Leash Agression

[BudgetsDad]

My boy Budget is great in the dog park. No problems at all. On leash he growls and lunges at maybe 60-70% of the dogs he sees, and sometimes at certain people. He's a rescue I got about 1 1/2 months ago, so I don't know his history. Other than the leash agression, he seems pretty well adjusted.

What can I do to make him behave? All advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[ARottMweilerY]

Try putting him on a Gentel Leader or Halti (make sure you fit it properly, and take the time to train them to like it. If you need help or aren't sure how to train them to like to where it, let me know and I'll gladly explain it .) This controls the head and will let the dog be much more successful than with anything else. Now, find something the dog finds VERY Rewarding. I'd try to teach attention first at home as well, then generalise it around. If you need help training attention I'll also explain that. Now, you need to know about how far away the dog or person can be before the dog starts showing signs of being stressed. Again if you need help on knowing when the dog is stressed let me know and I'll try to help you out. If you can find that out it will help a lot. Now you'll want to set your dog up for success. So if your dog starts stressing out when the dog is 50 feet away. You'll want to set up 60 feet away from the other dog. Now, you'll reward highly for attention and good behaviour. You'll keep doing this and keep working closer and closer. If the dog starts stressing out again back up a little bit and work harder at the previous level in which the dog was successful. Try to keep the dog's attention on you. If he knows anything else and you are just sitting there and the dog isn't walking towards you or anything then you can also have the dog do other things he knows. Try to keep the dog's attention off the other dog. The more you do this, the more he'll learn when he sees another dog he should pay attention to you because you are fun and exciting. If I said anything confusing or didn't explain this very well, please let me know and I'll try to answer it / explain it better. I'm kind of in a hurry right now so sorry if it's hard to understand. Again just say so if you need more informaiton or are confused! Hope this helps.

~Amy~

 

[mojozen]

Take him to obedience classes and explain the situation to the trainer ahead of time. They may have suggestions towards how to handle this behavior - before classes even start. Sounds to me like he is having issues with socialization and the leash is making him feel trapped so he's acting out.

Also don't make a big deal when he acts out. The more attention you give the problem - positive or negative - the more that reinforces his bad behaviour. Do the suggestions given to you by Amy... but I'd say classes should be in this boy's future.

 

[Tinaweena]

Sounds like the result of a tie-out dog. One that was kept on a chain, and could do nothing more than defend itself and growl and act mean to protect his surroundings when approached. This is why a tie out isn't a good idea, unless you can assure no dogs will come into contact with the dog and it's just a temporary thing, say and hour or two at a time, and not everyday.

ARottMweilerY---I bought a halti and boone won't leave it alone. how do I train him to it?! as it is, it feels like a total waste of 30 bucks since he won't even keep it on!

 

[gaddylovesdogs]

I'd start distracting him whenever you see another dog. Teach him that keeping his attention on you is better than going after other dogs.

 

[Fuzz Puppy]

I'd also try a gentle leader and distracting him when there's another dog. Good luck!
Hannah

 

[ARottMweilerY]

Tinaweena~ Clickers help tremedously in teaching dogs to enjoy whering a halti. You'd spend a week or 2 doing sessions to get the dog used to it. First session, you'd click & reward the dog for looking at the halti, sniffing the halti, leaning towards the halti, and touching the halti. You can then open the loop the dog sticks it's nose through and begin clicking and treating the dog for sticking his nose through the loop. Don't put it on yet, just get the dog used to sticking his nose through the loop. Do a few sessions on this. Now you can begin letting him stick his nose through, hold it there for a second, click and reward. Do this a couple times, now wait a couple more seconds. Click and reward for the dog being calm and wearing it willingly. Don't reward if the dog fusses or moves his head / trys to get it off. If he starts doing that you've gone too fast. Back up a step and hold it there for a shorter amount of time. If the dog is fine with it, you can keep building up time. Once you get up enough time, you can start acting like you are going to hook it, click and treat for holding still / being calm while you hold it on him as if it were hooked, again work up the time (don't hook it yet). Now in the next session, you'd review, then you might get to hook it this time. Click and treat him when you do, then click and treat him a few more times if he's being calm about it and not fussing with it. If he's being good, take it off of him then repeat. Now in your next session, review again, then when you get it on, if he has a favorite game to play or something, play with him. Try to keep his mind off it as best you can. If he knows some things or tricks, have him do some of that. If he fusses with it, tell him no and redirect his attention on something else. Only take it off when he's not fussing with it. Reward him for being calm and good with it on. Only leave it on him for a min. or 2 the first couple times you put it on then gradually leave it on for longer and such. Always associate it with something good happening. Soon you'll have a dog that loves his halti . It takes time, but not that much. You'll probably be able to fly through the steps. Though it's sometimes harder when they've been introduced to the halti the wrong way and have already got the habit of messing with it or if he's been rewarded for fussing with it. Or if he's successfully gotten it off or somebody has taken it off while he's fussing with it. If any of that's happened it will take longer but it will still work. I hope this helps! Good luck

~Amy~

 

[Mordy]

I'd like to add another viewpoint to the Halti/Gentle Leader discussion here.

