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Is your dog afraid of strangers? Would he rather hide than play with other dogs? Does he take cover at the sound of thunder, or cringe when you pick up a brush or nail clippers? Never fear! Whatever your dog is afraid of, this comprehensive guide to the treatment of canine anxiety, fears and phobias can help. Topics include learning how to read your dog's stress signals; how your attitude affects your dog's behavior; how to set up a Firm Foundation program at home; how to establish leadership so your dog will feel more secure; the influence of good nutrition and regular exercise on your dog's fear issues; four essential skills to teach, and how to apply them in everyday life; and much more. Written by a professional trainer/behavior consultant of over 20 years who specializes in fear issues, the book includes easy-to-follow, step-by-step behavior modification programs that really work. 15 specific fears are addressed, including those of people, other dogs, sounds, touch, nail-clipping, riding in the car, and being left alone. Get advice on products and cutting-edge complementary therapies that can help to calm your cautious canine. Filled with photographs, illustrations, and over 400 pages of specific, immediately useful advice, written in a down-to-earth and humorous style.
- GenresDogsNonfictionAnimals
386 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
143 people are currently reading
280 people want to read
About the author
Nicole Wilde
22 books37 followersNicole Wilde is an internationally recognized, award-winning author and lecturer, as well as a professional canine behavior specialist and Certified Professional Dog Trainer. Her twelve books include Help for Your Dog-Reactive Dog, Don’t Leave Me, Help for Your Fearful Dog, and Keeping the Peace: A Guide to Solving Dog-Dog Aggression in the Home. She is on the Advisory Board for the Companion Animal Sciences Institute, the Advisory Board for Victoria Stilwell’s Positively Academy, and the Advisory Board for Apex Protection Project. She is also the Behavior Consultant for Villalobos Rescue Center and has appeared as a trainer on the television show Pit Bulls & Parolees.
Nicole has written training and behavior articles and blogs for various publications including the Huffington Post, as well as for her own blog, Wilde About Dogs, and is a regular contributor to Modern Dog Magazine. She co-stars in the DVD "Train Your Dog: The Positive Gentle Method," and co-hosted the Dog Talk radio show where her experience, humor and quick wit were put to good use. Nicole lectures worldwide at conferences and for training clubs, humane societies, and other groups.
Always having had a special place in her heart for dogs in need, Nicole served as Volunteer Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles’ Animal Services, where she instructed volunteers in handling and behavior, worked with hundreds of dogs, and acted as an adoption counselor. After moving to L.A. County, she volunteered for a County shelter. At both shelters, her efforts were instrumental in many dogs finding loving homes. In addition to working with dogs,
Nicole has worked with rescued wolves and wolfdogs for over twenty years and is considered an expert in the field. She was Executive Director for Villalobos Rescue Center, which was at the time a sanctuary for rescued wolves and wolfdogs, as well as pit bulls and exotic animals. Nicole’s specialty was socializing the fearful wolves who were to live out their lives at the center, and she ended up bringing home three of the especially needy residents to live out their lives with her and her husband. Nicole has presented wolfdog education seminars to animal control officers, schools and specialty groups. Her experience is rounded out by having supervised 40-50 off-leash dogs daily at a doggy daycare, working at a veterinarian’s office, serving as Editor/Chief Writer for Get-A-Pet magazine, and many years of teaching dog training group classes as well as private lessons.
Nicole is also a photographer and digital artist who loves to use her talents to help animals in need. She photographs dogs to improve their chances of adoption, and donates artwork to various animal-related organizations to raise funds. Nicole owns and operates Gentle Guidance Dog Training in Santa Clarita, California. She lives with two rescued northern breed mixes, sled loads of dog hair, and one very understanding husband. Nicole continues to write books, teach seminars, train dogs, volunteer, assist in wolfdog rescue, and to help dogs in any way she can.
You can find Nicole's books, seminar DVDs and Wilde About Dogs blog at www.nicolewilde.com, her pet portraits at www.goodmojopetportraits.com, and her artwork at www.photomagicalart.com.
And you can find Nicole on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NicoleWildeA...) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/NicoleWilde)
Nicole has written training and behavior articles and blogs for various publications including the Huffington Post, as well as for her own blog, Wilde About Dogs, and is a regular contributor to Modern Dog Magazine. She co-stars in the DVD "Train Your Dog: The Positive Gentle Method," and co-hosted the Dog Talk radio show where her experience, humor and quick wit were put to good use. Nicole lectures worldwide at conferences and for training clubs, humane societies, and other groups.
