# A little success with Riley's fear of other dogs



## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

Way to go Riley!!!! Hopefully with good experiences like that Riley will get over his fear of big dogs.


----------



## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

I'm hoping! If we can avoid the neighborhood dogs who are out of control and keep building on good experiences like this one, he might just decide that other dogs aren't all that bad.


----------



## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

That sounds like such a great icebreaker! Little by little I'll bet Riley will be fine with other dogs.

Even though he had a bad experience, it's a good thing it's not an internal anxiety he was born with (like my Gunner).


----------



## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

Debles said:


> That sounds like such a great icebreaker! Little by little I'll bet Riley will be fine with other dogs.
> 
> Even though he had a bad experience, it's a good thing it's not an internal anxiety he was born with (like my Gunner).


Yeah, luckily I don't think it's that serious. He was fine around other dogs (a little aloof, if anything) until that one incident. Granted, this boy has the memory of an elephant and isn't likely to forget it anytime soon, but I think we can overcome it if we can keep giving him good experiences like this one.
Avoiding the neighborhood crazies in the meantime is the challenge!


----------



## goldensmum (Oct 23, 2007)

Good one Riley - sounds like because it was totally unexpected neither of you had chance to get worried about it - hope his improvement continues.


----------



## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

goldensmum said:


> Good one Riley - sounds like because it was totally unexpected neither of you had chance to get worried about it - hope his improvement continues.


I think that had a lot to do with it. I didn't even have time to _think_ 'Oh boy, Riley's gonna be afraid.' Then when he saw me petting the pup, I think he figured that it must be okay.

That's one thing I need to pay attention to. I need to pay attention to how _I _react when we encounter another dog. Knowing Riley, if I'm worried about him being afraid, even for a second or two, he's picking up on it and it's probably making him nervous.


----------

