Invisible Fence was a bad idea.

[raeharris1]

My Boston Terrier, Sammy, is the best dog I've ever had. Early on she was highly trainable and still is. Once she was full grown she began jumping our 4 ft fence and since our Association won't allow a fence she wouldn't get over, we trained her on an invisible fence to keep her on the property. She did well and a shock was never needed as she responded to the warning beeps immediately. She doesn't even need the colar to stay on the property and we use positive reinforcement to continue keeping her where she belongs. I wish I had seen the show before going that route and I know better now.

So what's the problem? Well what would you think... she is frightened by anything that beeps; cell phones, the car, laptops. She has other anxieties that we would like to relieve as well like the guitar, plastic bags and umbrellas. Any suggestions for helping to relieve her anxieties? We begain touch training with the cell phones and it's working slowly but I hate to see her nervous or hiding over these everyday things. Any suggestions?

[Dakine'smama]

My dog has similar fears of baths and cars. Now he's totally fine with baths as we've taught him that he gets a treat when he's calm in the bath and now he associates bath time with good things happening (ie treats). We're working on cars now by trying to distract him from what he's afraid of by squeaking a toy. I'm not a dog trainer but I watch Victoria a LOT and I think that your dog might just need to be assured that those sounds aren't bad but good instead. Like on one episode the dog became afraid of the clicker noise so she muffled it and continued giving the dog treats. Maybe if you (bear with me) have your phone go off numerous times on a low volume or muffle the sound with fabric, you could give Sammy a treat whenever your phone goes off. Once he stops fearing it you can ease off by merely giving him a lot of attention and praise for not being scared and then finally allowing him to ignore it.

Just an idea!

[emmabeth]

I t hink you just have to take this at her pace.

Limit 'unscheduled' beeps as much as you possibly can - make sure you have easy access to a really rewarding treat (pots of treats about thehouse, pockets pre-loaded with treats) so that if an unscheduled beep occurs outside of a training session you can reward her.

I do a similar thing with fireworks and basically when we hear a firework or thunder... i react like a lunatic 'Ooooooooooooooh WHEEEEEBANGS' and start tossing treats around. The dogs are now starting to come get me at the first hint of heavy rain or fireworks, because they want their treats for the wheebangs!

It will be a slow process, but the more you can control or deal with the scary triggers outside of the training sessions the better you will progress.