Resolving your dog’s fear: Why corrections and obedience training are missing the mark.

When our dogs exhibit fear-based behaviors, it’s natural to want to resolve the issue, especially if the behavior is embarrassing, frustrating, or fear-inducing for the humans. However, using corrections or obedience-based training to address the problems can increase fear, frustration, and confusion for all involved. 

To understand why corrections aren’t the solution, let me provide an example… Imagine yourself in a scenario where you’re confronted with your biggest fear, like a rattlesnake, and you turn to a trusted friend or partner to express your fear. Now imagine they respond by yanking your arm or giving you a harsh reprimand instead of supporting and validating you. Your fear wouldn’t lessen; it would likely intensify, gain emotional momentum, and you’d lose trust in the person you turned to for safety.

This is exactly how a dog feels when they’re corrected for expressing fear. Corrections—like leash jerks or e-collar stims—don’t address the root of the fear. Instead, they add another layer of stress and confusion, exacerbating negative emotions. The dog not only remains fearful but also learns that their attempts to communicate that fear result in discomfort or pain. This can lead to behavioral suppression (the dog stops revealing their state out of fear of the correction if they do) and a state of shutdown. Not only can this lead to long-term and ongoing stress, but it can increase fear and potentially lead to aggression, often in what feels like “out of character” or in “unpredictable” ways when the suppression fails either in the absence of the tools that were used to achieve it or when the dog can no longer deal with being flooded by the fear-inducing stimulus, and they begin to react out of self-defense.

Regarding obedience as a solution, while basic obedience training has its place in helping dogs learn how to navigate the human worlds they live in, it will not resolve fear because it does not directly address how to help the dog experience a change in their emotional state, and until there is a change in the dog’s state, their emotions will not change. In fact, I have found in my 30 years that when someone tries to obedience their dog out of their fear, they might see an increase in their confidence in the absence of any fear-triggering stimulus, but when the fear stimuli creep in, so does the frustration, as their super obedient dog now won’t sit, go to their place, etc. because the fear often leads the dog into a non-functional state (more on this in the upcoming post). They cannot do anything other than rely on internal survival drives. 

Addressing fear-based behaviors requires building trust, safety, building positive associations to change their emotional state through a thoughtful, thorough, and incremental behavior change plan. By using humane, positive reinforcement methods, we help our dogs learn that they are safe, can trust us to guide them through their fear, and show them the scary things don’t have to be scary. This not only resolves fear issues but also strengthens the bond between you and your dog, leading to a happier, more confident companion in the long run.