Dog gets fearful around dog run, human embarrassed

One of the things I actively detest is when my dog gets fearful. That she does on occasion, particularly when it comes to the dog run at Bishan Park.

Long story short, she got chased there by a pack of dogs released by a dog walker at the dog run entrance. She subsequently developed a fear of that particular dog run. After weeks of actively walking her about the outside of the door run to counter condition her against the fear, she finally developed the confidence to step into the dog run again.

But with the rainy season in the end of 2013, we stopped going to the dog run. Just before Chinese New Year, I thought I would take her there to romp around since she would mostly be home alone over the CNY period.

Never would I expect that her fear of the dog run would return after the hiatus from Bishan Dog Run!

But it did.

Her tail dipped lower and lower, and she took to sniffing the grass deferentially, and subtly trying to edge further and further away from the dog run instead.

So we slipped back into desensitisation training. We took the time to sniff the grass along the path opposite the dog run from one end to another, and then we turned around and I pulled her towards the grass bordering the edge of the dog run (slight resistance there).

She inspected the perimeter outside the dog run slowly. She spent long moments standing still eyeing the other mongrel that was standing still eyeing her back in the dog run. I could stand there idly and draw heart shapes emanating from their eyes across towards each other, except that I was to learn later that the other mongrel was a girl too. :P

By the time we sniffed all the way to the border of the bigger enclosure, the other mongrel was able to approach closer. They were separated only by the thin wire fence between them. The meeting was peaceful.

After half an hour, Donna finally seemed amenable to enter the dog run. She spent equal parts inspecting the grass in there, as well as playing with the mongrel and the sheltie in the dog run. One of the two humans remarked at how fearful Donna looked when we were still outside.

I always feel sorry for my dog when she gets fearful. I also get embarrassed when inevitably somebody at the dog run will remark on her fearfulness. It makes me feel like a bad human.

 
Tucked tail, ears pulled back, tense posture signals a dog that is under stress. I was walking one way and she started to pull towards the other way. I couldn’t pinpoint the specific stimuli that would cause her to act this way though, for this particular instance.  This was an older picture from my archive.

But there is a happy ending to this. No matter how fearful she was, one always has the option to reinforce on the counter-conditioning because it does work with her.

By the end of the day, Donna has her fill playing with the young mongrel and sheltie dogs, who were not more than two years old. The young mongrel was particularly interesting, as she makes it a habit to repeatedly stalk like a cat from afar, before zoomie-ing towards Donna like a crazy rocket dog. The good thing is that Donna never did get spooked by her and they had fun playing chase-chase and attempting to do a three dog humping train – -… except that Donna always starts to spin to prevent the young dogs attempting to mount her. :P Good times~

NOTE: Be careful when visiting Bishan Dog Run in the mornings, as that is when the dog walker comes with her high energy dogs that always rush in from the entrance and startle other dogs. Either visit at other times or go deeper into the dog run, though I’m not sure that helps.