Blog - Feeling The Fear And Doing It Anyway

There’s a well-known book by Dr Susan Jeffers called Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, and it’s one of those phrases that gets used so often we can forget what it actually means.

It doesn’t mean the fear isn’t real or that you suddenly become bold, confident and unbothered... and it definitely doesn’t mean throwing yourself - or your dog - into the deep end and hoping for the best.

It means feeling the fear, recognising it, and finding a way to take the next small step anyway - whether that's breaking an arrow with your throat, walking across fire, or being a guest speaker at a big event...

And for the last couple of weeks, finding a way to take the next small step has very much been the theme here with Faelan.

He has never been the boldest of dogs...

Faelan is a wonderful dog, but he can be quite easily concerned by big things, things overhead, things that move unexpectedly, and especially flappy things... Basically, if it looms, rustles, waves about or looks as though it might suddenly come alive and eat him, he is not convinced.

And when Faelan is frightened, it takes him a while to get back on an even keel. He doesn’t just startle and bounce back as if nothing happened; the worry stays with him for a while, and that means I have to be careful how I handle it.

Earlier this month, while we were training at a competition, he shut down and ran out of the ring. It doesn't sound dramatic, and it's not the end of the world in the greater scheme of things, but it's definitely a heads-up that something needs to be done if I want to compete or work him under a gun.

So, we are on a mission.

Faelan will probably never be bold in the same way Emrys is bold. Emrys has that joie de vivre of 'what’s this then?' and 'Can I put my face in it?' and 'How fast can I do it?' whereas Faelan is more likely to take a step back while he works out if it's going to kill him or not, which is great as a survival tactic but not so great in the modern world.

The aim is not to turn him into a different dog...

... as then he wouldn't be Faelan, rather the aim is to help him feel braver in his own skin.

So, this week, we’ve been working with flappy doorway streamers and a gazebo, which are well within his “hmm, not sure about that” category and rather than force him through them, I gave him the chance to realise they weren't going to kill him by encouraging him through the doorway for his food and into the gazebo for his favourite toy, 'Grizz', the Kong grizzly bear he's had since he was a puppy.

Bold, fearless dogs can look so impressive, but watching a naturally fearful dog overcome his fear is something else. Seeing Faelan go from looking at the streamers and the gazebo as if they were indeed the monsters from the deep to joyously running through them for a retrieve was so wonderful.

Now to move the gazebo to a different part of the room and start again because when it's in a different place, it looks different and dogs aren't the best at generalising... but in the meantime, I'll take the win.