Nervous aggressive on lead

[anchovies]

Just wondering if anyone could give me some tips for dealing with this?

Our 14 month old rescue dog is fab off lead but extremely nervous when he is on a lead in the vicinity of other dogs. For example yesterday he made friends with a dog in the park, obviously really enjoyed each others company. Put them both on leads ready to leave and seemingly out of nowhere our dog growled and snapped at the other dog.

I am taking him to puppy training and he is doing really well, a lot of the time now I can distract him from worrying about the other dogs and barking at them by using "touch" or "look" or whatever but he is clearly very nervous. If we have to go near the other dogs he gets very skittish (or freezes) then starts barking aggressively. Is this something we can cure in the end or will we always just have to be careful when he's on a lead? Yesterday he lunged and snapped at one of the dogs in dog training as we walked through the door, my fault really as we literally walked through the door to be confronted by another dog. Very embarrassing though.

On walks I tend to see if I can get him to focus on me as a dog walks by, I click and treat for sitting, looking or touching or whatever and then we walk on. Also we dont approach dogs head on unless it's unavoidable. Is this right or should I be rewarding for looking at the dog (not me) and remaining calm?

It sounds like you are doing a good job and taking the problem very seriously, which is great.

I think in the first instance, rewarding him for looking at you is a really good idea and the clicker is absolutely the right choice for this.

We had a large breed with fear aggression many years ago and I would say, while it is possible to massively improve the situation, you will always need to be vigilant when he's on the lead, even when he appears to be cured.

One thing that really helped our dog was selecting a distance point from other dogs where he felt comfortable, and rewarding every time he looked at the other dogs without reacting. Once he was reliably able to watch other dogs from that distance without reacting, we reduced the distance slightly and repeated the process. It is a long slow process, but it does work to desensitise and rewarding the calm behaviour helps both to pair the sight of other dogs on the lead with a positive reinforcement, but also to gradually reduce the anxiety/stress levels that are causing the behaviour. Obviously the more you can do this, the greater the benefit.

One of the best places to do this, if you can manage it, is on the beach. Its such a long wide space and you can see other dogs from a great distance away, which gives you the upper hand. If a dog go too close, we just used distraction (usually a game) and moved behind the sand-dunes before our dog had time to react.

Another thing we found really useful was to make sure our dog had an A-grade reward. In his case this was a frisbee that he only got to play with very rarely when we were out and about. We spent a lot of time getting him completely obsessed with it, so when we were out and about, if the frisbee appeared it was the only thing he focussed on. This was an invaluable tool when another off-lead dog appeared as if from nowhere without an owner while we were out on walks.

Thank you so much for the detailed reply. Have now tried several of your ideas, we watched the other dogs yesterday, admittedly quite a distance away but he did brilliantly. Also used the A grade distraction idea, have now confiscated the floppy frisbee and it is now to be used only in case of urgent need!

We actually met a couple of dogs on leads in the park yesterday and it went much better, I really slackened the lead and stood back and left them to sniff and the second I saw Buddy's ears flatten i just said a cheery "let's go" and we carried on walking. Another time a very persistent young Labrador like buddy wouldn't give it up so in the end I just let go of the lead and let buddy clear off! He hid behind a bush and just came back when the coast was clear!

I think I am going to have to become a dog body language expert!

You sound really on the ball with it and have the right attitude and instincts.

Slackening the lead is a really good idea, as any tension on the lead will make him worse and he really needs to you give him the cheery 'everything's ok' voice, as he will take his lead from you. Obviously when he does let the other dogs sniff him without reacting, you need to give him massive 'jackpot' rewards.

The only thing to be wary of is not letting him get the idea that if he starts to give off aggressive signals you will remove him from the situation, as obviously this effectively rewards his aggression and could make it worse.

I would try, as far as possible, to limit on lead dog to dog meetings until you've laid the groundwork by rewarding him lots and lots for not reacting at a distance. If other dogs are approaching on the lead, try to select a spot slightly off the path the other dogs are on, ask him to sit and reward him for watching, rather than reacting to the other dogs. If he does react, ignore the behaviour, just make sure you have him under control and concentrating on rewarding good behaviour.

