DOG IS TERRIFIED OF ME. BEST WAY TO TRAIN FEARFUL, NERVOUS DOG.

Oso is my 2 year-old, Australian Shepherd mix. He was adopted from a shelter at 8 months old and owner-surrendered (we do not know the reason). We have struggled to expose him to new surroundings, dogs, and people because of his extreme fear and anxiety. We researched to find help for him at many places but they all said they would enforce an "e-collar" method to help with his reactivity and fear. We knew that this was NOT the right thing to do and eventually we came across Joel's YouTube channel and we were sold. We believe in Joel's methods and hope that Oso will come home a happier dog. We can't wait to see more updates! Thank you for the hopeful comments 💛

The ”learning themselves” part is very important. I used to be a search and rescue dog handler and trainer back in the mid 90s and early 2000s. My girlfriend at the time had a 2 year old Boxer that showed great potential, but he had some problems with certain surfaces. His greatest one was climbing in piles of old car tires. We started staying late after training sessions to work on this problem. We tried to force him a little at first which led to him climbing but with great insecurity. Not the result we wanted. Instead we (me and Sara) climbed up and just sat there talking to eachother with him (Sid) looking from the ground. Sid clearly wanted to be with us but was too afraid. The first session it took him half an hour to work up the guts to start climbing. His drive to be with his pack finally overshaddowed his fear. A week later he started climbing after 10-15 minutes. A couple of sessions later he followed us up as soon as we started climbing. A couple of months later Sid was the best dog in the group when it came to finding people hidden in piles of tires. His confidence in these situations was amazing. That’s what letting them learn for themselves can do.

I so LOVE that you modify your approach and technique specific to each individual dogs needs. That’s the sign of an expert level truly invested professional. Honestly. You’re not overbearing but you’re also not backing off. You’re taking the time and care this guy needs. I’m super impressed at your ability to adapt to the ever changing situation of your work. This guy will be such a happier healthier well balanced dog for your helping him the way you did.

I have a 7 month old foster dog that is afraid of everything. She was abused. After watching some of your videos I managed to get her to go for a 20 minute walk. Before your video I couldn’t even get her to leave the driveway. She is terrified of people, kids and dogs. We have many kids in the neighborhood and if she seen them or even heard them she would pee and cower on the ground. I got her past 2 kids in the neighborhood and a 20 minute walk is a massive improvement. Thank you.

3:20 I love that part " I'm just a dude attached to this leash aswell! I don't know where I am! " and no eye contact. Just such awesome to see this appropriate body language towards this fearful dog.

I’m about to start volunteering at a local shelter, and when I toured the facility, there were many dogs like this. So despite it being a different situation, this will be very helpful information for me

I've been working with dogs for nearly 10 years. I love working with the fearful ones. That instance a fearful dog trusts you is so gratifying.

I’m glad to see this dog getting the gentle help he needs.

THIS is the content I really wanted to see. My imported ex street dog has properly deep rooted fear. God knows what happened to him. When we got him he was like Oso in many ways, crossed with how Ava was, you remember her? Ex street dog who did a board and train? We've had our boy 15 months and he's 60% improved (and lead reactivity 95% improved) but the remaining 40% is so ingrained it seems reflexive, automatic, instinctual. I feel so reassured because we've taken exactly the approach Joel has here. "We're going to be kind and supportive, but we are going to do this". We've really adjusted our expectations for our boy too. We have got him to the point where he will enjoy a walk and he's OK around the house and garden. He's never going to be a dog that will cope with going in to coffee shops or busy towns, his hypervigilence would take days to wear off if we tried it. But we just accept he's doing the best he can and so are we, and it is what it is. We love him and do what we can to make his life happy, enriched and enjoyable by his standards. 😊

My friend has a sheltie like this. She was scared of all dogs and all ppl because her owner played into her fears therefore consolidating them. She would jump up on the nearest table to escape my dog, but as soon as she realsied my dog was under my control and wasn't allowed to play rough or jump on her she relaxed. After a week of walking she started drinking from the public water bubbler, directly following my dog's lead. Then she started running through long grass playing 'jumping' in and out of the long grass to find a ball while my dog waits. Now she will even scent the ball out if she loses track of it, and the look of confidence on her little face is so incredible and satisfying. She is also running out into water to fetch a ball and will bound into the kids playground trampoline to get the ball. The one common demoninator behind all her fears is her owner. At every step it was always, ' oh daisy won't do that, Daisy will never do that.' But not once when Daisy did do it did the owner ever cheer her on or reward her. The other day she actually pooped in public for the very first time and even drank from a rainwater puddle! something I was encouraging and her owner always scolded her for as dirty. I cheered her on and laughed, saying she has passed her intitiations to become a dog! It has been a very big learning curve for all involved. I hope the owners, should they read this, do not take what I've said the wrong way. After your dog is back to being a dog, you will one day notice someone scoop up their tiny anxious puppy as your bigger dog approaches, and you first thought will be: big mistake.

I noticed when you talk softly to him he’s calmer. As soon as you switch and talk to camera the fear kicks back in because when you talk to the camera our more blunt and semi aggressive speaking. In the house as soon as you spoke to camera he responded and hunkered down. Same when you were under the umbrella, his response hit as soon as you spoke to the cam.

God Bless the owners who adopted this beautiful sweet dog. Joel you are amazing every time.

Your words here are so important. One might be tired, exhausted, don't feel like getting up and going out and taking the pup out for yet more exposure. But one must. One must make the commitment, and follow through.

I can do this all day doesn’t just apply to correcting the dog. It also means I am patient and I will wait for the dog to make decision to trust me. 🐕😊

Interesting that Prince seemed MUCH more wary of an anxious dog than I've seen him be with aggressive dogs.

Awww thanks so much for this video. My 11 month old guy is suddenly in a fear phase where he is fearful of sound, manholes and cats. He used to love car rides and now he hides under the seat covers. I will follow his journey!!!

I am looking forward to seeing more of Oso. It’s heart wrenching when a dog is so fearful that it’s interfering with the joys in the life of a dog. I have had fearful dogs in the past, patience is key and also keeping expectations realistic, so that the dog builds confidence with each step.

My family and I once fostered a young border collie who was scared of everything. She was around 6 months old maybe a bit older. We lived in a gated neighbourhood which was basically a circle, so everyone knew everybody and this really helped. The people at the shelter told us that we could name her since she didn’t really have a name, they just called her sweetie, baby, pumpkin, things like that. So we named her Kira. (It’s kinda pronounced kee-ra since we named her when in Mexico so the i is pronounced like an English e) When I say she was scared of everything, I mean she was scared of everything. She was scared of a leaf falling down a tree. She was scared of men more than women, especially if they had a baseball cap on. There were a lot of kids in my neighborhood (I was a kid aswell) so that was nice cause there were usually always people outside. They really helped us out with Kira by just standing close to us when talking when we had Kira on a leash. Fast forward 2 months later, she was great with the kids and pretty good with men. She sometimes played soccer with the boys by just chasing the ball around, it was fun. At some point we had to visit family and couldn’t bring Kira with us so we left her at those overnight boarding houses. They were really nice, they all stopped wearing baseball caps cause Kira was really really scared of them, she even started liking one of the male employees and would run up to him. She started getting better with dogs (there was a park where people bring their dogs right outside our neighborhood) it was great, even started playing with them. She was fine with being near strangers. Only thing she didn’t really get over were the baseball caps. Sorry for the long comment lol

Looking forward to seeing this guy's progress.

Love that Oso's owners came to you and did not give up on this beautiful dog! Can't wait to see how far he goes!