Road Posted April 22, 2003 Report Share Posted April 22, 2003 Hello, After owning several breeds of dogs with varying temperments and personalities, I now have a 18 month BC female. Bonnie is smart and responds well to spoken words, scary sometimes. One problem becoming major, is on walks with the lead. She "freaks" at other dogs, wether they be on a lead or behind a fence. Bonnie goes to her friends yards and is well behaved and has her friends visit her no probs. Seems she is o.k. with her dog mates but not tolerant of strange dogs. As we live in a remote town the chance to attend obedience class is not possible. Any suggestions. Adrian ROAD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvw Posted April 23, 2003 Report Share Posted April 23, 2003 I had a rescue BCx that was like this...but with people as well as dogs. She actually was a very sweet dog but on leash she was fearful and it came out as aggression. I took her to a well respected behaviorist (Brenda Aloff who has a good book on aggression in dogs) who prescribed this plan. Using a Halti (not a Gentle leader) head harness we gradually worked on the problem. The Halti is essential in this case so you can control where the dog is looking. So you walk first where you know it will be easy and the problem won't happen. This may be only a small walk. You take lots of treats. Walk along and then at random intervals stop and back up holding a treat down at mouth level getting the dog to come into you. Then continue walking again. This is fun for most dogs and because it is random the dog will be tuned into you to see when it will happen. Practice this a lot. It is also good to practice with known non problem dogs as a distraction. Then gradually work up to situations where you know there will be a problem. The key is you MUST anticipate the situation and prevent it. I know this is difficult but once the dog goes into "fight/fear" mode its too late and they aren't using their brain anymore. So BEFORE a situation is about to happen do the same backing up with treats. Try to prevent the dog from looking at the other dog. The head harness makes this easier. It may take some time to get by the "situation" as you are constantly backing up and going foward. But try to do it quickly if possible. Try not to encounter more than one problem situation on your first walks...I realize this may not be easy either! Eventually you can work up to more difficult walks. Remember this is a LONG process. You have to remember to stay calm yourself. You have to be consistent. Any time the dog gets ahead of you and gets into a lunging/barking war it reinforces the behavior you don't want. Good Luck. Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucy Goosey Posted April 23, 2003 Report Share Posted April 23, 2003 Jennifer gives good advice here. I also have a BCX with on leash aggression. I've tried all the approaches, and this is the one that has worked best for her. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvw Posted April 23, 2003 Report Share Posted April 23, 2003 Thanks Lucy's Mom! One other exercise I did in tandem which helped build our relationship was teach a "focus on me" command. Again, its a gradual process but pretty easy. Take a treat in one hand making a fist. Hold both hands out to your side. Stay silent and wait for your dog to look you in the eyes. As soon as the dog does give the treat. Be ready at first for the dog to jump on you, sniff both hands, paw, etc. Just ignore this. Wait for the eye focus. Most dogs catch on to this game pretty quickly. After the dog really has the hang of this give a command just after the dog focused on you while giving the treat. I use "focus" but it can be anything you want. Pretty soon you can just say the command in any situation and the dog will look at you. I periodically reinforce this with a treat after the command. I find this helpful when I see my dog eyeing something and I suspect she is going to have a problem. If the dog is looking at you it makes it hard for them to run after something or get into it with another dog. anyway, this might be helpful to you. Regardless its a fun game for the dog. Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anbc Posted April 29, 2003 Report Share Posted April 29, 2003 I thought this would work for our BC but it had the opposite effect. Bringing treats on walks made him completely more spastic and hyper, not knowing where to look and what to do. Plus, he seemed to get the idea that we were rewarding him for freaking out whenever he saw a dog, etc. he's not that food-motivated anyway. right now we do a simple "no" and that seems to work. we'll see. i'd try a no-pull harness over a halti. A harness is a training tool and haltis are restraints (many dogs hate them) but whatever works!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvw Posted April 29, 2003 Report Share Posted April 29, 2003 You have to give the treats before the "freak out" occurs. Otherwise, yes, you are rewarding the behavior you don't want. The Halti is essential in this method because you have to control eye contact. You cannot do that with a harness. Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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