Some Free Tips to Help a Fearful Dog Stay Calm on Leash

Published Date: March 31, 2026

For this West LA in-home dog training session we share tips to help a fearful dog feel comfortable around people to help 2 year-old Dalmatian Etta.

Her guardians reported that she had something that is commonly referred to as leash aggression when she was approached by a stranger near her home, so we met about a block away.

Etta showed signs of being uncomfortable; she was tense, her body was hunched over a little bit, she offered incomplete body movements and practiced avoidance. Classic indications I see when Im called in to help a fearful dog.

I use some dog behavior tricks to help her feel more comfortable and once that was the case, we walked around her neighborhood a little bit to help her unwind and relax. She did some good sniffing but I could see that she was sound sensitive; jumping and a little unleasy when loud sounds happened unexpectedly.

I recommended to her guardians that in the future, anytime they’re going introduce someone new, they should follow a similar process of meeting outside. They had already been doing something similar but hopefully they picked up a few additional tricks watching me work. And being mindful of their surroundings when Etta is meeting someone is also something they need to be mindful about.

When we went inside, we got right to work. We covered a number of dog behavior and training fundamentals. We introduced a marker then taught her a hand targeting exercise to help her guardians practice their timing. After that, we went over the proper way to introduce cues as well as how to fade the lure.

Establishing clear communication both on the dog and human side and is critically important anytime you have a dog who has a behavior issue. But this is especially the case for dogs who are fearful.

When you’re already dealing with a powerful emotion such as fear or anxiety, miscommunication will only compound the matter. I stressed the importance of clean mechanics and being mindful of her body language. These are often overlooked aspects in fearful dog rehabilitation.

A Simple Trick to Help a Fearful Dog

Of course I made sure to go over my celebrating lesson. This is probably the easiest way to train any dog, provided you do it consistently. It is also a wonderful exercise to use with a fearful or anxious dog. Many people accidentally give their dog more attention for the things that they don’t want then giving attention for the things they desire. Celebrating is an easy way to undo that common mistake

Just like humans, recognizing and rewarding people when they do desired actions can have a rehabilitating impact. We want Etta to feel good and proud about the things that her parents want her to do. I like to take a wholistic approach any time I work with an anxious dog.

The more that her guardians celebrate her voluntary site, laying down, coming to them, dropping toys, eye contact, etc. the more comfortable and confident Etta will be in her actions. This will have cumulative effect on her overall confidence and behavior and is a great way to help an anxious dog.

I recommend the guardians point at each other and say “celebrate!“ anytime they see Etta offering a behavior that their partner misses. This will help them get into a habit of celebrating her desired behaviors.

If they successfully establish this habit amongst themselves, five amazing things will happen every time they pet their dog:

Dog practices basic obedience
Motivates your dog to do what you want
Increases your dog’s confidence
Your dog practices listening to you
Trains your dog to offer polite behavior, aka doggy manners.

The best part of this, once it becomes a habit for her guardians, they won’t even realize that they’re doing this. But every time they pet her, it becomes a micro positive dog training session. Its the gift that keeps on giving

Because of Etta’s reactivity, I made sure to go over some basics on body language, dog consent and cut off signals.

Dogs are only reactive when they feel like they have to handle the situation themselves. If her guardians continue to get better at reading Etta’s cut off signals and signs of consent, they will better recognize when Etta feels uncomfortable.

That way, when they spot her initial signal that she doesn’t like something, they can help or move her away from whatever it is. By doing that, they solved the problem for her. This means she does not have to advocate for herself and wil grow more confident that they will keep her safe.

Recongnizing and responding to her cut off signals will also help her feel more comfortable and confident when out of the apartment. She will see them as looking out and avoiding any situations that she is not comfortable with. This deepens trust and is a wonderful boost to any dog human relationship.

I must say that Etta’s guardians were already doinga wonderful job of looking out for her. Their knowledge of her body language was much higher than most of my clients. My hope is these additional tips help them get even better.

Next, we discussed the importance of adding as much regularity to their daily schedule as possible. They had already been doing a good job of this, but the more that things stay the same, the better Etta can anticipate what’s going to happen. Over time this tran leads to improve confidence. Obviously a crucial thing to do anytime you have a fearful dog.

A couple of days earlier I had worked with a dog named Maple who had a similar fear of people and was uncomfortable leaving her apartment to get outside. I recommended the guardians watch the training videos from that session and practice helping Etta stay calm while being leashed up or the door opening.

Often emotions can amplify other emotions. While excitement is usually looked at is more of a positive, it can accentuate some fearful responses so they will be well served to watch those videos and practice the techniques shared with Maple.

