Minimu, you seem to be the woman in the know....

[ShinyAndNew]

Can you help me with my dog? I got him a month ago from a pound. On the whole he is a great dog. Fairly obedient and house trained.

I do have a few things I want sorting with him, but training classes are a no go untill he is neutered. He finds it too stressfull and he is too distracted.

First of all is pulling on the lead. He is not particularly strong, but it's starting to get icy or muddy and it's making his walks a bit difficult.

Second, he keeps jumping at my windows and barking at any dogs he sees. Which since we live opposite a park, happens often. Is this down to his lack of neutering and can he be trained out of it?

Third, I think he might be doing something to make other dogs want to attack him. He has been attacked twice in a week now, but on the whole seems friendly towards most other dogs.

Fourth, humping. Can I do anything about this other than neutering?

He is booked in at the vets for friday and we are going to talk about getting him neutered then, so it should be getting done within the nect week or so, but I understand it could be months before all the hormones are gone?

It is still early days with him as you have only had him a month but you should be able to sort out his "issues!"

Coming from a pound he is used to being able to behave how he likes when he sees dogs hene the jumping at the window etc. He probable jumped about in the pound at other dogs. He know has to learn that this behaviour is not acceptable in your house.

The first thing I would do is not let him in the room where he can see the dogs or keep the curtain drawn. He needs to learn that calm is more rewarding than manic. When you go into the room with him have treats and sit in the room. (I would use a clicker but that is up to you). Get him to concentrate on you and click and treat if he jumps up take him out of the room and then let him in when he is quiet again when he is calm and still treat him. Work on this it will take a while as he has old habits to break.

Re pulling on the lead use a halti head collar for the short term BUT do still train him the correct position to be with the clicker. Do this in a secure place without a lead. Lure him into the correct postion with food click when he is in the right place and treat do this for several days and then add a heel or close command. Then when out with the halti praise treat for being in the right position.

Re humping - castration does not always help with this again can be a behavioural issue. So remove humping dog from the situation and praise when stopped humping! Again consitencey is the answer for this one

When you say attached what happens? Some dogs do seem more vunerable to attack than others. If I am out with mine it will always be the yellow lab that gets jumped on! Is he on lead when attacked or running off?

Basically he sounds like a great lad who just has some house manners to learn. Do be consistent keep him busy with loads of clicker training get him onto you in a big way and I think that the behaviours will self destruct. Even though you are not going to a training class do loads of 5 min bursts of training at home.

Get him to sit, stand, down, wait, stay, give a paw, give a back paw, spin watch you, touch etc. The busier you keep him the calmer he will become.

HTH let me know if not and you need more help. He sounds a lucky boy.

What type of dog is he?

Usually they are neutered at the pound before you get them was there a reason he was not?

He is a Fox Terrier X. No reason why he was not neutered, other than it is a council pound and not rescue. They gave me a voucher towards the cost of it, but he was in a bit of a state with dermatitus and a bit nervy and anxious when we got him, so the vet advised letting him settle in fow a weeks and waiting for the dermatitus to settle down before neutering him.

He is on the lead when he is attacked. The first time it happened he was with DH, who said it started off as friendly encounter, with an off the leash dog, who then attacked him when he got a bit over friendly. So I just presumed that was the reason. But then was almost attcked by another dog (either a rotty pup or a doberman cross - it was dark)

The rotty was on one side of my buggy and my dog on the other side. The rotty started trying to jump over the top of dd2 to get to my dog. Dd2 wasn't hurt and thought the other was dog was trying to play with her. But I have never had a dog that was attacked so often, so I was wondering if he was doing something to cause it.

The pound said he was dog aggressive, but I have never experienced this with him.

Oh and both times the owners said it was unusual behavior from their dogs.

It is interesting and I agree with bedlambeast that a dog good with dogs is a calm couldn't give more than a quick sniff and then moves away type of dog.

Some dogs do give off negative body language etc to other dogs. Some of which we will never understand. One of my rescue dogs used to always greet dogs by putting two legs onto the other dogs shoulders and obviously other dogs did not like it and even the calmest dog would react. We had to teach him how to greet other dogs.

I would work on your dog to be calm and confident and then introduce to other dogs. At the moment I think that is a stage too far for him. If dogs approach ask the owners (sometimes easier said than done) to call their dogs away. All his meetings with dogs need to be positive for a while.

I wouldn't worry too much about the owners saying it has never happened before. I have heard this too many times generally from the same owner and dog. As I pull their dog from mine again!

Re the neutering I am sure someone more medical (Call out for Bella) will help on this but my experience is that it is not always the way to go re behaviour. Sometimes an anxious dog can become more anxious when done But I think I would always go for that option and be prepared to train around the issue. The anxiety will be there anyway and if the urge to go off and chase the bitches that is one less thing to worry about. But that is just my opinion.

I would work on buiding the dogs confidence day to day training is great for this and hopefully things will settle.