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Intro To Dog Confidence
Learn what confidence looks like and how to bring it out in your dog.
Introduction - Read This First!
The definition of confidence in a dog is:
“Interacting With New People and New Things On Your Own”
If you want to review what this looks like, go back to our lesson on HAPPY DOG BODY LANGUAGE Ā and SCARED DOG BODY LANGUAGE.Ā Once you help your dog through their fears, you can tell they are more confident because of how curious they are and how they want to play with new people and objects, and want to explore new places. The following lesson will explain just why it’s so important to have a confident, happy dog.
Confident Dogs Are Not Fearful
Confidence may not seem like the most important thing to worry about, but if you have an adult dog who barks at other dogs, growls a lot, and otherwise acts out all the time, it’s most likely because they’re not very confident and always in fear of something.
Confident Dogs Are Easier To Take To New Placesā
A confident and not fearful dog is not pulling in every direction on his leash. It’s definitely important to teach your dog to focus on you and walk nicely on leash using our LEASH WALKING tutorial, but if your dog is too worked up, leash training won’t help! They need to be calm and happy first. Here’s an example of a dog that is too worked up and maybe a little scared, so he’s having trouble walking on his leash and paying attention to his owner:Ā
Confident Dogs Are Healthierā
Dogs that are happy, confident, and not fearful have less health issues. All kinds of health issues like bald spots, high blood pressure, and even heart issues, can come from being stressed out all the time. For more, watch this short review by DVM360:Ā
Confident Dogs Don't Bite!
One thing that is very important to understand dogs when they are afraid:
Pro Trainer Principles:
Any Dog May Bite If They Are Scared And Cornered
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Don't Put Any Dog In A Situation Where They Feel Threatened
Even the friendliest dogs will defend themselves if they feel like they need to. Similar to humans, if you felt someone was a threat and you were cornered, you would fight back! Your dog is the same. Scared dogs will usually have 2 options:
Fight or Flight
It’s a good idea to help your dog learn that most things are not threatening, but you should also learn to recognize when a dog is scared of you. Never put a dog, whether it’s yours or someone else’s, in an uncomfortable situation where they feel they need to defend themselves.Ā
So if your dog is less confident and is more afraid of things around them, there’s more chance that they might bite someone when they didn’t mean to. This isn’t good for anyone!
How Do I Teach My Dog Confidence?ā
Overview
Being confident is all about socializing with new things when puppies are young, as well as helping your adult dog through new fears as they develop. So the best way to teach confidence is to avoid and eliminate fears.
Puppies - Early Socialization
Here is an example of a puppy socializing, but not with other puppies. He’s meeting new people, places and things. This is very important for building confidence!
Adult Dogs - Fear Training
Here is and adult dog who is a little bit afraid of new things. His owner is helping him build confidence by being positive, happy, and using treats to show his dog that these “scary” things are actually super fun!
Still Have Questions?