Earlier in the session I learned that Etta was formally living with a man who was potentially abusive. This could obviously be a contributing factor to her fear of strangers

But Etta also has a fear of dogs. Many people confuse a fear of dogs as their dog being aggressive. Although there are some aggressive dogs in the world, in my experience most dogs act out as a coping mechanism.

The dog has learned that by barking, snarling, snapping or lunging, the other dog or person goes away. Anytime something is repeated and leads to an outcome the dog wants, the behavior is amplified.

Fortunately for Etta, her guardians do not tell her to “stop,” or “be quiet” when she communicates she is uncomfortable. This is probably the most common mistake people make when they have a fearful dog.

It’s important to remember that when a dog is fearful, they are not choosing to lash out. They are having an emotional response because they are overwhelmed with their emotions. This means that just like hwen you are really scare, the dog is not in control of their emotions or choosing to intentionally offer that behavior.

How to Help a Fearful Dog Feel Confident

When you have an anxious dog like Etta, one of the best things we can do is change her emotional response from a negative to a positive. There is a great game you can play to help with this called the engage disengage game.

The goal of this game is to help the dog start to feel positive about the things that they are formally scared of. Its easy (if you do it right) but profoundly effective.

Since Etta was uncomfortable outside, I decided to show the guardians how to practice the engage disengage game inside their apartment.

If you have a fearful dog who is reactive to humans, dogs, skateboards or anything else, you should definitely check out the free positive dog training video below.

It was great to see how well the guardian picked up this exercise. I’ve worked with a number of people who are very slow on their clicks and that can really disrupt this trick to help fearful dogs gain confidence.

I’ve had some clients who protest when I demonstrate an exercise in their home. They say “yeah that’s fine inside but the dog doesn’t feel comfortable or respond to the same way outside.” But it’s important that you practice at the level that your dog is comfortable with. It’s also important that you know what you’re doing before you do it.

Many people head out to practice a dog behavior exercise before they have it fully mastered. This results in poor timing, the wrong technique and often generates frustration both in the dog and the human.

But if you learn what you’re doing in an easy, classroom-like environment first, you set yourself and your dog up for success.

Although we only got to the first part of the engage disengage game, I’m very optimistic that this is going to help Etta grow more confident around the things that she is currently fearful and reactive towards.

The most important thing for her guardians to remember is that she cannot react when playing this game. If she reacts (barking, growling, snapping, etc), then we have pushed too far and are practicing the fear response. Instead our goal is to use counter conditioning to help her to feel neutral or positive about the scary thing.

Throughout the session, I was respectful of Etta’s communication. She approached me more and more as time went on because I did not try to pet her, move towards her or accidentally offer body movements that she was uncomfortable with. Having had Dalmatians for 30 years, I so wanted to pet and love on her, but that is not what she wanted so I apprecisted her from the distance she chose instead.

As we neared the end of the session, Etta started curling up in her guardian’s lap. Seeing her relax while I was there told me we had done a lot of good work. Its invigoirating for me any time I get a chance to help a fearful dog feel better around a stranger.

It will be important for anyone who comes to visit to be mindful of their actions and interactions. The more we are passive and deliberate in our emotions and interactions, the more comfortable Etta will become – if we are listening to her body language and cut off signals.

We chatted a little bit at the end of the session about some additional dog behavior tips. I’d like the guardians to watch these videos and practice most of the lessons we covered today a few times a day in short, 2 to 3 minute practice sessions.

The engage disengage game is different. It should be played in short spurts followed by breaks. How often they break depends on the environment and how frequent the stimulus are appearing. In a park with few people, she may only get a chance to play they game for a minute followed by a few minutes without anyone nearby.

In other situations, the place may be so busy they need to leave and move to a space away from the action for her to relax and reset.

A general rule of thumb is to practice engaging and disengaging for 3 to 5 minutes, then move away to an area free of any stimulus to let her relax for a few minutes. Then they can return to the practice area and practice for another 3 to 5 minutes.

I usually like to do this in 3 to 4 cycles, depending on how things are going. The guardians should keep track of their progress by keeping score for every positive engagement and also tracking anytime that Etta reacts. Their goal should be to have a score of a range of 30 to 60 to zero.

It’s also important to remember that when they are playing the engage disengage game, while Etta may appear to be relaxed, there’s a lot of strong emotions involved.

That’s why I like to practice in a short 3 to 5 minute practice cycle, followed by a five or so minute rest and then another 3 to 5 minute practice cycle. Repeat that two or three times and then call it a day on a successful repetition. Always end on a positive!

To wrap up this West LA in-home dog training session, I pulled out my camera and the guardians record me as I filmed a roadmap to success summary video. I wanted to make sure I covered everything so that could remember all the dog behavior and training tips that we covered today. You can check out the summary video below