Fearful rescue dog with a bite history desperately needs training! How to train a fearful dog. 

My heart breaks for Tovey being so fearful. As the owner said, she got him at 7 months, who knows what happened before she got him? I applaud her for her dedication. I wish them the best of luck.

Yes, there are dog “magicians” out there. They do what they do, but never SHOW step-by-step HOW it was accomplished. Thank you for fostering better human parents/companions for canines.

Tom, that is one of your best videos yet, well done! Imho, this is why it stands out from many previous ones: You took your time, you pointed out the anxious physical behavior, you demonstrated how a handler’s body language affects dogs which most owners are not aware of, you repeated movements so people could process them, you calmly presented the “close contact” opportunity doorways provide, it didn’t feel like a “click to like” video and most of all you beautifully presented WHY balanced training works so well. The underpinning of balanced training is positive reinforcement without avoidance (avoiding the trigger) and constant food treats that make dogs sick and overweight. The editing was excellent.

Go, Toby!!! Very sweet moment when he leaned into Tom. It's a scary world out there but Toby is too handsome and sweet not to be out enjoying the good parts with his people!

Love watching you read a dog, Tom, and then help their people know what they need! It's super fun to watch and I have learned so much for our dogs. I also bought prong collars, which I used to think were inhumane, but now realize how they give the perfect pressure and help us manage our dogs so much easier on their leashes, especially our 80 lb Dobi/GSD. He is such a loveable creature, but can be a handful without the prong collar. He likes to be in charge! Thank you for all you and your crew have taught us!! 🐕‍🦺❤

Very moving to see owner's reactions. Remember, all based on your uncanny ability to read the dog and think on your feet. Loved watching a transformation unfold before my eyes and you gaining a dog's trust so quickly. I wish continued success to the owner and dog on their long journey❤❤.

I love the dedication of this owner❤ How I wish all dog owners were like her. I have a dog with the same issues as her, and I will continue to love him and work with him, and care for him. I am learning so much from you Tom. TY.

I have a fearful dog that has come a long way in the 2 1/2 years that I've had her. This video with you explaining what's going on is so helpful. It showed me that I'm doing the right things for my dog Hope❤

You never cease to amaze-in the best possible sense! You’ve saved another life❤

Enjoy the breakdown of the dog’s body language & the explanations of what and why you are doing what you do when handling the dog. Amazing with the right help how the dog & handler are able to make such huge strides. Good for the owner to take the steps to get the help for her dog! Keep up the good work!👍

Dude this is my favorite video of all time, the narration and explanations of what's going on while it's happening make it so much more informative. Thanks for this man!

I want to put this video on for every person that meets my dog!!you explain all of the things I try to get people to do when meeting him so well! Thank you!

Tom, you and your entire team helped Tovey and I so much! I can’t say enough amazing things for you all. You didn’t just help train Tovey you helped train me and you set both of us up for success! I look forward to training with you again! 💙

“Toms hot take” lol that was funny - taking the safe side I get it

Hope this pup and his Mom do well on their journey!❤❤thanks Tom and Staff!

There was a social media post of someone scheduling euthanasia for a dog for the same reactions for the dog in the video. Thankfully a rescue tool him in last minute! Hopefully that rescue reaches out to you 🙏

I love the talk over in the training videos it’s great

Dealing with a similar situation I really appreciate this video. I can only hope for such success. I feel motivated after seeing this, poetry in motion. Thank you 🙏

LOL I wish this video had come out a year ago. I put most of this together from watching other videos of Tom's... but this is exactly the kind of dog I accidentally adopted, except he never bit. The only dog trainer in the area was the oldschool type. And while I used those classes to get him more socialized, I was watching Tom's videos and ignoring everything she said that I disagreed with 🤷🏻‍♀️There was just no need for clipped commands and jerking around on the leash and Ollie was scared of all of it. He loves his pinch collar and all he needs is a little pressure and confident tone. We literally just got back from hanging out all day at a town event where Ollie loves people watching. It's been quite a year and all the neighbors comment on how far he's come.

I just wanted to thank you again for all that you do and what your are doing for me, your comunity and Henry my 9 month old golden. For what I've learned, I thank you with all my heart!

Love love love this format! What’s happening with the dog as you see it. 🤯❤

Scared dogs have my ❤ once you get them to turst you it’s the best thing ever

Hi Tom, great to see the dogs progress in being able to trust and relax with strangers. Always great to see the relief also in the owners with the proper training.

You're a kind yet firm leader. I'm so grateful you're helping countless people and dogs 🐕 🫶🏻💕

Tom, this was excellent!! Toby & Mom were wonderful! Hats off to the team, as per usual :)

I would love you to meet my 4 rescues the craziest back stories I have ever heard

This is fantastic. I love the breakdown of body language and seeing the “less exciting” things being done to help.

Hello Tom Great video I joined the NBD club and it really helped I really recommend it to all dog owners you are doing an incredible job 💪💪

I always come away from watching your videos with that aha moment when things just click and make sense. Love all you do for the dogs in this world!

