I have often heard that exposure or "desensitization treatment", as I've also heard it called, can help a dog to realize that what they are scared of isn't that bad at all. I've been trying that with my dog, but it's obvious that her trust in me isn't solid. I adopted her 4 months ago from the local Animal Control, and my relationship with her has been very hard to develop. She is terrified of headlights on cars, and, in fact, when I first brought her home, she would tuck her tail and run when I would turn on lights in the apartment. The indoor lights don't bother her anymore because it's a common every-day occurence, but headlights in the dark put her in a panic. I've been trying to get her used to a flashlight, but that has backfired. Now she's scared to be in her kennel, which has been her safe place, so I'll have to start with her kennel training all over again to "overwrite" her fear. She's suddenly developed a fear of being outside in the dark also. A couple of weeks ago the two of us were taking 4 laps around the parking lot at my complex every morning at 5:00 AM (I have to be at work at 7:00). There were no problems. Then, last week, out of the blue, she refused to walk through a particular section of the parking lot. Everywhere else she was fine, but she would not walk there. Since then, the fear has gotten worse. Now she won't go more than a couple hundred feet from our door. I'm at a loss. It's obvious that she does not see me as her "pack leader". I'm just not sure how to really, truly build that bond with her. I think she must have been abused before she was a stray, and the thought of that breaks my heart. The thought also that I am causing her additional fear and pain, which is evident by the tucked tail and the crouched position, is unbearable. I'd love for her to be my walking/running companion, to go hiking with her, to take her to the beach. But first, she has to trust me. I'm looking into getting a trainer to help, and am trying to be patient and upbeat with my dog. I don't want her to be scared of life. I want her to enjoy it and to be a happy, well-balanced dog. As they say, sometimes, love ain't enough. Does anyone have any experience with a problem like this?

I think the one mistake is reasurring her and petting her. If you've watched Dog Whisperer, that's one thing that Cesar stresses over and over again. You can't give affection, treats or anything like that when a dog is showing stress or fear.

Walking her along when there is traffic is a good thing, but when she starts to show fear/anxiety while walking, that's when a small, sharp tug on the leash to get her to focus elsewhere is what is called for. And you need to do the walk in that area as if it is no big deal, which is what it should be.

I had an Akita, Dalton, a delightful dog, scraped off the streets of Oakland (literally) and taken in by Akita Rescue, then ultimately adopted by me. Had I known of Cesar's techniques back then (during the 90s), I probably could have rehabilitated him much more quickly, but as it were, it took years. Dalton, rather than being a fear biter, was a submissive urinator, which I could deal with, because back then what I didn't know about dog training and control would fill volumes. ;-) What I did know (instinctively, I guess), was that in order for him to get comfortable around the neighborhood and the neighbors was not to buy into his fears. If we encountered a neighbor while on our walk, and I wanted to stop and talk, then we did. Dalton would pull and want to run home, but I never gave into it and eventually he would calm down and by the time I'd worked with him a while, he was pretty comfortable with most people.

Another factor that helped him was when I adopted Niki, another Akita, who was one of the very friendly, happy-go-lucky dogs that loved everyone. She would go right up to anyone because she just KNEW that they would want to pet her (and usually she was right). Watching Niki showed Dalton that people were not out to get him and he would eventually wander out from behind me and demand his share of the attention.

Currently, both Niki and Dalton are gone, but in their place, I have Sara, a pitbull/shepherd mix adopted from the local shelter. Thankfully, her only issue seems to be cats and other small animals which are fun to chase (but that's never allowed) and I realize that she is a pretty well-balanced dog. Sara seems to get freaked out during earthquakes and shoots off the bed when one hits around here. During a recent one, I was at the computer and she was napping on the bed, when a decent sized earthquake hit... she came shooting out of the bedroom and it was all I could do to stay silent and not even look at her... just went on about my business like nothing had happened. That's really hard to do because that's the exact opposite of my first reaction.

I love watching the show and between the show and the books, I've really learned a lot. I have begun using some of Cesar's techniques with Sara and I've seen an immediate difference, especially as to who goes first.

I also love watching the show because it reminds me how well behaved my own dog is!

Facing fear is a way to get past it and I found that out with my own dog when it came to her fear of thunderstorms. I naturally wanted to hug her and hold her but I learned from Caesar that this is totally the opposite of what I should have been doing and that is to not acknowledge my dog's fear. By ignoring it she learned from me that if I was ok then she could be too. It wasn't an easy fix but I definitely noticed a lot less whining. Thanks, Caesar!!

