My nearly 3 yr old yorkie is sometimes very fearful. The fire alarm , for example sends her into complete terror. A power outage is anther good example of fear , shaking, and running as fast as she can to get away.
What I do is allow her to go in one of the bedrooms. She likes my sons room the best. We do comfort her to a certain extent. It it too hard to ignore her when she is so scared . My son does most of the holding and reassuring her that it will be allright. I hope it is not reinforcing the behavior.... We just want to show her we care , and help her feel safe. I do not think a little comfort is a bad thing to do. She is fearful of riding in the car too. We do our best though. She use to become carsick. Not anymore.
She is a very good little watchdog though. Loves people, and very energetic. Those qualities far outweigh her fears . Suzi has not gotten use to the things that scare her either. I don't think we can desesintize all of her fears.
One other thing she is scared of is the stairs off our balcony. This is a + . She never runs down them. OUr shih tzu has followed in her footsteps. Thankgoodness for that.
Sometimes fear can be a good thing.
__________________  "No matter how little money & how few possessions, you own, having a dog makes you rich."  |