Confidence is defined as feeling sure of yourself and your own abilities. You may not think about this in dogs but actually it is a really important concept. A confident dog will approach any new situation and believe that they can tackle it and get through it. If you think about all the situations your dog is faced with, how do they handle it?
When someone knocks on the door? Do they think this is nothing to worry about or get over excited about, I can just take it in my stride calmly!
When you meet another dog on a walk does your dog act confident? Does their body language look relaxed or do they tighten up a bit and walk stiffly? Or maybe freeze on the approach while they are assessing this other dog? Possibly they bark and lunge to the end of the lead?
If there is a black bag in the middle of the pavement that wasn’t there yesterday on your usual walk, do they just saunter by or do they look at it suspiciously, perhaps go still, stalk it, avoid it?
A confident dog looks at life very optimistically. They believe most things are nothing to worry about and will have either a positive outcome or at least not be bad!
Most the dogs I have trained lack a level of confidence. And sometimes it isn’t obvious to owners that this could be part of the problem. Dogs are very inquisitive beings. They want to know what is going on with everyone and everything especially if they aren’t sure if something is a good thing or not. If you have your dog on lead and they see another dog and they drag you over to get close, and then they start barking and lunging it may be tempting to think your dog is being aggressive or overly confident. After all, they have chosen to get closer. However, it is usually because they are uncertain about the situation, they aren’t really sure if they want to get close to this dog or not, but they need to find out! And once they start reacting they find it hard to move on and get over that encounter. This will then, most likely mean, that the reaction to the next dog will be even stronger, and so on. Confidence isn’t the only factor here, but if you have a very confident, self-assured dog they are more likely to be able to deal with the situation and then move on quite happily.
I do consider my own dog’s confidence levels and I have often thought Ava isn’t the most confident dog and I do put some effort into increasing her confidence. But she surprised me the other day when I had a metal pole in the living room that was part of some outside furniture we were putting together. She was not comfortable around this object at all. You could see from her body language she was moving very stiffly, she would lean towards it but with her back paws anchored to the floor. She would jump back if it moved a little. She was curious but she wasn’t sure in her own abilities to be able to deal with this alien! It was a very interesting observation and look for it in your own dog when there is something novel in the room or a piece of furniture has been moved around.
Reel of Ava and “The Pole”
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2P2CeRoVmj/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Once you have spotted times when your dog isn’t acting confident then the best thing to try and do at first is to avoid that situation if possible. It is very unlikely that just by putting them in that situation over and over again they are going to get any better at dealing with it and actually it is very likely you may make them worse. Take the example of being reactive to other dogs. You need to help build your dog’s confidence while trying to protect them from seeing other dogs. There are also other concepts you would need to work on but they are not covered here specifically. Then you can slowly start reintroducing them into situations where dogs might be but still trying to keep a distance. And over time, once you see they can cope at a distance you can start working on getting closer.
You might consider not taking your dog out for a walk at all and instead use that time to do some training. Dogs like to learn new things. You could teach them a trick. Can they do a “Paws up” where they put two feet up on an object. This is a great trick to build their confidence which you can use when out on a walk to make them feel more self-assured.
Middle is a great tool as well, teaching your dog to come between your legs. Ava enjoys this and I have noticed over time that if she is not confident about a situation, often when we meet a group of other dogs, she will come in to middle. This is her safe space, her choice to go there so it is how she chooses to cope which in turn helps her feel a little more sure about things.
Collect some cardboard boxes and noisy objects, pile them up in your living room and scatter some food around. Will your dog explore all the objects and get the food? Are they moving nice and freely around the boxes or are they stretching to get food without moving their back legs? You may need to start off simply with just one box or drinks can and then build up over time as they do get more confident. This is a great game for puppies. During my group classes that I run I always do one session on confidence and I bring a car full of novelty items, boxes, cushions, hula hoops, puzzle games for the dogs to take turns at exploring. It is great fun and fascinating to see how they react.
A couple of reels playing confidence games with my dogs
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C01Ybv3oqsy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cuzfb0LIsXQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Problem solving is great for dogs as well, it uses their brain and they get a sense of achievement when they win the reward. You can buy puzzle toys or you can make one of your own. Wrap some treats in some newspaper and stuff them in an egg carton, put this in a box and then let them try and work out how to get the treats. Or even spread some treats out on a towel and roll the towel and let your dog try and get to the treats. Do supervise your dog while they are doing this to make sure they aren’t eating anything they shouldn’t! Another good one is to use some cups or small bowls and hide a treat under one of them and let them sniff out where the treat is, can they work out how to turn the cup over to get the treat? Or hide some food behind a door or a barrier and tell them to get it.
Puzzle games
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2Uf57fokLB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
One thing I have been trying to do more with Ava (since the scary pole incident!) is give her more choice. When dog’s feel they have some agency in life and some sense of control this increases their confidence. Perhaps let your dog lead the walk and choose which way to go? Let them sniff for as long as they want to and go at the pace they want to. Or give your dog a choice of what food they can have for their dinner or which treat they can have. Which toy they can play with. Let them have a bit more freedom in the house so they can choose where to sleep or rest. Find something that is safe for your dog to be able to choose between and see how they like it. I let Ava choose the direction to walk today at a couple of junctions, and she seemed to enjoy it, I think she was a little surprised as I haven’t really done that before but she ran ahead with a spring in her step!
Hopefully there are some things here you can try with your dog if you feel they need a bit of a confidence boost. Some more trick training maybe, or problem solving or giving them a bit more choice. Observe then through every day life and see if they are being any more optimistic and relaxed in situations they used to find worrying.