My Neophobic Dog

Murray has always been a very strange dog. His puppy troubles, I assumed, were caused by our lack of experience. However, after living with him for over two years I now believe that any odd problems we’ve had with Murray have been because of his general weirdness. Those of you that have met him know what I’m talking about. Murray has always been afraid of situations and items that most dogs wouldn’t notice or care about, and he’s been perfectly fine with things that many dogs are fearful of. For example, he once freaked out because Shawn left dirty laundry in the living room. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t too happy about it either but Murray was more afraid than frustrated. At different times he was also afraid of tin foil, children, pillows, and bath towels. Things that he’s not afraid of, in fact things he loves despite the fact that these are common fears for many dogs, are thunderstorms (he loves the rain), balloons, paper towel tubes, and the laundry basket (he likes to carry it around).

When we first adopted Murray we wanted to make sure that we socialized him properly. Socialization is very important for pets. Socialization is the process of providing a pet with positive associations with people, places, and things. A well-socialized animal can accompany you on all kinds of outings such as hikes, expos and dog friendly events, pet stores, and outdoor restaurants without problems. Life is so much easier with a well-socialized pet. Scientists believe that the period from 4 to 14 weeks is the most important time for a puppy’s socialization. After 14 weeks that window for prime socialization begins to close. A well-socialized pup enjoys new places and people and believes the world is a safe place. A pup that missed the window for optimal socialization or is under-socialized will be fearful of new things (neophobic) and possibly develop fear related aggression. Murray was thirteen or fourteen weeks when we adopted him. Most of his window was spent in a kennel at the humane society.

Although Murray loves people overall, he still gets nervous from time to time. We took him to puppy classes when he was about 5 months old to get some help with training. They were able to answer questions we had, and the class helped him socialize with people and other dogs. I highly recommend puppy or obedience classes. Especially if you just got a dog. When you’re looking at trainers make sure they use Positive Reinforcement and not punishment or negative training tools such as choke collars, shock collars, physical correction (or hitting), or force. These kinds of techniques not only hurt your dog physically, but they can make him fearful, stressed, and can even bring on aggressive responses. Training like this can also seriously hurt your relationship with your dog. You know what works better than force? A cookie. What dog won’t work for a cookie?!

Anyway, the socialization process never ends. Casey and Pearl are in desperate need of constant practice, and it has become clear to me that even though Murray is a big love bug he needs persistent exposure to new things and people. It’s exhausting having dogs that are afraid of different things, but we manage and continue to work on overcoming these fears. So far Murray has conquered his fear of dirty clothes, tin foil, and bath towels. We’re still working on children and pillows.

There are some great books out there on training fearful dogs. Help for your Fearful Dog: A Step-by-Step Guide to Helping Your Dog Conquer his Fears by Nicole Wilde is a wonderful book full of useful information. It’s a great book to have even if you think your dog isn’t fearful. Also anything by Patricia B. McConnell is great!


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