Like humans, dogs could fear so many things even if we think it is somewhat irrational.
Dogs can fear certain places and spaces because they lack (or have zero) positive experiences or exposure to that specific place. For example, your dog might fear getting inside your car because they associate it with their vet visit – and we know that’s not always pleasant for them.
This fear can be reversed or removed from them.
You simply must find what exactly they fear or what caused it. Then, you must do what they call systematic desensitization. This means gradually exposing them to whatever stimuli are causing their fear, removing a “layer” of their fear one step at a time until they are not scared of it anymore.
Susan was in this same situation with the dog they fostered.
She noticed that the dog, Hope, didn’t want to come inside their home. Now, it’s understandable that she might have this distrust with them at first. But as time went on, Susan couldn’t figure out the reason for Hope’s actions.
She could see her stretch her way and obviously wanting to get close.
But she would then get tensed and retreat. It took them quite a while to realize what the dog was scared of: the wooden floor. They don’t know why, but they thought they must get rid of that, or it would lessen her chance of getting adopted.
Susan first got rugs (lots of them!) and covered as much wood as possible.
They could now see Hope walking around the house. She was still a bit wary, but she was able to go around the house freely this time.
Slowly, Susan would remove a few rugs or put them a bit further apart.
Hope hesitated a bit, but there was one thing she would work hard for – some chicken biscuits! They used the biscuits as the dog’s motivation and reward. Susan gradually did this until it got to the point that Hope gets to walk across the wooden floors without fear.
Of course, they still had to entice her with some chicken biscuits!
Soon enough, people started to show interest in adopting her. After the screening process, Hope found her forever home in Christina. Susan did tell her about her problem with this goofball, but all Christina said was: “That’s okay. I’ll buy rugs.”
However, Hope had a difficult time adjusting to a new home again.
Learning from Susan’s tactics, Christina soon made her new fur baby comfortable in her home. The moment she got used to it, there was no stopping Hope from giving as much love and happiness she could to her new mommy.
Like people, our pets need extra effort to understand how they feel.
What might seem silly and irrational to us might be a big fear for them. What’s important is we learn to find our way to systematically desensitize them and get used to their new environment – just like Hope and her fear for wooden floors.
Check out the video about Hope below!
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