Always having had a special place in her heart for dogs in need, Nicole served as Volunteer Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles’ Animal Services, where she instructed volunteers in handling and behavior, worked with hundreds of dogs, and acted as an adoption counselor. After moving to L.A. County, she volunteered for a County shelter. At both shelters, her efforts were instrumental in many dogs finding loving homes. In addition to working with dogs,
Nicole has worked with rescued wolves and wolfdogs for over twenty years and is considered an expert in the field. She was Executive Director for Villalobos Rescue Center, which was at the time a sanctuary for rescued wolves and wolfdogs, as well as pit bulls and exotic animals. Nicole’s specialty was socializing the fearful wolves who were to live out their lives at the center, and she ended up bringing home three of the especially needy residents to live out their lives with her and her husband. Nicole has presented wolfdog education seminars to animal control officers, schools and specialty groups. Her experience is rounded out by having supervised 40-50 off-leash dogs daily at a doggy daycare, working at a veterinarian’s office, serving as Editor/Chief Writer for Get-A-Pet magazine, and many years of teaching dog training group classes as well as private lessons.
Nicole is also a photographer and digital artist who loves to use her talents to help animals in need. She photographs dogs to improve their chances of adoption, and donates artwork to various animal-related organizations to raise funds. Nicole owns and operates Gentle Guidance Dog Training in Santa Clarita, California. She lives with two rescued northern breed mixes, sled loads of dog hair, and one very understanding husband. Nicole continues to write books, teach seminars, train dogs, volunteer, assist in wolfdog rescue, and to help dogs in any way she can.
You can find Nicole's books, seminar DVDs and Wilde About Dogs blog at www.nicolewilde.com, her pet portraits at www.goodmojopetportraits.com, and her artwork at www.photomagicalart.com.
And you can find Nicole on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NicoleWildeA...) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/NicoleWilde)
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 8, 2014
Thoughtfully and conveniently organized and clearly written with practical solutions to just about every common source of dog fear and anxiety, Wilde's work gave me huge insights into both of my dog's behaviors by the time I was finished with just the first couple of chapters. A lot of the work is common sense, but presented in language that may help you verbalize things that you've noticed about your dog for a long time, but just couldn't express.
Help For Your Fearful Dog introduces the common causes and levels of the fear spectrum as they apply to dogs (although really, Wilde applies understandings from human behavior that apply across the animal kingdom), then moves on to discussing the way reconditioning works in general. Wilde presents step-by-step instructions for developing confidence boosting skills in your dog before working on their phobias and anxieties noting that the basis of counterconditioning has to be your dog's basic ability to follow instructions and to focus on you when giving instructions - particularly in emotionally charged settings where your dog's system is being flooded by adrenaline. The skills are presented in order of complexity, building on each other with a training regime that is easy to follow and broken into steps. Wilde notes signs of mastery and lays out a plan of increasing complexity for the lazy person in all of us. Really all you need to do is go chapter by chapter and give it 3-5 mintues at a time 2-3 times a day. The latter half is more of a fear-specific laundry list of prescribed counterconditioning and desensitization exercises for particular phobias. Everything from loud noises to fear of other dogs or the mail man are covered. Each of these chapters has a program to follow laid out in easy steps and, what I liked best, contain suggestions on what to do if things go wrong (which they always do).
Wilde's work should be considered definitive. The rational academic in me appreciated a list of further reading and cited sources at the end of the work. My two dogs suffer from fear of loud noises and a fear of other dogs when on leash out in public respectively and for the first time I feel like I've been picking up on body language symbols they've probably been sending me since the beginning and now I know what to do with them. Great book if you have a timid or anxious dog. It's an easy read. The hard part, like always, is finding time to follow through with the desensitization routine, but Wilde makes it incredibly easy to schedule that time. Do your dog a favor and read this book!
