Fear Aggression

A story from Sue on how she got her dog to remain calm when strangers walked by.

Boy is this a familiar story! I'm right there with you on most of the things you describe -- the good news is that you CAN make a big difference with time and patience.

Every time your dog acts aggressively against another dog or person, it is a step backward. Over time, you will begin to recognize the body language that precedes the aggression and will be able to prevent your dog from barking/growling/lunging by working with his tolerance for distance.

Our biggest breakthrough was to pair the positive reinforcement (treats) with a sit/stay. We worked the sit/stay into our daily routine in the house and did everything we could to make that command bomb-proof. Schultz has to sit for everything -- his meals, to be petted, for a door to open, before we throw a toy for fetch -- I mean everything! This strengthened the command to the point that I could ask for the sit/stay on walks when I saw someone coming and then use praise and treats while he was holding the sit/stay as someone walked by.

One other thing -- we really saw a big difference when we started working with a toy instead of treats.

Our dog loves nothing more than playing fetch, and we found that he is much more responsive to the toys than to treats. So, when we walk with him, we carry a red rubber ball and throw it up in the air for him to catch when someone is walking by -- after the sit/stay, that is = )

This is just to point out that every dog has something that they will respond best to. Once you find that reward, it will make your training move along more quickly.

For a while, we had to stop our walks in the neighborhood as there were too many variables that I could not control. In place of our daily walks, we would drive to a local bike/walking path. I would park on the road that ran alongside the path and we would sit at the edge of the road and watch the path through the woods. Whenever someone went by, Shultz would get to catch the ball. When the person went away, so did the ball and all of the attention.

I made the contrast between the fun when people would pass by and the dull time when people were not around as obvious as I could. Before long, Schultz would look for people to walk by and then look to me for the ball and attention.

This connection between strangers and the pleasure of playing ball was a big breakthrough and enabled us to decrease the distance.

When we moved closer, it took a while longer for him to really be able to focus on the ball instead of the strangers (though I never moved close enough that he acted aggressively toward anyone). But, within a week or two, we had built back up to him looking for the ball whenever he saw a stranger -- even though we were closer to the strangers.

A year later, we are taking short walks along the bike path where it is wide enough that we can move onto a narrow grass strip to play fetch. The strip near the bike path is much more narrow than a regular street, so we have been walking in the neighborhood for some time now.

The key is to find situations where you have pretty good control over distances. You can also try ballgames where people are generally congregating in a particular area and you can work from a distance. Or a park where you can sit some distance away from the bulk of the activity.

I would definitely suggest a halti collar or a gentle leader. These head harnesses give you a lot more control over your dog's movements and significantly reduce pulling on lead. There is one very important thing to remember with the head halters, though. If they are not fitted properly, they can slip off. PLEASE -- ALWAYS USE A SECOND COLLAR AS A BACKUP.

We use a martingale collar (they were designed for greyhounds and are no-slip collars). The way the martingale is designed, the outer loop (where you attach the leash) comes out away from the dog's neck. This enables you to hook the leash through both collars at the same time. This way, if the dog slips out of the head halter, you will still have the dog under your control on the martingale collar and he is not free to run off and bite someone.

I would strongly suggest The Cautious Canine as your first purchase -- it's wonderful and very clear on desensitization training. The author is Patricia McConnell. Happy training = )

Sue