These devices don't work on every dog, and not every dog can be trained to tolerate them.

Case in point - my own dog. Even with a slow adjustment period and lots of fun things happening while he was wearing his GL, he was never happy wearing it. He became depressed and once even freaked out so badly he fell and skinned his muzzle, resulting in two bleeding scrapes.

That was the point I stopped trying, because you can't tell me something that puts a dog in such a state is humane. To this day he will put his tail between his legs and slink away if you just show him the GL.

Some dogs have problems with the short hairs on their nose getting caught in the nylon webbing, or the nose strap rubbing and irritating, or getting too close to the eyes. Sometimes this can be fixed by gluing some moleskin to the inside of the strap.

Just like any other training devices - it's not a magical fix suitable for every dog out there. Give it a try but keep an open mind and be prepared to try other methods.

 

[Gempress]

I think you should find a good trainer to help. It sounds like your dog really isn't aggressive, but just has issues with the leash. I'm thinking that being on the leash makes him feel trapped/cornered, so he feels he must defend himself.

I agree with Amy's great suggestions except for one thing. I don't like haltis. If your dog lunges at another dog while wearing a halti, he could do himself serious neck damage. They're a restraint device, not a training tool. They give neither a reward nor a correction. They make it your dog CAN'T pull, but don't do a thing to teach him that he SHOULDN'T pull.

I would definately use Amy's suggestions, but with a regular buckle collar. I just think that if your dog is already scared of the leash, associating it with an unpleasant thing like a corrective collar might make it worse.

 

[ARottMweilerY]

Alright Mordy, just wondering what your reaction was the First time you put it on him and he reacted to it? What did you do and how did you handle it? I'm just curious, I definately agree that some things don't work with some dogs. And of course it might not work for this one.

I do agree that it's not good when dogs lunge on them, that's why you have to be sure not to let them. You have to be quick to recognize the signs, and get their attention on you. You can pull their head around if you have to, and reward for attention on you. Again you'll be working far enough away from the dog that it shouldn't be lunging any ways .

~Amy~

 

[Mordy]

Nothing significant happened in the beginning actually. The GL was introduced in a positive manner just as you'd introduce anything new - a flat buckle collar, a leash and so on. The episode where he hurt his face actually happened about a week and a half into the introduction period.

Some dogs are just sensitive about their muzzle, and taking control of the head/muzzle is the principle these head halters are based on. Since then I have learned about many dogs with similar issues. Granted, in a few cases the problems could be traced back to improper fitting.

It never did much if anything to stop my dog from pulling either, when the need to pull overcame him, he just pulled with his head turned sideways and down.

In my experience, diligent training work without any "special" equipment may not be the quick fix/instant gratification most people are looking for, but it is a permanent one. Whenever someone uses a GL, prong collar, harness etc. you still have to wean the dog off it at some point.

 

[mojozen]

Mordy - Mojo had the same reaction with his gentle leader that you are describing with your own dog. I started it off slow, made it fun. None of that mattered. He'd hop along on 3 legs trying to use one paw to get it off. He even hated it so much that it didn't matter if I had turkey dogs in my hands he'd scrape his nose along the sidewalk tryng to get it off. I'd try to stop him... but nothing I tried to do would get him to stop trying to get it off.

After his nose was bloody from that, I gave up on the gentle leader. All of my ideas were tapped out, and I didn't think having control of his head was worth him rubbing his nose off.

I ended up getting him a simple harness, and he's super happy to see it come out. It gives me enough control when he gets into his stubborn bull charging ways, but it also doesn't irritate him in any sort of way. We're working on the walking thing, and he's gotten better... He knows that his harness means he's either going for a walk or a car ride and that's always good news to Mojo.