Help For Your Fearful Dog introduces the common causes and levels of the fear spectrum as they apply to dogs (although really, Wilde applies understandings from human behavior that apply across the animal kingdom), then moves on to discussing the way reconditioning works in general. Wilde presents step-by-step instructions for developing confidence boosting skills in your dog before working on their phobias and anxieties noting that the basis of counterconditioning has to be your dog's basic ability to follow instructions and to focus on you when giving instructions - particularly in emotionally charged settings where your dog's system is being flooded by adrenaline. The skills are presented in order of complexity, building on each other with a training regime that is easy to follow and broken into steps. Wilde notes signs of mastery and lays out a plan of increasing complexity for the lazy person in all of us. Really all you need to do is go chapter by chapter and give it 3-5 mintues at a time 2-3 times a day. The latter half is more of a fear-specific laundry list of prescribed counterconditioning and desensitization exercises for particular phobias. Everything from loud noises to fear of other dogs or the mail man are covered. Each of these chapters has a program to follow laid out in easy steps and, what I liked best, contain suggestions on what to do if things go wrong (which they always do).
Wilde's work should be considered definitive. The rational academic in me appreciated a list of further reading and cited sources at the end of the work. My two dogs suffer from fear of loud noises and a fear of other dogs when on leash out in public respectively and for the first time I feel like I've been picking up on body language symbols they've probably been sending me since the beginning and now I know what to do with them. Great book if you have a timid or anxious dog. It's an easy read. The hard part, like always, is finding time to follow through with the desensitization routine, but Wilde makes it incredibly easy to schedule that time. Do your dog a favor and read this book!
January 16, 2023
It was the first book about dog training that I’ve finished. It is very comprehensive - not only for fearful dog owners - it includes basic training and general advice for beginners.
The guide for dealing with fearful dog problems itself is well written and easy to follow. The exercises and techniques used could be implemented right away. Altough the “healing” process itself seems to be very time consuming and long, it seems like the best way - it is gentle and puts the dog’s well being at the center.
There is also an inclusion of complementary therapies, some of which I personally find fraudulent (like homeopathy). Some might think that inclusion of such therapies makes the book more thorough, to me it was just unnecessary and it damaged the book’s credibility in the first place.
The guide for dealing with fearful dog problems itself is well written and easy to follow. The exercises and techniques used could be implemented right away. Altough the “healing” process itself seems to be very time consuming and long, it seems like the best way - it is gentle and puts the dog’s well being at the center.
There is also an inclusion of complementary therapies, some of which I personally find fraudulent (like homeopathy). Some might think that inclusion of such therapies makes the book more thorough, to me it was just unnecessary and it damaged the book’s credibility in the first place.
November 20, 2016
I found this book by chance in my Pinterest feed and wondered how the hell I hadn't gone looking for a book specifically about this already, since my beautiful boy is timid and needs some extra help these days getting out for a walk. I found the book very informative, not just on understanding the signs of fearfulness in a dog (there are more signs than I knew about) but on helping to foster self esteem and confidence of the dog and teaching behaviours that will help dog and owner face fear triggers together in a loving way. Our walks are improving already and its only been 3 days. I'm also going to get a clicker and work a lot more with my dog who has specific phobias of thunder and jets that fly overhead when we are walking and sound like thunder, plus general anxiety where he often is keen to go for a walk but when we are out on the street is too anxious to go along like he used to. By changing my approach to his hesitation its helped already and I'm looking forward to seeing how far we can go.
March 11, 2012
My pup began to display fear aggression after undergoing surgery to have her hip removed at four months of age. When I contacted the behaviorist at the shelter where I got my pup, she gave me some advice and recommended this book. I cringed whenever the author mentioned wolves for any reason. These sections were poorly researched and perpetuated some horrible myths. But I was willing to overlook this issue, since these sections were few and far between, and more importantly because the practical training information was very helpful. I also like the way the book is designed. It is easy to skip over chapters that do not apply to your dog and skim the chapter summary if you are uncertain. Despite this, I found I read most of the book anyway, and then referred back to particularly pertinent chapters to refresh my memory and stay on track.
July 8, 2016
Some really good advice. Most of it is is common sense, but some suggestions surprised me. I think it's a must read for anyone with a fearful dog. Easy to relate to, plus stories of dogs who have overcome their fears.
May 1, 2008
This is a great book- even for people who DON'T have a fearful dog! It covers the importance of training, and outlines a training program that really ALL owners should follow.
