Helping a Puppy Get Over a Newly Developing Fear of Strangers

By: David Codr

Published Date: July 31, 2019

Chloe - Helping a Puppy Get Over a Newly Developing Fear of Strangers

For this Omaha puppy training session we work with 5 month-old Australian Shepherd mix Chloe, helping her stop feeling anxious or fearful of new people due to her roomie’s (6 year-old Alaskan Klee Kai Aurora) habit of barking at guests.

Since Chloe knew me from teaching her in puppy class, I used our new Dog Behavior apprentice Hunter to demonstrate how to help a puppy stop fearing new people.

Helping a puppy get over anxiety when meeting new people is all about creating a positive association. Most people think clicker training is strictly for teaching tricks and commands, but as you can see in the free positive dog training video above, you can help a puppy (or dog) develop a positive association with the sight of new people.

The reason for Chloe’s fear of new people can be traced back to her roomie, Aurora, an Alaskan Klee Kai who wasn’t socialized as a puppy and now barks and nips to protest when new people come to the home. For most of today’s session, she stationed herself under the couch, barking in protest from time to time.

Arora Chloes roomie - Helping a Puppy Get Over a Newly Developing Fear of Strangers

Dogs can learn by observation and living with a nervous dog can absolutely have an impact on a new puppy. This is why I always recommend people focus on rehabilitating their adult dog before adding a puppy. Otherwise the puppy can easily pick up unwanted behaviors from the unbalanced dog.

To help the guardians remember all the puppy behavior tips we covered in this in home Omaha puppy training appointment, we recorded a roadmap to success video.

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This post was written by: David Codr