Resilience

Resilience: The capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.

As canine behavior consultants who specialize in more challenging cases, we are often presented with the request to help dogs “not be afraid” of the world around them. These emotions often seem irrational but can be important for survival. Fear and anxiety are very powerful emotions that can take over almost every aspect of one’s life. The trouble starts when dogs are afraid of something and it stays with them for much longer than is helpful or healthy. We see extremely fearful dogs like this often. Some dogs may encounter a scary or bothersome thing that will affect them for an extended period of time. This is an unhealthy fear response. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to teach a terrified dog anything while they are in the throes of that fear. By helping a dog become resilient, they can learn to recover more quickly thus they are more receptive to training. 

Sammy was extremely fearful, but teaching him resilience allowed him to thrive and climb to new heights.