Confidence in Dogs

Is confidence important for dogs?? It absolutely is!

Just like humans, confidence is a foundation for helping our dogs be more resilient and cope with stressors in life. It is also a foundation for our obedience skills. Think of it this way, if your dog is worried in a new environment or on a walk, chances are you will have a dog pulling on lead! So confidence also helps with strong obedience skills.

One of the most important things for puppies is confidence growth, but we can still grow confidence in older dogs too! How do we do this?

Games

Not only do games help with confidence and optimism, they are also a great relationship builder between dog and owner!

Tricks such as spin, bow, roll over, weave, figure of 8 to name a few
Funder (toss a treat though your legs, repeat)
Typhoon (toss a treat out in front, as your dog returns to you, lure in between your legs and around one leg, then toss treat out in front again. Repeat around both legs)
Middle (goal: dog sits in between your legs, facing the same direction as you. Start with Funder to get them use to going through your legs, then cue a sit in between your legs (lure at the start if need be), mark ‘yes’ and reward this, repeat)

Body awareness

Believe it or not, helping our dogs learn to be aware of their body, also know as proprioception, can have great impacts on confidence growth and also aid in injury prevention. Proprioception is knowing where your body/limbs are in space, so we want to help our dogs know where they are placing their paws in relation to the space around them. Some ways we can do this include:

2 paws ‘up’ on stable platforms, with traction. This can be front and hind legs
Side stepping
‘Back up’ This one is a GREAT one or dogs to learn
Working up to unstable surfaces, create a little obstacle course from couch cushions and items at home for them to walk over, with treats of course! Always ensure surfaces are safe

Problem solving

This can be teaching new skills that involve the dog figuring out what we’re after, instead of us showing what we want. For example, hand targeting ‘touch’, we can use a method called free-shaping, where we reward the approximations to the end goal, being a nose touch to the hand at varying distances, with varying distractions.

Cardboard chaos is another great one. Gather a bunch of different sized cardboard boxes and lay them out and stack them on each other. Sprinkle treats around and inside and on top of, so your dog has to move through, under and around to get the treats!

Different surfaces

Introducing puppies and dogs to different textures can be great for confidence growth. If you see a surface that is a different texture and it is safe to do so, encourage the dog to either put 2 front paws on the surface or walk over it with a treat lure.

CAUTION: We want to be observing the dogs body language, sometimes using a treat lure to do something the dog is worried about, can cause conflict for the dog, if they are showing they are worried of the surface, don’t then try to lure them over. Grow their confidence around it.

Nose works

Did you know dogs can smell 10,000 times better than humans? Sniffing is also naturally calming for dogs, so it is great to encourage this. Nose works is an activity that can be utilised in new and different environments and help dogs grow their confidence. It is also great for mental stimulation. Nose works can involve teaching a dog to scent out certain odours or putting out hides of food in different spots in a room or yard for the dog to find.

Have about 4-5 small boxes or tubs (not too big, but big enough so they can get their head in). Lay them out in a line and put a high value, smelly treat in 2-3 of the boxes
Bring the dog to the room, say ‘search!’ and let them investigate the boxes and find the treats
Once they have found the treats, say ‘all done!’ and help them out of the room
Repeat above for 3-4 runs, changing the boxes that have the treats between each run
Repeat above until consistent. Next change the placement of the boxes and scatter them to make it harder
Once the dog has full understanding of the game and they investigate each box, take the boxes outside to the yard (air flow/wind can change direction of odour, making it harder or them)
Once consistent, take the boxes to the park! You can also add in more boxes