Inhave a dog with similar issues. One big issue is strangers coming up front-on and reaching down to interact. They do everything wrong and then say “whoa your dog us aggressive! “.

You keep fighting the good fight! Thank you for making the effort to educate people about balanced dog training!

Love this video, love the pauses and explanations!!! Play backs are so important for the Army on this side of the screen!!!! Thank you NBDA TEAM!!!

This is so awesome to watch. Love your training methods❤

That was magical, never seen anything like it

❤ I love the way you are breaking down what and why you are doing things.

This might be the most touching video yet. Thank you for breaking down those little moments that were really milestones.

Great video and information. I have a fearful dog as well. Along the way ive learned many tips to help her. Moving through the door was something ive never seen. Thanks for all you do.

Love seeing this! I had a case like this & very fearful of other men & worked with a few other trainers before with no result. He's now one of my best friends that i get to take him out on a hike every week! Those cases are the best wins! I'm grateful for the inspiration that Tom has had in my dog training career! Keep it up

Tom, you are amazing! I loved that the owner hasn’t given up on her beautiful boy ❤

Thanks Tom ❤ from India ✨✨🙌

Aw sweet boy! He just needs someone to believe in him and show him what’s possibly. You can tell all he wants is to engage and be guided in a calm and confident way

Cool! So many fearful dogs everywhere than can be ok with your strategies.

Wow! Absolutely amazing watching this video! I got goose bumps watching! ❤

This video. This man knows his stuff. 100%. EVERY WORD. Truth. I can never say thank you enough, Tom. ❤

Wow! I learned so much from watching this video - how to move in relation to the dog, how to use my body to encourage the dog to become more confident. This one's a keeper that goes into my reference file.

This is beautiful!

This was an excellent video! You are such an awesome trainer. I am still struggling with my dog accepting the e-collar and that it won't shock him, but at least he is in his own stopping some negative behaviors all on his own since I have only tapped him a few times over the last week since I left a comment under another video. I think he was traumatized by my husbands correction with the tritronics collar chasing deer. Now I have to find a way to help him understand this is not the same thing and it's very hard. Thank you! Julia

very beautiful dog and a job well done!!! ❣

Awesome video

Well done, Tom!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻Toby is beautiful 😍 You are such a fantastic trainer!

Good stuff keep it up

I really have to thank you for all your videos. I was asked a month ago if I would foster a well loved family members dog. A Belgian Malinois. This was downsizing and time issue. I've never owned one, fostered one, let alone any dog with leash reactivity with both dogs and people. An A in basic training, then Covid hit, so the socialization stopped and eventually so did the training and the exercising slowed down. It wasn't a for sure thing and it would be extremely last minute when I found out if I was for sure. There were potential adopters and the Mal rescue was looking for a foster home. I said yes only because I was bored with training my 12 year old, 12 lb dog and wanted a challenge once again (owned and fostered Rotties in the past with my mom, I found joy in that challenging breed, it was time to do it again, by myself). I mass watched your videos and a couple of breed specific trainers to get some ideas and tips on how to deal with leash reactivity and certain breed specific quirks.. If this were to happen, I wanted it to be a success. Everything fell through and it was do or die time, the absolutely last option. Neutral ground. Right off the bat, barking, lunging, teeth baring, biting the leash, I am this dogs worst enemy. My mom (not her dog, but trusted) could barely hold onto her. Kept our distance at first. I was watching her body language and it let me know that she wasn't aggressive, she was just really nervous and unsure. Told my mom to relax and tell her to give the command "heel" with a short pop on the collar when the dog tried barking or lunging at me (Herm sprenger prong ftw). Went about getting closer and closer, just talking casually, until I was finally just walking by my mom. The Mal was still looking at me nervously but I asked my mom to hand me the leash. She did and after a while, she slowed down as I was giving the dog the heel command and congratulating her, stopping with a sit command, congratulating her. There was some biting on the leash but she let go pretty quickly. Made the decision to move my hand down the leash a bit closer to where she was biting. I was pretty confident that given the option, she'd rather not bite me. About 5 minutes in of me not letting her get back to my mom, she nose punched me in the thigh, we just kept moving and she just relaxed. I'm not a threat and I'm not going anywhere. Since this was a success, I decided it was time for my mom to go to my house and set all of the Mals stuff up. Went for an hour long walk. I did test her leash reactiveness but all it needed was some redirection. Just some growls at an off leash dog across the street and by the time we crossed another persons path she was at heel perfectly, zero reaction. My mom left before we got to my home, introduced her to my backyard and then my dog through a door. Everything was going well. Decided to send my kid to my moms for the night as the Mal had enough stress for the day and I didn't want her meeting another person yet. The rest of the day was me watching her with the leash on, exercise with training, cuddling and her trying to ambush me with kisses. To make the already long story short, she is snoozing on the couch utterly exhausted from our busy day of playing and training in the rain. She already had basic commands, so I brushed up on those and introduced more. She now knows how to pee on command and to settle down when she's barking and more. My kid has now been successfully been accepted by the Mal gods with her being pushed over, licked to death and offered a toy to throw within the first 15 minutes of the same way I first met her except with me handling the leash. We did not go to the point where my kid was walking her, that can come later. She's a good girl, she just needed some direction, a leader to follow and a lot more exercise. Shows a lot of interest and maybe a short grumble to passing entities but not distractingly so. BTW, this is only day 2 of her being in my house. She's a whole lotta smart dog and I am loving every single second. Can't wait for her to be adopted into the right household where she can 100% thrive. I won't be fostering again because after this Mal is gone, I am buying my dream dog, a German Shepherd (planned before but put on hold until this dog is adopted). So thank you again, I couldn't have walked into this situation with confidence without learning from you and adapting it to my situation.

