We here at Eva’s Play Pups Staff, along with our partners at Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue and It’s Ruff Without a Roof Dog Rescue recently congregated at our dog camp in North Eastern Pennsylvania to learn how to work with shy and feral dogs. Speaker and teacher, Krista Milito of the Philly Pack, provided her wisdom and expertise with her insightful seminar. We had such a wonderful time and learned valuable techniques!
This was a targeted learning experience for our workers, as we encounter shy dogs often at Eva’s Plays Pups Countryside Dog Camp. Many dogs are unsure and nervous when arriving at camp for the first time.
Imagine yourselves in the dog’s place! Our canine campers are put on a van with strange dogs and people then they arrive at camp—a huge unknown place where a group of unknown people greet them and lead them onto the fields. Though we provide a fantastic experience for our dogs, it can be an intimidating journey, even for the most socialized and easy-going pups.
Now imagine your dog is a rescue adopted from the Korean Meat Trade (we have plenty of these sweet pups boarding at camp) or a shelter dog arriving from the Rural South who has only known an outdoor pen or a chain. What do these poor pups feel when they arrive at Camp, having likely come from an unstable and ever changing past? We know it is a good and fun place, but for some dogs, Camp can be overwhelming at first.
We truly love helping shy dogs, both rescue and clientele, so we wanted to work with Krista to learn any tricks of the trade to make all dogs in our care as comfortable as possible!
Body Language is a dog’s main source of communication. They communicate so fluently with each other that there can be dozens of small details that a dog can show within just a few seconds. It’s an entirely different language! Krista teaches her trainees how to properly recognize signals dogs give out to tell us when they are scared or nervous. For instance, tucked tails, wide eyes and shrunken body stances are all sources a shy dog will project to tell us how they are feeling. As dog handlers and owners, it is our responsibility to identify these signals, provide the dogs the space they ask for and communicate with them in a way they can comprehend.
It’s one feat to spot a shy or nervous dog, it’s another to communicate with them and help calm their nerves. Along with recognizing shy dogs, Krista provided us with fantastic tips and methods on how to properly use body language to ease a dog’s mind.
A major theme of Krista’s presentation proved as such: “A dog’s greatest resource is space.” If a dog is reacting to us nervously or with heightened apprehension, giving them a wide berth can be a monumental first step in calming a dog.
Positioning your body in a less threatening manner is also a huge tip she shared. While many people’s first instinct would be to bend to comfort the nervous dog, facing your body away from a dog with minimal speaking can do wonders. If you are not facing the dog, you are avoiding invading their perceived space. Keep your feet positioned away from the dog and slowly work your way to approaching, as long as the dog allows. Every dog is different, so this process will vary based on the dog.
As much as we train our own dogs to understand, our verbal language is foreign to dogs, especially dogs that do not know us. Gentle cooing and kind words might seem like a good step, but this could incite the dog to further avoid contact. Krista aims to help people of the dog world delve deeper into understanding the language of DOGS, and how we can communicate back to them. Once we start to learn what they are saying to us, only then can we as handlers take the first step to easing the stress of our shy and nervous dogs!
Thank you again, Krista Milito and the Philly Pack, for teaching us how to care for shy dogs!