Description
Price: $13.95 - $7.54
(as of Mar 02, 2025 13:36:33 UTC – Details)
Fifteen to twenty percent of dogs are born with a tendency towards introversion and fearfulness, leading to behaviors like uncontrolled submissive urination, fear-aggression, and inability to bond with humans. With understanding and the right training, fearful dogs need not be condemned as bad pets; rather, they can become some of the happiest and most deeply bonded dogs around—the epitome of great pets.
Publisher : Howell Book House; 1st edition (June 1, 1999)
Language : English
Paperback : 160 pages
ISBN-10 : 0876050364
ISBN-13 : 978-0876050361
Item Weight : 9.6 ounces
Dimensions : 5.69 x 0.41 x 9.14 inches
Customers say
Customers find the book helpful and encouraging for dog owners. They find the advice useful and straightforward, with common sense presented in an easy-to-understand manner. The book is described as a great resource and a good read.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
M. Martin –
Takes away your worries
I bought this after we adopted our first dog, who is fearful, shy and has (had) barely any self confidence.It was definitely a great resource for us.The book mixes general and specific information with several individual real-life case studies. Those are a good read all by themselves, and more than once brought a tear to my eye. It’s heart warming to read how far some dogs and their owners have come.The book is not purely about how to achieve this or that with a dog that’s shy or fearful. These tips are in there as well of course.But it will also get you into the right mindset of dealing with your dog, make sure you know what to expect and what is ‘normal’ and what isn’t.For me it was great to read that it is perfectly normal that training a dog like that will take longer, or the usual tricks simply won’t work.Luring a dog into a sit by moving a treat over his head for example. This work great for most dogs – but our dog used to run for cover if I moved my hand over his head in such a way. For a while I thought I might never be able to teach him anything.Reading this book took away a lot of my worries.By the way: My dog sits/lies down/stands/gives paw/stays like a pro now, and has been the envy of other dog owners in dog school.
Nicole Wilde –
Encouragement and Useful General Info
There is a lot to like about Deborah Wood’s book. She has an obvious compassion for dogs who are shy, and shares the story of her own timid dog, as well as others. Wood gives tips on how to make the shy dog’s everyday life easier (for example, keeping a regular routine), and gives examples of body language that indicate fear, which is invaluable to owners. I liked the brief section on what specifically to watch for when training a shy dog, and the suggestions on games and fun activities. My only wish for this book is that it had more specific step-by-step information on what to do for shy dogs in specific situations, for example, when visitors come over, or when the dog has to visit the vet. But all in all, the book should be very helpful and encouraging to owners of shy dogs as well as those who rescue and foster dogs.- Nicole Wilde, author Help for Your Fearful Dog: A Step-by-Step Guide to Helping Your Dog Conquer His Fears, So You Want to be a Dog Trainer (2nd edition) and Energy Healing for Dogs: Using Hands-On Healing to Improve Canine Health and Behavior
ROBERT –
Great Book
Great book! Good advice! All common sense but presented in a way that ties it all together for you. I you have a VERY shy dog that is fearful of everything. He may never be the outgoing dog that some people would want but he is a dog that loves me completely. This book explains how to make him the best he can be and how to bring him to that point through love and attention. I started with a shy dog that would not let anyone touch him and was afraid of any noise to a dog that is on his way to being an Master agility dog. A MUST for a shy dog owner.
Sharon california –
Three Stars
pretty good book, mostly common sense, but good info for someone with a shy dog. sharon california
Seth Grandeau –
I’m so glad I found this bood!
We recently adopted a dog, from the south, who had been in very abusive living situations and was incrediby timid. She hid from us, in the house, she panicked at every sound or person she encountered outside. I was very worried that we may have made a mistake. This book helped me feel so much better, just reading that other people have gone through this same thing and come out the other side with happy healthy dogs. The advice in this book and the sharing of others experiences has made the process much easier for us. I particularly appreciated the stories from other dog owners that are included. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone who is adopting a dog from a shelter or rescue organization!
kattwmn –
A quick read.
I was able to read this book in one evening and handed it to my husband to read… I think it’s got a lot of helpful information if you’ve never dealt with a shy dog. The biggest problem for us and applying these methods to our shy dog is that he’s over 100 lbs and not quite the same as working with the Papillon the author has. But much of it is just “common sense” and I DO recommend reading this book if you have a shy dog — it’s worth spending an evening if you can help your dog gain any confidence.
Pro Trainer –
Traditional, old school, disappointing
What a disappointment. This book reads as if it is written by a novice who doesn’t understand fear in dogs at all. The methods recommended are pressure, force and flooding, rather than a more humane approach using desensitization and counter conditioning and other science based methods. I do not recommend this book as there are many books on the market that use methods that actually help the dog feel better rather than just forcing them to endure it.
PDX-TBH –
How to address the problems of a shy dog
We have a new, shy rescue dog. A copy of this book was originally loaned to us by a dog trainer. It describes our dog and his problems perfectly. I had looked at other books but they offered a section, at best, on this problem. This is the only book I’ve found that addresses the problems and what to do about them. I was getting very frustrated with the problems we were having. Knowing that others have the same problems, and reading about how to address them, has given me the patience to work with our dog.
lildevilrose –
Good book
Joanna Gallivan-Smith –
Easy to understand and full of practical tips. We are adopting a shy dog and the book helped me to feel prepared, in particular with recognizing/interpreting signs and behaviours appropriately.
GT –
This book covers different behavioral l problems but doesn’t spend too much time on each behaviour. I still found it helpful though as I have just adopted a rescue dog who is very handshy and there are sections of the book which are helpful.
Annika Bengtsson –
Nice!
lin –
Not bad but not very comprehensive.