this sounds likethem.
Now exercise number one we'regoing to call the look and treat
game.
This is your foundation.
It teaches your dog that seeinga stranger means good things
happen.
So we are trying to change anemotion in our dog and when
we're trying to change anemotion it's going to take time
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and lots of repetitions and ourfirst step is just seeing the
stranger and feeling good aboutit, right.
So we're not going to jumpright to the interaction, right
to that person reaching into pet.
We're going to start with I seesomething that in the past has
made me feel uncomfortable andyour dog is learning oh okay, I
actually feel fine when I see astranger.
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So how to do it?
I want you to start at adistance where your dog notices
the person but isn't reacting.
So they're not pulling, lunging, biting, barking, biting
hopefully not barking on theleash.
You get what I'm saying we wantthem to like see the trigger or
see the person, but not bereacting.
Yet the moment your dog seesthe person, I want you to say
yes and then give them a reallyyummy food reward, and I want
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you to repeat that every timethey look at the person.
So what I like to do is theysee the person.
I actually feed them as we turnand walk away, and then you can
have an opportunity to turnback and see the person again,
feed your dog and turn and walkaway.
This way they're getting space,which is going to help them
feel better, a yummy food rewardfor turning away, and you're
setting them up to then haveanother repetition where they
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can again be successful atturning away.
And then gradually we decreasethe distance over time as our
dog becomes more relaxed.
Now this exercise is powerfulbecause it builds a positive
association.
Stranger appears treats rainfrom the sky.
Exercise number two that I wantyou to try is called stranger
toss game.
So once your dog is calm from adistance, I want you to enlist
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the help of a trusted friend.
Have this person toss a foodreward toward your dog without
making eye contact or speaking.
So that's important becauselooking directly at the dog or
talking to the dog is going tofeel threatening.
So instruct this person to justtoss a food reward as they look
the opposite direction as towhere your dog is.
Repeat several times, while thedog stays relaxed.
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If your dog moves closer, great, they want to come check out
this person who's tossing themfood rewards Wonderful.
But don't force it.
If the dog backs away or barks,then we want to increase the
distance.
So, again, distance is going tobe your key factor in helping
your dog feel better, and that'sthe start of changing this
whole behavior.
In the first place is gettingthat emotion to change.
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I like seeing a stranger, Ilike seeing a different person.
So, if needed, that's okay.
Back up, create space for yourdog.
Now a tip for the helper wouldbe pretend the dog is not there.
This works so well, but it hasto be taught to the person,
because obviously you're like,hey, can you help me train my
dog?
And they think it's all aboutthe dog, which it is, but we
have to pretend like they don'tpay attention to the dog, right?
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So we're asking this friend tohelp us train our dog, but hey,
actually what I want you to dois has nothing to do with the
dog.
Don't look at them, Don't talkto them, just pretend the dog
isn't there, be boring, and thenjust toss the food and look
away.
Right, it's going to go betterif they aren't directly
interacting with your dog tobegin with.
Number three is pattern games.
Dogs thrive on predictability.
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Leslie McDivitt is one of myfavorite trainers and she's come
up with a one, two, three gamethat will work great for this.
So how to do it?
You're going to walk with yourdog on leash as you approach a
stranger at a safe distance,start saying one, two, three and
you're dropping a food rewardon the ground each time, or you
can hand feed your dog each ofthose rewards.
This is a rhythmic pattern thatcan help reduce anxiety Over
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time.
We just practice closer to thepeople and in different places.
Now bonus it gives you bothsomething to focus on other than
the scary human.
So our dog's focused on thecounting.
So one, two, three and you'redropping a food reward, or
you're hand feeding your dog afood reward.
The dog is understanding everytime she's counting, a food
reward is coming and they startto focus on the rhythm of that
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versus the stranger that theyare seeing.
Number four would be teach analternative behavior.
Give your dog a job to doinstead of reacting.
Again, this focuses on gettingyour dog to think about
something else besides the scarystranger.
So try something like a touchtarget their nose to your hand.
A simple look at me cue wherethey look at you, so they see
the your hand.
A simple look at me cue wherethey look at you, so they see
the stranger you cue.
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A look at me.
Go to place.
So go to a bed or go to a matand teach your dog that, no
matter what's happening or who'saround or what they're seeing,
they can relax on that mat.
Again, that one's importantthat we don't allow the stranger
to approach them so that theyfeel stuck in that one.
We have to be careful with that.
And then sit and focus.
A simple sit.
Dogs can do a simple sit.
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That's pretty easy.
Now, asking them to recall orasking them to do some stay work
, that might be harder, likethat, go to bed might be harder,
but sit is generally prettysimple for them.
So practice these behaviorsaway from distractions at first,
and then start to get thesesimple behaviors when you're in
the presence of people your dogdoesn't know.
Now when this is happening inyour home, if your dog is
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reacting to guests at the door,we can do several things.
Number one before the guestarrives, set your dog up in a
calm space, maybe with a stuffedchew toy in a crate or behind a
gate, turn on some white noise,right Dog TV, whatever works.
And then, number two, once theguest is settled, we can bring
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our dog out on a leash and havean introduction from a distance,
whatever distance our dog needsor not.
If your dog is not ready forthat or there's no way to maybe
do the training while thisperson is visiting, then let's
not force that right.
Let's pick times that we canwork with our dog to help set
them up for success, and we havea person that's willing to, you
know, be patient with us as wedo.
So we can also try thatstranger toss game or allow our
dog to observe from a distance.
So some dogs will never lovehaving people over.
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That's okay, we can manage this.
So if we know our dogs justreally are stressed out by
strangers coming to our home,then let's put them in a nice
comfortable space where they canhave some chews and do their
own thing and not feel thepressure or tension of having to
interact with guests.
Okay, so we're here to help you.
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If you have these goals foryour dog where you would like to
get them more comfortablearound people that they don't
know or trust yet, we're happyto help coach you through some
of these exercises that wetalked about, and we can help
your dog feel better emotionallywhen they do see a stranger.
So helping your dog learn tolike or at least tolerate
strangers does take time.
It requires empathy,consistency and a willingness to
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go at your dog's pace.
We don't want to force theseinteractions, but it can be done
.
So reach out to us if you need.
We're happy to help coach youthrough any of this.
You guys, have a wonderful restof your week and happy training.
Thanks for tuning in to thePuppy Training Podcast.
I hope today's tips help youfeel more confident and excited
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about raising your dog.
Remember, with a littlepatience and consistency you can
create a loving bond and awell-behaved pup who's a joy to
have in your family.
If you found this episodehelpful, be sure to subscribe,
leave a review and share it withfellow puppy parents.
For more resources, visitBaxter and Bella online.
Until next time, happy training.