Petrified of bath and lake

[KAREN KINTZ]

Maggie is a 7 yr old, 55 lb rescue I’ve had for 4 yrs. She is pretty much perfect— has overcome many challenges aquired during her first three years with a hoarder who had multiple dogs. Here’s why I bought this training program. Maggie is petrified of water. She must go to the vet to be groomed because her anxiety is so bad she gets sedated. Plus, most times it’s so bad the groomer stops before finishing. After 4 years Maggie still steps back to let me put her water bowl down. We have a lake and Maggie will sit and watch everyone, but won’t go in. Wish she would. Any advice?

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums!

I am sorry to hear that poor Maggie is petrified of water. Fears in humans and animals are professionally worked on by using a combination of management, desensitization and counterconditioning. 

 I suggest getting familiar with the process of desensitization and counterconditioning.

Here is a guide on desensitization: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/

Here is a guide on counterconditioning: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/

Here you will find some samples of behavior modification for helping a dog conquer the fear of water: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-water-bathing/ 

Of course, every dog is different so every case needs an individualized approach. In general, the more fearful the dog, the more you will need to work on taking baby steps ensuring the process remains as low-stress as possible, this often entails doing some troubleshooting. 

Sadly, going to the groomer risks making her fears worse as they will be restraining the dog to get the job done and don't have the time to work on easing the dog's fears. This leads to sensitization rather than desensitization. 

A study has found that going to the groomer  can be stressful for dogs for the entire duration of the grooming session but also during the arrival up until the exit. There are several things grooming staff can do to make visits less stressful such as giving arriving dogs a cookie (with the owner's permission) and letting the dog approach them first rather than the other way around, but this is often not enough to ease the fear in dogs who suffer from fears and phobias. 

Unless you have access to a fear-free groomer who can take steps to make the bathing less stressful (here is a directory):

https://fearfreepets.com/resources/directory/

 I would suggest working on her fears in a gradual systematic manner. As the warm season nears, this would be a good time to get started.

She would need to be comfortable being bathed and accepting water in her bowl before being able to enjoy being in the lake. So you would start with low level exposures as mentioned above, and then only once she's doing better with the sensation of being wet, you can introduce her to a baby pool by getting in the baby pool yourself and start pretending to dig with your hands and feet in the water and have a blast.

Toss your dog treats as she watches you kick the water with your feet as if digging some underwater treasure and let her go back and forth, yo-yoing from eating tossed treats and then approaching the pool. Then try tossing some treats and toys in the pool and see whether she may jump in or at least try getting them. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/bobbing-for-treats/

When at the lake, have your dog watch you have a blast playing with waves, digging with your feet in the sand and tossing balls. Then start walking more and more inside the water and see whether your dog reaches you. If she does, praise like crazy and toss the ball away from the water. The reason you toss it away if because you want your dog coming back on her own because it's so much fun. If you toss the ball towards deeper water instead, you risk scaring her. Make sure to make this a wonderful experience.

For stubborn cases, often what really helps is bringing along a confident dog that the dog is friends with. It's called social facilitation and it's the power of dogs learning from observing other dogs. Often times, this is the missing piece to the puzzle. Have a dog who loves swimming in the pool show your dog how fun the experience can be. Have your dog watch him getting in and out of the pool with ease.

So this is the process, but of course, every dog needs an individualized approach. Be warned, the process is often slow, and you need to be constantly watching her body language. If you notice any setbacks, you need to evaluate how to go back a few steps without overwhelming her further. If you can't get her calm enough to get started, your vet may be able to prescribe some calming supplements/meds to be used along behavior modification. This is for the most part temporary just to take the edge off enough and get the process rolling so as be able to get her to cognitively function. 

Feel free to post updates and we can always do some troubleshooting if you're struggling.