DogZenergy: Understanding Leash Aggression- Part I: "Are you stressed out about taking your dog out for a walk? Do you dread seeing other dogs on the sidewalk? Does your sweet dog turn into a c..."
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This game is inspired by my own goldens, Daisy and Taj who would choose a tennis ball over a treat any day! They are truly masters of fetch and will do anything and everything to have a gross, slobbery ball in their mouths. They are so good at playing fetch that they have created all sorts of games to play with a tennis ball. Their new favorite is dropping a ball down a hill into the street so that a human will fetch it because they know that they must never ever stop foot off the curb in front of our house. It's pretty funny to watch a human chase after a ball with the dog waiting for him to bring it back! They have also invented a game called Hide-and-Go-Fetch that will mentally wear them out instead of just tossing a ball over and over. Daisy and Taj love playing this even more than running for the ball because they get to use their mighty sniffers to hunt for the ball. It's amazing how fast their tails whip around in helicopter circles when they are on the prowl for their most prized possession.
To play Hide-and-Go-Fetch your dog must know how to do a very reliable sit-stay so that you can disappear around a corner to go hide the ball somewhere. If your dog doesn't yet know how to sit-stay, begin by teaching him to sit and then slowly bring the ball to the ground. If your dog's bottom goes up, the ball goes up. It might look something like a seesaw when you first start. Your dog will quickly realize that if his bottom stays on the floor, the ball will be put down on the floor and you will release him to get it with a happy, "Ok!".
Once your dog begins to understand the game, add in the verbal cue, "Stay," with a flat hand held up. Continue to work on this impulse control exercise until you can put the ball farther away from your dog by taking a few steps backwards. Don't move to quickly and make it too hard for your dog because he will break from a sit-stay if he is too excited. If he does break from it, be patient and put him right back into a sit where he started. Be sure not to give him to ball if he breaks it, otherwise you are rewarding him. The ball is the reward for sitting and staying until you go to him and release him to go find it.
Once your dog is doing a sit-stay very reliably, start out by hiding the ball in an easy hiding spot behind a table leg for example. Then return to your dog and say, "Ok! Find it!". Your dog may need a little help from you pointing it out the first time, but the second time he will catch on and really start to use his nose. When your dog does find it, say, "Good!", have a puppy party and play a little game of catch. Then you can have him sit-stay and then go hide it again. This time make it a little bit harder.
Your dog's nose will love the scent work and you can play Hide-and-Go-Fetch inside and outside. It's a fun game to play inside on a rainy day because the stimulating mental activity will tire out a busy pup and mellow him out. Daisy and Taj are so good at playing the game inside that I have to hide it under blankets or behind tough to reach spots. Playing it outside in bushes and tall grass is a much more fun and and difficult challenge for them now. You can also use the same principles of the game to teach your dog to locate shoes or keys that have been lost around the house. Get creative and have fun with your dog! They'll love you for it!
Are you stressed out about taking your dog out for a walk? Do you dread seeing other dogs on the sidewalk? Does your sweet dog turn into a crazy, maniacal, barking, lunging, snarling dog when he catches wind of another dog in the distance? Do you feel nervous, anxious, scared and frustrated on the other end of the leash? You are not alone. Your dog is feeling this way too.
Most leash "aggression" is your dog's response to his natural animal instincts. Animals have a fight or flight response to stressful situations. If a dog is in his natural state of mind- off-leash in a wide open space with the freedom to run and play to his heart's content- he will have the freedom to escape from something that makes him nervous. When dogs are on-leash, they no longer have the freedom to "flee" from a stressful stimulus so instead they have to "fight" and become defensive. Most people say that their dog is a different dog off leash and is well behaved around other dogs. Most likely, your dog is not mean and aggressive, your dog is stressed because he has no way to avoid a confrontation with another dog or person because he is stuck on a leash. For this reason, it's important that you do not label your dog as "aggressive". Instead, think of your dog as being "leash reactive", meaning your dog is reacting to an unnatural stressful situation.