My dog,Toby, he's a boy he has alot of ceasers,i don't know if i spelled ceacer right though.Is they're a way to stop the ceacers?Because me my mom and friends,of course when there here.oh...and my great grandma get tired of them.Do you think that...oh...yea which do you think made him have ceacers?he,getting bumped with a bumper of a car when he ran away,or when my stupid head,my dad,put a sock over his nose?But when every time somone plays with Toby to hard he usually has a ceacer the next day.Or is it just that he got them by himself?And i got another dog named babygirl.She is not house broken yet.How do you get dogs to be house broken !Please explain why on here.Or just contact me at EDITOR'S NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT POST PERSONAL INFORMATION, INCLUDING EMAIL ADDRESSES TO THE BLOG. THANK YOU! thanks McKaylyn im part Italian

my 13 month old catahoula leopard female dog has been happily riding in my car every day since she was three months old. Three weeks ago, my housemate took her in his convertable and now she is terrified of the movement of the car. She shakes and hyperventilates the whole trip. When I correct her it does not work- she listens to all my other corrections and commands about OTHER things but not this.sometimes she tries to seek comfort from me by putting her paw on my leg or her nose on my arm. I let her do that but am not overly responsive. When I try to correct her from shaking with terror, she doesn't stop. please help.

I have 5 Shih Tzu Dogs with the oldest Queen Isabella IV aka Lela age 5yrs, 3 King Arthur XIIII aka Leo, Princess Little Red Ridinghood aka Lil Red, Princess Garnet aka Garnet, and Princess Gweneviere aka Lea age 1yr. Their room is the Garage area with a Huge electric Fan, but I like to bring them inside for at least 2 or 3 hours til it is time for bed. I keep one or two inside because all of them inside has been quite a challenge as with other situations. They are potty trained but together they tend to forget and pee and poop; when I am not looking, though. They seem very good at it and that's even after I have taken them out for that. Last night I brought Garnet and Lea inside to spend the night. This morning one of them pooped inside my livingroom, no pee. I know it was Lea cause she goes a bit and a bit further she goes again, then again.
It just seems to happen with the others too. I cannot take them out to in proper order like you do to walk all of them together. How do you do that?
It is just impossible to do with them. They tangle the leashes into a braid, they have made me fall on the ground, and I get in soooo tired from the walk much more than they do. Leo likes to pee on Lil Red and on Lea, and then they stink, how disgusting. Leo never gets to come in to sleep because, more than ever, he has pee'd on my walls as well as on my floor. They can hold it, but they seem to be competing on who will pee and poop in the house before I can catch them. Please help me! My dogs are driving me batty as I have to clean after them all the time.

Thank You,

Janie

I have a 2 yr old Husky/Lab mix named Kaya. She loves to play in the snow, go on hikes, be outside and play with other dogs. Recently, she has developed a very random fear and my boyfriend and I cannot understand it. She is scared to death of the ceiling fan! This is not the first fan she has ever seen, I had one in my old apartment and she had no problem with that one and in my new apartment, which we have lived in for almost 6 months, she hasn't had a problem with it until last week. Before we noticed her shaking, she has been looking up at the fan nervously, but we thought that it was just the reflections of the TV and lights. Her fear has now escalated to her not wanting to walk under the fan, and she shakes badly when it is on. We don't know what to do! She has never shown fear for anything in the house and now she doesn't want to be in the living room at all. She follows me everywhere and cannot relax at all when she sets foot in our living room. The only thing that I can think of that might have sparked this fear is our upstairs neighbour. She is very loud but she hasn't been around for the past few weeks, which is when Kaya started to show her fear. Does anyone have any suggestions? She's not herself anymore and I don't know how to help her.

I have a Cairn terrier named Snickers who was a puppy mill rescue, he has always been terrified of the vaccum. He would freak out and run outside whenever we ran it. In Sept we adopted a Pom puppy(also a puppymill rescue) and the first time I swept the floor, Snickers did the bravest thing I ever saw. He ran outside and realized he had left Ricky behind. He snuck back into the house, belly crawled past the vaccum and woke the sleeping Ricky. Then keeping his body between the dirt snucking monster and the puppy ushered him out the door. He faced his fear to save a member of his pack.

Since that time he's like a totally different dog. He now attacks the vaccum as soon as I turn it on and even though I try to remain calm he sometimes drives me insane because of the barking and growling at the machine. I usually crate him now while sweeping and talk to him in a "happy" voice and reward him when he stops barking and remains calm.

We have recently adopted a 4 yr old female shepherd and she has a anxiety of people she does not know. She was a kennel dog for most of her life and has little to no socialization other than being fed by whom ever came out. It took her about two weeks to come to me without fear. But has fit in well in our home.
We have found that if you just take your time and only praise when she is relaxed. I try to keep a very upbeat positive attutide when approching a stranger. I had seem Ceasar on TV but had not even thought of using his techinques. I feel as if my mind just took me there as I came into my situation w/ her. I am currently working on getting her to allow strangers to approch her with out her backing away. I take her on walks with treats in my pocket and when I approch a stranger I had them a treat as we shake hands, always with a smile, I ask them to hand her the treat only and smile at me not her as if she is not even there. I think this way there is no eye contact and she can stay relaxed. From what I have gathered from watching Ceasar on TV this will be a sucessful approch. I will keep you all informed.