Dogs: Fear of Places

Why is my dog frightened of certain places?

Lack of early exposure to the sights, sounds or perhaps smells of a particular location, or one or more traumatic experiences associated with that location can lead to the development of avoidance behaviours. It is therefore necessary to determine first that your dog does not have some other underlying problem such as a fear of certain noises that needs treating or is not temperamentally very anxious. In these cases, professional help should be sought, so that you can safeguard your dog’s well-being with a well-structured and individualized training programme.

A dog may be frightened of traveling in the car because she becomes car sick or because the car ride is always followed by an unpleasant experience from the dog’s perspective (such as going to the kennels or a veterinary visit). These are quite different problems requiring different treatment, so you should not hesitate to ask for additional professional assistance to determine exactly what is going on and how to best manage the behaviour.

Aversion to places can be inadvertently aggravated by an owner who tries to calm their dog down with affection or verbal intonations. However, in mild cases this may help to decrease the fear in some dogs. 

How can I treat my dog’s fear of places? 

In relatively straightforward cases, it is possible to desensitize your dog to the place by using what’s known as a “stimulus gradient of exposure”, and carefully observing what she does. What this means is that you break down the fear inducing scenario into its separate component parts and start by exposing your dog to a “dilute” version of the problem situation. For example, the dog may walk into the garage okay, but begins to get agitated when approaching the car. You can work on increasing reward for entering the garage and gradually delay delivering the reward until the dog is at steadily decreasing distances from the car itself. Similarly  the dog may be okay approaching the car and only gets distressed when forced to get in and you work to reward the dog for entering in through one passenger back door and walking across the seat and straight out through the other door, rather than expecting your dog to get in and stay in. The aim is to encourage your dog to remain relaxed or happy in less intense versions of the problem scenario and gradually increase her acceptance of the full blown situation. Before you start training though you need to consider what factors may be reinforcing the behaviour. Some owners inadvertently reward the fearful behaviour by reassuring their dogs with vocal intonations or body contact, or intensify the fear by punishing or telling their dog off for being “silly”. These inappropriate ways of interacting with the dog need to stop before you start on the process of behavioural treatment.

1. Begin with reinforcing good responses to verbal cues such as 'sit' and 'stay' for favourite treats. 
2. Then work with your dog and reward the dog in situations where the fear is very mild. With a fear of car rides, the dog might first be rewarded for not showing fear when it is 3 metres from the car, then 2.5 metres and so on until the dog can approach the car without showing signs of fear. Eventually the dog should learn to take rewards when she enters the car, and at further sessions the dog should learn to relax in the car with the door closed, and then when the engine is turned on. In much the same way it could take a few more sessions until the dog learns to take rewards in a moving car. 

For the dog that is fearful of the veterinary surgery you might begin by taking the dog to the surgery car park and doing some exercises for food rewards there before progressing to the waiting room. It may take many visits to teach the dog to enter the consulting room for rewards, be greeted by the staff or sit on the examination table.

"For the dog that is fearful of the veterinary surgery you might begin by taking the dog to the surgery car park and doing some exercises for food rewards there before progressing to the waiting room."

Similarly a dog that is fearful of a crate or a particular room, may need to be taught to lie in the doorway for food and rewards. Then proceed a step or two into the room, or a little further into the crate, to receive the reward at each subsequent training session.

When you are treating fears you must have sufficient control of the dog so that there is no chance of injury and try to ensure that your dog is not pushed to the point of being frightened; i.e. work at a pace which she can accept.

Tips for increasing success

A lead and head collar may help to maintain control so that your dog will perform the desired behaviour in the presence of the stimulus. The lead and head collar:

• help to build the dog’s confidence; control the head and nose so as to get the desired behaviour (e.g. sit, heel);
• allow the owner to redirect the head away from the stimulus and toward the owner;
• reduce the risk of a bite or injury, should your dog unexpectedly panic;
• provide a reward through release of tension for each proper response. 

If you introduce the fear inducing scenario in gradually accumulating component parts you should be able to avoid the situation where your dog shows a full blown reaction, such as avoidance or resistance. If you find that your dog does become frightened during training try to get her attention and remove her from the problem situation without giving any direct interaction (e.g. don’t say “let’s go!”, or “it’s OK”). Early signs of unease include: yawning, nose-licking, lip- licking, head turning away from the area, slowing down and increased blinking. Be sensitive to these signals, and don’t progress to the next level of stimulus intensity until these signs have disappeared and your dog can relax again at the current level.

Greater success can be expected if you have more control over the intensity of stimulus exposure. This can be achieved through distance, or using places that resemble the problem location but which are different (e.g using someone else’s van or ute in place of your own car). Control over the stimulus means that you can manage every level of exposure, waiting until your dog is completely calm and realizes she will come to no harm before moving to the next level.

If these techniques do not appear to help decrease your dog’s concern then you will need specialist assistance from a veterinary behaviourist to help your pet with her problem. In some cases medication may be necessary to aid the process and protect your dog’s well-being, especially if some exposure is inevitable.