Help for Your Shy Dog: Turning Your Terrified Dog into a Terrific Pet

Howell reference books

by Deborah Wood

Fifteen to twenty percent of dogs are born with a tendency towards introversion and fearfulness, leading to behaviors like uncontrolled submissive urination, fear-aggression, and inability to bond with humans. With understanding and the right training, fearful dogs need not be condemned as bad pets; rather, they can become some of the happiest and most deeply bonded dogs around—the epitome of great pets.

Genres: Dogs, Nonfiction, Animals

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1999

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

After talking at length with a "dog whisperer" proponent, I decided that his approach would be likely to upset and scare Ginny more, so I checked this book out of the library. I found it much more sensible.

The author talks about several specific dogs and their owners, and how the dogs went on to overcome various fear behaviors and go on to win obedience and agility shows. Her three main pieces of advice are: 1) make everything as positive as possible, 2) act confident and show your dog you believe in her capability, and 3) have patience, recognize that fearful dogs will take longer to get them where you want them -- sometimes much longer. She took her own fearful dog to beginning obedience class 5 times before advancing to intermediate.

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book full of stories of dogs that have triumphed over their fearfulness, complete with case history and steps taken in their training. This book offers several different options for training, depending int the circumstances and exact fears/reactions of your dog. Sully (Pembroke Welsh Corgi) was fear aggressive towards dogs, and extremely shy around strangers, children, skittish on slick surfaces, around loud noises and quick movements. He now has multiple obedience and rally titles and is happy to be out and about, loves to greet people and is completely controllable around other dogs. He's still not friendly with them but he doesn't react to them either, which is just fine with me!

[Johanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anecdotal inspirational stories of rehabbed fearful dogs, combined with somewhat generalized advice ranging from fairly good to absolutely terrible and dangerous. While the author repeatedly emphasizes the need for patience and gentleness with timid dogs (and often recommends positive reinforcement), she also continuously refers to outdated and disproven dominance theory, warns against reinforcing fearful behavior by attempting to comfort or soothe the dog when it's afraid (also a disproven myth), and actually recommends physical corrections for fear-biting and fear-aggression (please don't EVER do this!) as well as having strangers attempt to feed your fearful dog (huge bite risk, not recommended!). I love the can-do, sky-is-the-limit attitude of this book, but I'm afraid I can't get behind much of the training advice here, and would recommend readers look elsewhere for better advice on how to safely and correctly boost their dog's confidence and counter-condition them to their fears using positive reinforcement training methods.

[Maureen Berry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book but basically It tells you to take obedience classes for every case of a shy dog. Not many extra helpful hints

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book saved my (emotional)life when I was being told by perfect strangers to put my newly acquired (and terrified) dog down everywhere I went. It was exhausting living with a creature that was so constantly and overwhelming afraid. Deborah Wood was able to bring humor to a situation that didn't seem so funny at the time (lots of humor) and she also provided a light at the end of the tunnel. While the book doesn't give much in actual training exercises, it was invaluable for me to have HOPE. Wood gave me hope for my dog's future, a realistic time line, and some good natured cammardarie in the midst of a lonely situation. God Bless her.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book if you are thinking about adopting a "shy dog"! I'm going to read another one on "Puppy Mill Dogs Speak"... I think they go hand in hand for anyone who is considering giving a shy dog (probably from a puppy mill) another chance at a happy life! Common sense goes a long way, people!!!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book I had to give up on to get back to the library before moving to Canada. Hope to pick it up again, but Atticus is doing way better in our new home! We see strange dogs several times a day, and he has only gotten snippy with a couple of them. Yay Atticus!

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I wanted a book about child psychology, I would have purchased a book about child psychology. This book offered nothing I didn't already know about dog training, and leaned on the author's expertise with human behavior modification than expertise with animals.

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I couldn't find any answers for my specific situation; this book gives you the tools and inspiration you need to not be afraid to adopt a shy or fearful dog.