My dog is afraid to go out after dark ever since he heard gunshots and fireworks over the holidays. Please help.

Question

Hi Cindy,

I have a 13 month old, 45 pound australian shepherd/border collie/lab mix that is great on walks during the day, but at night, he gets so scared and nervous! For some reason when night rolls around, he just shuts down and starts to cower, which I find odd. It all started on memorial day, when my family and I took him to the parade, he heard the guns and bands, and then he shut down. Whenever he heard a bang after that he freaked out! But I was able to get him out of that, whenever he heard a loud bang, I would give a small correction (we use a prong collar on him) and then he would snap out of it and keep going, then I would reward him with a treat.

Then the 4th of July happened, I was taking him out for a walk before the fireworks started in our area, but some jerk was getting ready to fire off his fireworks, and they squeled and made a huge BANG, and that's what started our trouble. At night he started to get scared, and even though I can still walk him, he just is very tense and nervous. I don't know what to do for him when he gets that bad, treats don't work for him in training anymore. If I run with him the whole time we are out he is a happy dog, or if I bike him, then we don't have a single problem. My parents said he will just grow out of it, or get used to it, but I have yet to see that happen. Also I don't pet him and tell him in a baby voice, "It's okay, you're alright," I know you are not supposed to do that.

When he hears a noise, I give a correction to snap him out of it and walk a little faster so he has to concentrate on that. The thing is, I can't go for fast paced walks all the time, my younger siblings are around and they just can't go that fast, and they LOVE walking with me and my dog.

Cindy please help me!

Thanks,
Cheyenne

Accepted Answer

The first thing I will say is to stop correcting him for being afraid. You will only make him a complete basket case if you continue. Imagine if you were afraid of something and every time you got a bit nervous someone gave you a jerk to try to get you over your fear. You would then become more apprehensive about the things you were nervous about because now you need to worry about your pack leader correcting you on top of everything else. Does that make sense?

The fact that he won’t take treats anymore tells you he is too stressed.

I would recommend taking a big step back, and work on building his trust in your leadership. This may mean avoiding situations that you know make him nervous for a good long while. This may also mean that your younger siblings are going to need to understand that it’s not in your dog’s best interest right now to go walking with him. Keep walks and outings all positive and show him you will protect him from things that make him uneasy. If he’s happiest running and biking then that’s what I would do with him right now.

I’d recommend the DVD Pack Structure for the Family Pet.

We also have a number of eBooks, which include topics that may help you.

You might also want to learn about marker training. I would read our article on training dogs with Markers.

This way you can work on easing him into walking after dark, and let him know in a way he understands that he’s doing the right thing. Nervous dogs love to know what’s coming next and marker training is a great way to engage him with you so he doesn’t have to focus on what he’s afraid of.

The Power of Training Dogs with Markers

We also carry a product called Rescue Remedy which can be given to the dog when you know he’s going to be put into a stressful situation. I know it works because I’ve tried it myself.

I hope this helps.

Cindy Rhodes