You could also try using the frisbee for distraction as the other dogs pass. Obviously don't throw it, just get him keyed into it and if he manages to focus on the frisbee and ignore the other dogs, wait until they've gone past, keep his attention and then let him chase it as a reward.

Letting him 'escape' from persistent dogs if he needs to is also a good idea (as long as he's not aggressive off the lead and has a decent recall). This is particularly useful if the other dogs are off lead, so he is the only one that is 'restricted', as he will feel more intimidated and nervous in that sort of situation.

On lead aggression is pretty common, as being on the lead inhibits the dog's natural instinct to escape a situation he's not comfortable with, leaving him no choice but to try and defend himself.

My first ever dog training client had a labrador called Buddy. (A verrry long time ago now!)

I wish there were more people like you around, who are willing to take on a rescue and work with them to overcome their problems. He is very lucky to have you.

I thoroughly recommend this seminar if it is anywhere near you. Great insight and advice on handling lead aggression

here

Ooo, minimu1. I just had a peep at some of the other courses. I'd love to go on some, but sadly my life has navigated away from dogs for the time being. I dream of getting back to it one day though.

The 'social walks' sound interesting and might be a good way of teaching your dog good on lead social skills, as it seems the work from a distance to start with and only get closer when the dog is ready.

I would have killed for something like this when I had my boy, unfortunately the problem with a huge under-socialised, fear aggressive dog is that no-one is going to want you to socialise your dog with theirs.

Thank you both so much for the info. Not much luck getting him to focus on the frisbee but have bought a squeaky tennis ball to try next. On the whole he is doing much better already, he is much more confident and looks to us for reassurance straight away which is such a better starting place than when he would bark and lunge the minute another dog came into his line of sight (leaving me trying in vain to get his attention whilst worrying that I was adding to the stress of the situation!) We have avoided walking where there are other dogs and are concentrating on off lead walking and then just watching from a vantage point.

The only strange thing now is he seems almost too focussed on us, particularly when off his lead. He doesn't ever play with other dogs even when we are walking with other dog owners, just waits for us to throw his beloved tennis ball. He is never aggressive off his lead, just seems to give the "back off, I aint interested" signal and the other dogs get bored and leave him alone. Are there any problems with a young dog not wanting to socialise with other dogs?

The seminar looks fab and I am only an hour away so will be definitely attending. Even just reading some of her info on the website has given me pointers to some of the areas I have been going wrong, so obvious now I think about it but walking faster and tightening the lead as we pass other dogs is bound to give off the wrong signals.

Thanks again to both of you!

Hi anchovies.

Sounds like you are doing a great job, keep up the good work. It just takes time.

Obviously the frisbee isn't interesting enough. You could try putting it away for a couple of weeks and then bringing it out again, but a squeaky ball should do fine. Make sure you get him really keyed into it, perhaps in the garden at home, but then don't let him have it very often at all. My current dog has a squeaky ball that we almost never throw for her, just one tiny squeak and we have her full attention. We use it as a reward really rarely, just enough for her to stay completely obsessed with it. [mean Moose emoticon]

Not all dogs do like to play with other dogs. My Wheaten never did, she'd say hello then wander off, even from when she was a tiny pup. She would always rather play with me or do some training than charge around with the other dogs. It can be really useful, as if you have a dog who finds your company that rewarding you have won half the battle before you start. An awful lot of training fails because people don't develop a good bond with the dog and expect it to want to do as its told with little or no motivation.

He is getting socialisation just by mixing with the other dogs and he has obviously been socialised enough to have learned the right language for telling them he's not interested without being aggressive when he's off-lead. Carry on exposing him to other dogs off-lead though, the more positive experiences he has off the lead, the more he will start to generalise that other dogs aren't a threat.

Many dogs don't like to socialise with other dogs - it is great that you are the centre of his world that is how it should be. I am also going to the seminar - see you there. Obviously I am the one with Greggs for lunch and fruit shots for my drink in the boden top- I'll look out for you

I want to go!

Come along moosemama I will supply the greggs lunch.

Make mine a vegetable one (we're all veggies round these parts).

I will be there in spirit.