(And maybe you were told to “just give it time”, but honestly that isn’t working and nothing is getting better. You’re starting to doubt if they’ll ever make progress. And you’re right to worry…. Because giving it time only allows the dog to get further stuck in their fears and anxiety when they don’t have to live that way. What your dog desperately needs is for you to start taking action to help them to overcome their nervous behaviour.)
I have years of experience with fostering nervous rescue dogs and helping clients working with extremely fearful dogs. From all this experience, I’ve developed my unique 4-step system based on exactly what has worked for myself and my clients to transform our dogs for a fuller, stress-free life.
Without understanding the underlying cause of the behaviour, your approach won’t be tackling their real issues for long-term results. You might be trying methods that get results for other people, but until your method matches your dog’s type of nervous behaviour, you are probably just wasting your time and getting disheartened by the lack of results.
When your communication and expectations are unclear and confusing for your dog, you are only adding to their stress and anxiety and making things harder for them, which will make their behaviour worse.
Your dog will not have the confidence to tackle tough situations unless they know they can trust you for guidance even when they’re scared. Bonds for our dogs aren’t built just from living under the same roof for any length of time – you need to put in the effort with the right approach to show them you are trustworthy and capable of being a source of support for them.
NOTE: This course includes the foundations course “Clarity in Communication” (£119 value)