There’s a school of thought that says comforting a fearful or anxious dog is counterproductive because it teaches him that whatever he’s afraid of is in fact scary and will only reinforce the distress. Thus, not to make their dog even more upset, people go against their instinct to soothe their pet in distress and act like nothing’s wrong.
But comforting an anxious dog will not reinforce his fearfulness. Some preliminary research even suggests that soothing an anxious dog will calm him, at least in the moment. That’s because fear is an emotion — not a behavior that you can reinforce by “rewarding” him with comfort.
Soothing a discomforted dog probably won’t help him remain unperturbed the next time. For that, behavior modification will be necessary — like teaching your dog that during a thunderstorm, he can go to his “safe” place in the basement, where you will have toys and music waiting for him. But you don’t have to worry that to do best by your dog, you need to go against your better judgment and not respond to his fear or anxiety.
