# shy dog, fearful dog ... what is the difference?



## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

I think there is a good deal of overlap, especially when the conversation is between different countries and regions that use words a little differently.

Also the dog's behavior is preceived differently depending on a person's experience. If someone is involved in rescuing abused puppy mill dogs and works with extreme fears, they might call and individual dog "confident". But from my perspective with service dogs, I might say the same dog is nervous/shy/fearful. 

Neither should be bred. Ever. For any reason. Not even for OFA excellent and a beautiful chest.

A responsible breeder will find homes for the less-than-perfect puppies, unless the dog is fearful to the point of dangerous. 

When everything possible is done to help the puppy (training, exercise, nutrition, environment change, etc) and it is still dangerous, the only ethical choice is to euthanize. This is extremely rare. I only know about 1 situation because I was the person to work with the dog for more than a year and ultimately had to make the choice to have her euthanized. She had every chance, everything we could do for her. But to be honest, she was suffering every day from unexplained fears. Even when she developed confidence, she had random aggressive outbursts.  The breeder is one of the most respected in their breed and this was the only time a dog was held back from sale for behavior in decades of breeding.


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## BorderKelpie (Dec 3, 2011)

IMO, and I could be wrong, but a genetically shy dog is a dog lacking in self-confidence, it's a fault in temperment that if not managed correctly, can make a dog dangerous (a frightened dog is more apt to bite than a confident dog). I don't think of submissive wetters as bad, just lacking a little in confidence and following instincts in pack placement, but they can and usually do overcome that with proper handling. A truly shy dog runs from contact, barks and even growls out of fear in an attempt to distance itself from the object/individual causing the fear. I've seen dogs like that actually soiling themselves while backing up, barking, growling and showing teeth. Corner that dog and you're in trouble. It's a desperate attempt to escape and it will defend itself. 
I'm thinking fearful may have something to do with fear periods which some dogs experience at fairly preset times during growth and maturity. When a young dog/pup all of a sudden realizes that there's a whole big, scary world out there and it is just a little individual trying to survive in it. Dependant upon management, the pup/dog recovers completely or learns to fear certain things, often for life. The fear periods seem to happen right about weaning time when the pup realizes it's not just part of a mass of warm bodies looking for milk and someone to take care of their every need and again when puberty hits and hormones start raging and the pup then realizes again that things are new and scary and weird. 
Fear can also be learned. I fostered a dog here that LOVED storms (as we do) he would hear thunder and ask to go outside to play in the rain. He was sent to live with someone and I didn't know until after the fact that her current dog is thunder phobic. When a storm hit, they coddled the original dog and accidently encouraged his fear, the new pup copied what he saw the older dog do and ran trembling into a crate to hide. This is a pup that not even a month ago, was happliy dancing in the rain. We're working with the new owner to fix the problem before it becomes a habit. 

A dog bred to have a good, solid, stable temperment will recover from frightening events quickly, a shy/fearful dog may recover much more slowly or not at all.


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## bellalisa (Oct 13, 2012)

According to Cesar Milan, a fearful dog is the "worst case scenario" as far as rehabilitation. He states that it is easier to rehabilitate an aggressive dog than a fearful dog. He is talking about the kind of dog that cowers in the corner, with its tale between its legs that is afraid of everything. It takes a lot of time to help these dogs (he says I dont have any experience myself).

As borderkelpie stated a lot of fears are just to certain things, possibly caused by an experience during their development- my rescue poodle as a fear of any stick like object: broom, umbrella, branch..even 5 years later I would think he would know I wont hit him with the broom, but if I have it, he tucks his tail and runs out of the room. But I would say he is overall a confident, happy, social dog.


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## BorderKelpie (Dec 3, 2011)

As much as I hate to say I agree with Cesar, yeah, I think fearful dogs like that are much more dangerous than an aggressive dog. It's also more common to see fear aggression than true aggression.


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## JACS_Kennels (Dec 9, 2011)

I have been teaching obedience (among other things) and doing behavior modification for 20+ years. I have worked with many many of these types of dogs, and have had a great amount of success. I currently have a DalX that we rescued at 4 months old and he is a classic example of a fearful dog. He has also gotten to the point that I have used him for behavior modification with client dogs and other rescue dogs, therapy visits including the lock down floor with alzheimer and dementia patients, a children's bite prevention program I developed, and a visit to a local autistic school where he "worked a room" full of autistic children.

There is definitely hope for these dogs! Granted, not all can get to this level but they can be reconditioned. Now, as far as breeding, I look at the factors that could have contributed to the dog's state of mind. For example, I don't care how stable your dog is if they are not properly socialized they will display behaviors that are extremely undesirable. And I have found with pretty much all of my poodles that they go through a fear period at an older age than other breeds I have worked with-I believe this goes along with the aloof quality. I would not necessarily count out a shy dog from a breeding program. There are other factors to consider. 

One thing I have consistently seen throughout my experience is fearful dogs being labeled aggressive. I have had clients call me and describe behaviors over the phone that are so stereotypical fear behaviors that I don't even have to evaluate (Note-I still do, as I refuse to diagnose from a client's recollection of behaviors). And then they tell me they called another trainer who promptly told them the dog was aggressive, they couldn't help, and the dog should be euthanized as it is dangerous. I would have to say, 90% of the "aggressive" dogs I work with are fearful. And 98% of them show great strides with some behavior mod techniques, which tells me it is more improper handling than temperament issues. And to be honest, the ones that don't improve are mostly due to owners NOT following the program. I have only seen one dog that I could not work with-a GSD that was so aggressive within 15 minutes I was dripping blood on the floor. And I still think the owner should have been euthanized along with it!!


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