How to help a dog with phobia A phobia is an excessive fear of certain stimuli, such as noises, flashes of light, certain types of people, other animals or possible jus being left alone.
Such an inappropriate and excessive response to a stimulus can lead to serious injury to the animal and sometimes to the owner or other people.
Furthermore, considerable damage to property can result from the frantic attempts by a dog affected in this way to "escape".
Dogs that have undergone careful and comprehensive habituation and socialization should not exhibit an excessive fear response to everyday stimuli.
However, it is not always possible to cover all eventualities and it is not common for some dogs, especially those of an introvert nature, to develop an exaggerated signs of stress or anxiety in unusual situations, such as during thunderstorms or when fireworks are being left off.
Indeed, it is not considered that excessive fearfulness is a trait that can be inherited.
However, it is also true that such behavior can be the result of inappropriate actions by the owner.
This is often the case with fireworks since the natural instinct of the owner is to pet and cuddle their dog when it is fearful.
This will inevitably be "read" by the dog as a reward or praise and it will as a result, continue to shake and shiver to an even greater extent at the time and on future occasions.
Many phobias are probably best prevented by thinking ahead, by careful habituation and socialization and by a thoughtful response by the owner when signs of fear are shown.
If that fails, as can so easily happen especially with introverted pets.
It will be necessary to think in terms of short-term management and importantly to use behavior modification techniques to prevent the problem in the future.
Short-term management If you dog shows phobic signs for the first time during a thunderstorm or when fireworks are being let off, try the following procedure if the dog's reaction is not too severe.
As soon as your dog starts to shiver, shake and pace about the house, shut the doors and windows and draw the curtains, take your dog into the lounge and turn on the TV or radio as loudly as you can stand to mask the noise outside as much as possible.
Do not fuss over, try to calm, touch or pay attention to your dog, since that could be perceived as approbation and only make the situation worse.
Dogs usually pick up human emotions, so it is important that everyone in the household makes a big effort to stay calm.
Once the noise starts to decrease and your dog begins to relax, go through a few behavior exercises and reward lavishly a good, correct response.
It is necessary to take your dog outside to go to the toilet, be sure to keep it on the lead.
Do not leave it unattended for a minute since its panic may well just take off and get lost.
Long term management Prevention is better than attempted cure and that is particularly so in the case of firework phobia since dogs may well become excessively fearful and agitated when their owner is not present.
"Systematic desenzitisation" technique may come in handy.
This "tool" is used to break down the dog's anxiety by exposing it to low level of stimulus that invokes fear and rewarding the dog when it remains calm.
Slowly, slowly is the rule, otherwise you will end up making your dog more fearful!