lead aggression

[traceyinrosso]

Recently rehomed a lovely 2 year old chocolate labrador. Super with kids and our 10 year old cross breed and when out and off lead but when approached by a curious dog when she is on a lead she lunges at the other dog with a bark to warn them off. I know I am getting a bit uptight when this happens because I am very conscious that I want a dog that I can trust when out and that this won't help so has anyone got tips how to deal with it. I think it is a fear thing because although her fur goes up on her back her tail is between her legs. Should I shout at her or use the water bottle I squirt her with when she jumps up (worked very quickly!) or try and just distract her and keep her calm ??? Any tips anyone please ?

Definitely do not use a water bottle.

Usually lead aggression is down to fear. The dog has learnt that if he jumps in first and growls the dog will go away so it is really effective behaviour. He is worse on lead because he feels trapped and cannot escape.

You need to change the emotional mood of your lab when she sees other dogs.

Can you get a clicker? For the first few day click and then give your dog a yummy treat. Labs will pick this up so easily.

Next when you are out walking try to avoid any situation where she may meet a dog on lead. Get used to clicking and calling her name when on lead, walk backwards or turn around and get her attention on you and click and treat.

Now go to a place where you will see a dog but you need to be far enough away that your dog will not react. Click and treat. If she reacts at all you are too close just walk away and say nothing.

You will need to do this over and over again for several weeks. Your dog will begin to see that dogs are no threat and that in fact nice things (treats) happen when dogs are around.

Try to get loads of patience and do not push her too fast. This can be turned around with gentle consistent training. Try to stay calm yourself so she realises that there is no need to be worried. Give her time to trust you and get used to the new situation and you will be able to trust her. She may always be a bit worried in amongst dogs but she will learn to tolerate them and be confident with you.

This is a case of if you want a fast result go slowly.

Please do not use a water bottle when she jumps up - she needs to know that when she is around you nothing bad happens. Just cross your arms and turn around when she jumps up - she may try and jump up at you back but ignore it. The millisecond all 4 feet are on the ground praise her , treat are great to help labs learn quickly!

Good luck and lucky her for having you to rescue her!

Thanks for those tips. She is a lovely dog and I am 100% sure she is not an aggressive dog generally and wasn't rehomed due to any bad behaviour etc. Do you just click then treat at first ie she doesn't have to do anything in return like sit ? She is lovely but I have never had a dog with this problem before and obvously I have not been responsible for her socialisation. I am sure she will improve in time and she has plenty of love and long walks which always helps !

Yes if you click and treat to start with it is called charging the clicker. It just tells her that she will get a treat after the click.

Then you can ask for a behaviour and click as a marker for the correct behaviour and then treat.

Great post from Minimu!

I read a great description of this type of desensitising once. Imagine you had had a couple of bad experiences with a bearded man and this had left you scared of bearded men. When you saw them, you wanted to run away, but your friend held onto you tightly so you couldn't run. So you'd scowl and yell 'keep back! Go away!' to avoid them coming near you. But your friend would hold you and let them come near, and would then startle you by throwing water at you and telling you off. You're still scared of bearded men and still need to keep them away from you, but now you can't trust your friend to look after you either

Imagine instead that when you're out with your friend and you see a bearded man from a real distance she give you a tenner. She never holds you too tight or forces you close to them. She just gives you a tenner every time and praises you for taking it. You start to imagine all the nice things you can enjoy with all these tenners and start scanning the horizon hoping you'll see bearded men.

After a time, you can get quite close to the beardies, knowing that good things happen when they're around, and they're no threat to you at all!

The above type of analogy really brought desensitisation home to me. I hope it's useful and best of luck with your new dog