A lamp fell and startled her as a pup. She has now developede a phobia of all lights. (lamps, ceiling fans, flashlights, street lights, etc.) She is really scared and many times afraid to come in the roombecause of this. How can I teach her that it's ok?
She is scared of other things as well... she's very timid. but lamps seems to be the big problem.
2007-05-05 13:47:11 · 4 answers · asked by pambetteridge 2 in Pets ➔ Dogs
Wow. I was going to answer this and saw all the answers given. All Brilliant. And I am floored at how many people watch, understand and are implementing techniques learned on The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Milan. Me too. Lets all keep it up and maybe we won't have people asking questions in this forum and wasting precious time when there are clear emergencies and should be handled by a vet promptly.
2007-05-05 14:14:11 · answer #1 · answered by Dizz 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
By leaving her to get over her phobia. Chances are when the lamp fell and she ran off frightened you found her and reassured her that the lamp was ok and to not be afraid. Right? What you did in fact was tell your puppy that it's ok to be afraid, and you reinforced her fear. If you had left her alone she would have gotten over it. That's the wonderful thing about dogs, they live in the moment, they shake it off and get over things if left alone. A pack leader would have gone over to make sure she was ok then left her alone and walked away.
All you can do is ignore her behavior and quit trying to reassure her and increase her phobia. Ignore the timid behavior it'll take time but sooner or later she'll learn to not fear everything. Reassuring only works for children, not dogs.
Good luck
2007-05-05 20:54:56 · answer #2 · answered by Weimaraner Mom 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This may be difficult for you personally, but you must be strong in this. The first thing you don't want to do is comfort or baby your dog whenever she gets scared, if you do what you are actually doing is reinforcing her scared feeling and this will not help her at all.
You will need to re-introduce her to what she is afraid of. If she is small enough, you will be able to hold her, if not be sure to have a collar and leash on her during this exercise. Take her to where the lamp/light or whatever is, keep her in that area, if she show's anxiety etc., be near to her and do not talk to her during this time, just make sure she stays in that area but with you. You must remain calm and assertive during this time. When she finally settles down to not wanting to get away etc, you may then talk softly to her and begin to massage the top of her shoulders just below the neck area. If she once again begins to show signs of anxiety, you can try to divert her attention to you and not the object she is afraid of.
I hope you're able to help her over-come her fears, good luck.
2007-05-05 20:54:33 · answer #3 · answered by Fawnice 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Follow carefully:
1. Put her on a leash
2. Hold on to leash tightly
3. Grab a small flashlight and SLOWLY bring it towards her. No matter what keep bringing it closer toward her. Maybe when she realizes that it doesn't hurt her she'll learn to relax. Bring it toward her VERY slowly so she can see whats coming instead of everything happening at once.
2007-05-05 20:54:45 · answer #4 · answered by Kitty Kat 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