January 12, 2025
A mine of information (and a bit of misinformation) for owners looking to remedy anxiety both in general and in very specific situations -- fear of thunderstorms, leashes, grooming, children, being left alone, beeping appliances and lots more. The instructions, for their part, manage the neat trick of being minutely detailed yet easy to follow. Not much use to me, as my own dog's problems with others of her species seem to land somewhere between fear and mere introversion, which had better not be considered a behavioral problem for both our sakes. It's true that when she does decide to play with another dog, she's nearly clueless about how to get things going. Maybe she needs a life coach and not a behaviorist.
I could have lived without the chapter on homeopathy, which informs us that precise dosing isn't crucial: "Since the medicines work on an energetic level, it is more important that the subject be exposed to the vibrational energy of the remedy, which is what induces the change." But she rejects other folklore, like the notion that you have to show a dog who's the "alpha" by displays of dominance that would make Andrew Tate roll his eyes, so I'll give her this one.
I could have lived without the chapter on homeopathy, which informs us that precise dosing isn't crucial: "Since the medicines work on an energetic level, it is more important that the subject be exposed to the vibrational energy of the remedy, which is what induces the change." But she rejects other folklore, like the notion that you have to show a dog who's the "alpha" by displays of dominance that would make Andrew Tate roll his eyes, so I'll give her this one.
June 30, 2022
Sehr gutes Buch, das mit wirklich hilfreichen Tipps bei der Verhaltensänderung hilft. Dabei werden sowohl Ursachen, Grundlagen und klassische Methoden, sowie alternative Behandlungsmethoden aufgezeigt. Ich werde die Methoden unbedingt ausprobieren. Einige Übungen haben mit meinem Hund bislang sehr gut funktioniert.
July 5, 2020
A Great Starter Read...
Helpful, will continue to reference, and so many great additional resources cited that I am cross-referencing and trying to learn from...rescuing a dog can be tricky.
Helpful, will continue to reference, and so many great additional resources cited that I am cross-referencing and trying to learn from...rescuing a dog can be tricky.
June 9, 2017
super helpful and insightful -- best of the four books I have read on the subject.
March 27, 2021
Obowiązkowa lektura dla każdego opiekuna, nie tylko tych z nas których czworonożni przyjaciele są lękliwi.
November 27, 2022
Ein sehr umfassender Ratgeber mit vielen hilfreichen Denkanstössen. 👍🏼 Des Öfteren gibt es Wiederholungen von bereits Gesagtem. Das gefiel mir nicht soo gut. Deshalb gebe ich 4 statt 5 Sterne. 👌🏼😊
October 7, 2009
I recently adopted Daisy, a 5 year old Maltese who was rescued from a puppy mill. She's a good dog but she has a lot of fear issues. The Humane Society recommended this book. I found it very helpful in connection with the Shy Dog classes we took at the Humane Society training center. The book does not address the use of clickers but I would guess that future editions will. Great book if your dog has fear issues!
July 29, 2009
I found this book to be very helpful after I adopted an adult dachshund with separation anxiety and territorial aggression. Lots of helpful suggestions and a great section at the end where it discusses pretty much everything out there you can try to manage your dogs anxiety and behavioral levels from DAP colors and herbal supplements to halters and bark collars...
July 28, 2011
A really in depth look at the causes, solutions and pitfalls in your dog's fear related issues. I appreciated the down to earth solutions described here, as well as the honest assessment of problems. It got at the academics of dog training without getting dull, like many books.
April 22, 2013
Everyone kept telling me my little rescue dog had fear aggression issues but I was actually able to attend a two day long seminar with Nicole Wilde. Turns out my dog has resource guarding issues. Still, the book is excellent. Nicole really knows her stuff.
August 4, 2011
I was looking for a more in depth discussion of how to train the things that she talks about in this book. It was a good high level book, though, and kept me interested through the whole thing
March 20, 2012
Great book!
If your dog is afraid of anything you must read it!
I didn't know also that targeting is so important.
If your dog is afraid of anything you must read it!
I didn't know also that targeting is so important.
February 18, 2013
Reading, guess will help me a bit and am thinking that maybe I am not in mood for giving it back to its proper owner :) ?
July 2, 2016
Brilliant! Great insights, even for non-fearful dogs.
July 24, 2009
Awesome book with lots of good ideas and training tips!
Read
December 18, 2018It was a good book for anyone that is new to a fearful dog. I've had several and continue to learn a lot but did pick up a few tips and tricks from the book.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews