Boosting confidence?

Is there anything I can do to do this?

The more I look at Sam's behavior, the more I realize that the things I used to think he just "did", he actually does out of fear. Like if you reach down to pet him, he shrinks into himself and tenses up for a while until he realizes you aren't going to hurt him. Or when he hides under the table when people are talking in a raised voice (this can be in a playful or angry manner). Or how he completely shuts down to anything when he feels like you're even in the tiniest bit frustrated with him. I've noticed that he's a lot more likely to act fearful when were indoors, he's also a lot easier to work with outside in general.

He has random fears of the strangest things. He's TERRIFIED of the bathroom and laundry room. He's scared of the plastic placemat his food was on (it took me FOUR days of him not eating to realize that :/)

I know he needs to be socialized some more, and exposed to a lot more new things. But is there anything I can easily work on on a day-to-day basis, even just around the house, that would help him be more confident in general. Is there any particular type of place you suggest I take him to to expose him to "scarier" stuff?

I feel like this is a dumb question haha. I feel like such a terrible owner for just blowing these things off as "normal" until now. I'm trying to think of other things he's afraid of, especially outside of the house, but it really seems to be mostly indoors. And I know it's partly my fault because I get frustrated easily when he isn't catching on to something, and it causes him to shut down which makes me even more frustrated. I also need to learn to keep it to positive only, I've jerked his leash a few times to get him to LLW and focus (please, please don't bash me for this. I know there's better ways to do it, and I know I need to work on keeping calm myself. It's a work in progress and it's happened a lot less recently). So I think I can say that when I thought he was getting better behaved, I was actually making him worse. I know nothing aboout his history before he came here, I think he likely came from a not so great situation, though.

I know it'll take time, but I'm hoping to at least get him to feel better about himself. I hate seeing him slink around as if someone is going to beat him (which I have NOT, I would NEVER hit him, or even anything remotely close to that!).

I'm just looking for anything right now. I think what he needs is work on his confidence, but I know I also need work on keeping my cool, and if you have any advice for that, that's great too!

I feel that training is a good way to boost confidence. R+ training can encourage a dog to experiment with various behaviours, plus the dog realizes that his actions can have a direct effect on his environment: if he sits, he gets you to give him a cookie. Training classes are great to get a dog acclimatized to different environments while learning to focus on you, and you begin to become very reinforcing in the dog's eyes.

I would also make a list of the situations and environments where he is fearful - be specific. Then go about and systematically work on counter-conditioning them, probably starting with situations involving you, then working on the most fear-inducing environmental situations.

This is a great site for fearful dogs, and has some good ideas for the particularly shut down ones. Fearful Dogs | Positive help for fearful, shy & anxious dogs

You can also try agility basics. Things like stepping through a hula-hoop, stepping over a bar, jumping onto a box or platform. Since your dog seems to be fearful of a variety of things, it may not be unusual for him to be afraid of all these objects before hand. Take the jumping over the bar. Take a broom, or a dowel, and place it on the floor. If your dog is too afraid to approach, remember to minimize the threat (by increasing the distance from the dog, not moving the dowel, etc) and increase the reward (use more reward, or a better reward, etc). Toss treats until your dog can get closer and closer to the dowel. Each time he gobbles up a treat use a verbal cue, like "Friend" or "take it". Soon he'll approach the bar readily, and you can use the cue to signal that other things on the floor (like a mat, are also safe. Next you can get your dog to go over the bar by placing the treat on the other side. Dog won't budge? You can either take a step back and work on the previous step until your dog feels more comfortable, or you can increase the reward once again. Once your dog regularly steps over the bar, you can add height by lying it across a pair of books, etc.

The reasons I love agility for nervous or fearful dogs are...
1) Agility requires physical movement, dogs gain confidence in themselves when their actions triumph over their foes. It also allows them to go into a "zone".
2) Dogs that are forced into agility by being dragged over the bar, IMO, don't appear to have the same passion for it, and I don't learn as fast. Agility does best with positive reinforcement, R+.
3) Agility is so cool, it makes it easier for owners to cheer on their dogs. I know some owners have a hard time getting all excited when their dog sits, or downs, but jumping through a hula-hoop is pretty darn cool.

Anyways, this is just my opinion, but maybe it will be helpful. If training isn't working, think about what you are doing and try minimizing the risk, and maximizing the reward. Not too many people will walk through a snake pit to get a $20 bill, but plenty will walk by one snake to get a $20,000 reward.

You should think about entering him in some fun classes. I'd start with rally-o classes and then move up to agility. I've watched a few different people take their dog into agility just for boosting confidence, and it REALLY works.

Do you do clicker training? Stuff like 101 things to do with a box can help a lot with confidence. It shows the dog trying new things is fun and not scary.

I know it's tough, sometimes impossible, not to get frustrated or raise your voice or pop the leash. But it probably makes things a lot worse in the long run with a dog like that. If you feel yourself getting frustrated, end the training session. IMO it's better to crate a dog with a kong instead of exercising them if you're really not in a good place and need to calm down.

Jackson sometimes gets odd things in his head to be scared of, but they are usually for a reason. Last summer, my mom was cooking in the oven and burnt something so when she opened it and all the smoke came out... it set the smoke alarm off. Jackson wigged out! Now whenever my mom uses the oven, he is under the bed. He's fine with microwaves, toasters, etc, it's JUST the oven that he associates with the bad noise and smoke.

So since he is already used to clicker training, I started doing our clicker training on a mat right by the oven to get him used to just being near it. I used his highest value treat (cheese) and we are still working on it. I admit I have not been doing nearly enough to help him with this fear yet but it's improving. He's comfortable enough sitting by it at least!

I worked with an agility trainer who uses clicker training on confidence building exercises with Scout around and on the equipiment. It really helped and I took what I learned and implemented it in other daily training stuff we do.

You might get a copy of Control Unleashed. The book has a lot of useful exercises in it.

Be really careful not to reinforce the fearful behavior. Ignore it and praise/treat/whatever only the confident and good behavior. Part of the uphill battle with Scout was all the reinforcement her multiple previous owners had heaped on top of her already weak nerves.

@Sekah-I really like that link! I bookmarked it. SOme of the games were already working on, like the name game and hand targeting. And I'll see if I can reemember to write down any situation I feel he's fearful in, and work that out.

@Uniquity-I'm already taking agility classes with Sam, and I can see that in the few weeks we've done it it's already done a LOT for his confidence and focus. I'm thinking about getting into a clicker/shaping class with him at a different club just to give him another environment to work in.

@milos mommy-We do do clicker training. What's 101 things to do with a box? I've heard of it, but I'm not sure I know exactly what it is.

I have been trying to just end the session when I get frustrated. But it's tough when I know he needs to work on something, but he just isn't grasping the concept.

If you are up for a search, there have been some really good threads on it in the past. Several people here, many of whom sadly have left the board, gave me amazing advice on Meg's issues when I first got her. It did wonders for her confidence. She'll always be soft and quick to worry, but she bounces back quickly now, and hasn't really shut down in years.

I would suggest clicker training, Buster had a hard upbringing and clicker training boosted his confidence so much, because its all based on saying yes all the time they can't be wrong.

Also you could try to collar grab game and making a lot of fin things happen in the rooms or around the rooms he doesn't like.