 

[Doberluv]

I'm not a fan of GL for the reason of the possibility of spinal injury, for one and for the other, the muzzle thing. For dogs, something around their muzzle equals (in dog language) a dominating thing. Dogs will place their mouth over another's muzzle to attempt to make the dog submit. And I'm not into that kind of force when training. (whenever possible. Obviously we need to use a leash and some force) Now one may say, "but dogs teach eachother that way, so why not us?" Well, my philosophy is that we are not dogs and they know it and I don't think we can emulate closely enough to what dogs do to eachother to make it worth all that much. We can miss certain preceding subtle body language or gestures, looks and positioning which may go with this mouth over the muzzle thing. I don't think we can "get it" all. So, simply doing one part of the sequence of the body positioning...ie: something over the muzzle, may be misinterpreted by the dog, or may not be. So, I turn my attention more toward mamillian learning theory rather than putting a huge emphasis on dog to dog communication, although certainly there is merit in a lot of it. Anyhow, to get back to the main thing.....anything which forces the dog to "behave" or offer a behavior is taking away the opportunity for the dog to think and make the "right" choice. I try to do things which will make the dog choose and if the motivation and reward is more valuable to the dog than what it is he's doing, (the unwanted behavior) he will make that choice that we want. If he's jack potted for choosing the wanted behavior, that reinforces it so much better than when he doesn't think or choose, but is forced....not given a choice. There's only one choice when he's forced. And I don't think it sets or gels a behavior as well.

You have to make it so he WILL choose the wanted behavior though. And when this starts happening, the whole learning process, even in all kinds of other areas tends to create a more reliable and more deeply learned behavior....more solid. IMO.

Teaching attention on you, as a seperate lesson, away from these distractions helps. Desensatizing and habituation to the stimuli helps. Distraction from the stimuli and offering an alternative behavior helps.

 

[ARottMweilerY]

First of all, I seen this on Mojozen's post: <I'd try to stop him... but nothing I tried to do would get him to stop trying to get it off. > Just wanted to say he could have found this rewarding. You probably would have been better off just ignoring him and acting like your not impressed. If you don't think it's a big deal and don't bring attention to it yourself, the dog is less likely to as well. I didn't see it of course and could be totally wrong with your dogs. I just wanted to point that out. I found that it helped just to put it on my dog and let her where it for a while. She learned it was no big deal. As for what Doberluv said, I do agree though if the dog doesn't give you any behaviour to reward at first, then you need to do something to get the dog to do some sort of rewardable behaviour. I do agree you want the dog to choose the right decision and think on his own and all that. So yeah, I'm just giving you one suggestion, there are many ways to handle this and everyone has given great suggestions . Good luck

~Amy~

 

[BudgetsDad]

Thanks for all the replys. I like the idea of distracting him and treating him when he sees another dog. I'm not sure the Gentle Leader will work for him though. I've tried it a few times and it IMMEDIATELY helped with the leash pulling. However, it seems to make him even more agressive. He started barking at people he wouldn't normally bark at when he was wearing it. He started barking a middle aged woman, and he never barked at females before.

I be interested in anyone else's experience with something like this.

 

[Doberluv]

He probably is being forced into a vulnerable and submissive state....something around his muzzle and forced to keep his head in a particular place. This has to make him feel more vulnerable. He's already on a leash. That right there often causes some frustration in dogs. They can't get away, or go see....or whatever it is they want to do. They're trapped.(vulnerable) Now you add this thing over his face and he can't move. How frustrating is that? You see what I mean? My dog has this tendancy to be reactive toward dogs when on a leash. But I have discovered that it's not always aggression, but frustration. When I loosen the leash and relax more myself, act like it's no big deal.....he relaxes and doesn't react nearly as badly. He just wears a regular collar.

 

[Gempress]

I agree with Doberluv. He doesn't seem naturally aggressive. The leash just makes him feel very trapped and helpless. Anything like a head halter or corrective collar will probably make him feel worse.

I'm thinking maybe a harness would be better in making him feel less vulnerable. But I don't know how big he is, and if he reacts to anything while on a harness, it'll be difficult to control him.

 

[Mordy]

BudgetsDad, something else you can try is putting a snug-fitting T-shirt on him. This might sound weird, but the "anxiety wrap" principle has helped many dogs overcome issues. They seem to find the gentle pressure on their body reassuring and it helps them to focus and stay calm.

Special wraps made for this purpose are even sold, but until you find out if your dog even benefits from this system there's no need to shell out $65 or so if you can just buy a kid's T-shirt or sweatshirt that fits nice and snug (without cutting off any circulation of course).

A friend of mine had to deal with an aggressive dog for a while and his T-shirt helped him a lot. It's definitely worth a try. You can read up ont he topic here:
http://www.anxietywrap.com/FAQ.htm

 

[Doberluv]

That is an interesting concept. It's sure worth a try. Thanks for posting that link Mordy.

 

[ARottMweilerY]

Alright, gentle leaders aren't for every one, and I enjoy doing most my work on a regular buckle collar as well. I'd definately try setting up a ways away from dogs and such he barks at, where he sees them but is fine with them and doesn't pay much attention to them, and reward good, calm behaviour. Attention and everything. Then gradually move closer and closer as he is ready. I do agree with most every one's suggestions, and the thing Mordy said is also a great Idea. I've heard a lot of people use this, it helps a lot when dogs are afraid of something. It even works for thunder and such a lot of the time. Keep us posted . Thanks

~Amy~