I love this video. I'm wondering if you have any videos showing a fearful dog that completely shuts down. We have a dog at our shelter that is fearful and when approached just shuts down, won't move or take any treats.

I was looking up dog trainers for gaurding aggression and I realized i live right down the road from your building.

My dog is fearful as well. No bite history, thank god, he avoids. My instructions are every time he meets someone, “ignore him”. Gosh, that’s hard for people to do 🤦‍♀️ ignore him and he just decompresses and it’s not a problem, off he goes and gets a stick or ball and eventually and becomes your friend. It has to be in his time. Tom’s videos have helped me so much with this, joining the NBD Club is a game changer for training with the full length videos.

I have such dog but he doesn't bite...but showing same movements and fear. He was puppy neglected and not properly fed. I think that there was abuse too. But it doesn't matter. I work with him in presence. He arrived to me in 5 months age. I have him for 3 months and he became confident towards people and dogs. He isn't holding tail between legs anymore. He take tail up an wave.❤️🙏🏻

I love the way you use pressure, but the minimum amount needed and for the minimum amount of time. You keep the leash slack as much as possible and don't force the dog to submit. I also liked your clear explanation of your own body movements. Very good video!

First love your videos

Amazing....Do you ever come to Canada. Nfld.

I always like being down low ,it's less of a threat to the dog

Tom, what did you mean by "He squares up" when you handed him to your associate? Was it a good thing or a bad thing?

So first off I love all the information you give in your videos. So helpful in SO many ways. But my question here is how do you keep your dog from getting to that point? I have a 7 month old Australian Shepherd that I got in February at 10 weeks old. I hired a local trainer while we are up visiting family in Canada. She's great but pricey so we can really only do one session every few weeks. But she is the reason I know that some of his weird behavior is that he lacks confidence and the trainer did mention that he is a little fearful and it could lead to aggression. It kinds has to some extent. We live full time in a converted bus and travel. I also have an 8 year old Shorkie. The Aussie will not let me open ANY of the bottom drawers lol He barks and snarls. At one point I thought he was going to attack or bite me but no he actually just takes his nose and tries to move me away. It's very bizarre I do not understand where it comes from lol. BUT she said it's part of his lack of confidence. The way he approaches new people is a lot like how Tovey (Toby?) approaches and I would like to make sure I handle this behavior properly BEFORE it's a real issue. So I am thrilled that this video confirmed what I was told but how can I stop it now before it's a REAL issue? Sorry this was longer than I intended lol

Where can I get tickets for London?

So was the dog getting between Tom and the owner to stop him getting close to her?

I have a blue heeler that does the same. My problem is you’re training him with you. Not the owner. I have done training with my heeler and spent thousands. He’s a golden child at everything but inside the home. So I have issues with trainers that take my dog without training me. Once I figured that out I spent a lot less money.

Tom you sound like you have a sore throat. Hope you’re doing well👍🏾

Positive only= FAIRY TALE.

This seems good, but where is the rest? Can we see the next five sessions? Thanks.

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Tom, I would love to see more on fearful dogs. I have an Aussie whos the happiest dog on planet earth. Loves people, plays non stop, very obedient, but he hates storms, lightning, thunder etc. Hes amazing and totally fearless in every other scenario. But loud thunderstorms and even fourth of July he is terrified. Any help you can provide on the topic would be insanely appreciated. (Note: Ive tried giving him commands and rewarding with treats throughout the event, but he stops taking treats and reluctantly follows the commands)

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I have a dog that is scared of noises people doga whem i walk her she will walk the other way if she sees people dogs etc. Shes scared. At home she is mean when my eight yr old and 4 yr old grands are at my house she is kept outsude or in my room away frim the kids for safety. I hate it. My grands dont come iver because of her. My daughter doesnt bring her 4 yr old twins cause its not fair to lock up the dog. Its her home. What can i do? I dont want to give her up. Shes 5 yrs old we have tried meds she has to be medicated to go to vet for shots and 2 muzzles on

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As with most cases, the owner is a huge part of the problem. She, without realizing, nurtures the insecurity. She needs more training than the dog. When you take an insecure dog and pair it with an insecure owner who has no clue how to instil confidence in a dog, the end result is a dog that takes a lot longer to recover. SHE needs training as much as the dog, maybe more. Dogs mirror the energy they have around. You take an unbalanced dog and pair it with an unbalanced owner and the road to recovery will be very arduous.

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