Leashes and sidewalks force dogs to approach each other straight on, which can be read as a challenging, aggressive approach. In a natural setting, if two dogs do not want to interact with one another, they would give each other lots of space by passing each other in a wide arc. Off leash, watch your dog interacting with other dogs and be aware of the distance that dogs give each other in passing. You'll notice that when dogs want to engage, challenge or play with another dog they will hold eye contact and approach each other head on in a straight line. In a park this is normal behavior, but on a sidewalk with leashes, dogs can not continue their interaction normally and they may become stressed. Stressed by not being able to run away, stressed by being choked as they lunge toward the other dog, stressed by your displeasure on the other end of the leash, and stressed by the inevitable tangle of leashes that can make dogs panic. For this reason, it's important to give dogs space and be very aware of body language.
Follow these 10 steps to start walking your dog with happiness and ease:
1) Start at home with limited distractions and make sure that your dog knows all of the basic communication commands- sit, down, stay, touch, and heel
2) Teach your dog the command, "look" so that your dog is comfortable with giving you a lot of eye contact. "Look" should be used to break your dog's fixation and to teach him to look to you as his protector when he is feeling distressed.
3) Really work on heel and loose leash walking so that your dog walks nicely on leash without any pulling or lunging to minimize tension. Choking caused by the collar and leash exacerbates the frustration and distress.
4) Outfit your dog in the appropriate apparatus, either a Gentle Leader or Easy Walk harness depending on the severity of your dog's pulling and barking.
5) Make sure that you have a hands free leash that snaps around your waist. This small change can make all of the difference because you won't be able to give your dog any cues by tightening up the leash when you see a dog.
6) Load up a treat pouch with two types of high reward treats like soft dog treats like dried liver, chopped chicken or string cheese that can be fed to your dog quickly and in tiny pieces.
7) Be very aware of your surroundings, your dog's body language and the distance that your dog can tolerate other dogs before a freak out.
8) Practice sit/stays and "look" with your dog on all of your walks together. It's important for your dog to be in tune with you and mentally stimulated. The sit/stays will increase your dog's focus on you and will teach him to stay calm even with distractions around. You want to be able to tell your dog what you want him to do instead of leaving it up to him to react in the way that he naturally wants to.
9) Train your own brain to stay positive and happy whenever you see another dog. Lose all of the negative, frustrated, embarrassed, stressful feelings because your dog will read it all over your body. Force yourself to smile and use a happy voice with your dog. Shower your dog with praise and rewards whenever your dog is around another dog and behaves really nicely.
10) Be your dog's protector and build up your dog's confidence around other dogs. If you react negatively to the situation, you will only fuel the fire because your dog will think that the sight of another dog makes you angry with him. Your job is to create a very positive association for your dog with other dogs. Instead of thinking, "Oh no a dog!", you and your dog want to start thinking, "Oh good a dog!". By rewarding your dog for good calm behavior and keeping his focus on you, he will start to associate other dogs with goodies. Your goal is for your dog to look at another dog and to look at you with a wag of his tail. Wouldn't that be nice?!
Stay tuned for Part II of "Understanding Leash Aggression". We've just gotten started!
It's a plane, it's a bird, it's a lightening bolt- it's Ziggy! Ziggy is such a fast mover at the park that all you see is a black streak running across the park. Ziggy loves, loves, loves to run and is happiest when he's in motion. He has been chosen as our Dog of the Month because of his much improved behavior. He has been such a good boy and is one of the best listeners in the pack now. We are so proud of his improvement and we are so in love with his awesome personality!
About two years ago, I received a call from Ziggy's owner, Leslie about her impossible six month old flat-coated retriever rescue. Leslie fell in love with Ziggy's bright brown eyes and agreed to take him home. At home, Ziggy was a maniac. Ziggy was wound up like a spinning top and would literally spin and chase his tail like a crazy pup. He was constantly barking at everything, jumping on people, lunging and pulling on the leash, terrorizing her other two dogs, and only knew how to sit. Leslie was in tears the first time that we met because she loved Ziggy so much, but had no idea how to control the dizzying energy of Ziggy.
Our first few sessions we worked on introducing Ziggy to several self-control impulse exercises. We worked on leave it, sit/stay, down/stay, and wait. We also worked on attention and focus commands, like "Look!" and "Touch!". Ziggy was very distracted by anything that moved- people, squirrels, skateboards, birds etc., so teaching him "Look!" really helped Leslie and Ziggy with making eye contact and breaking his fixation with certain distractions. We also worked on loose leash walking to make the walks more relaxed and to prevent leash reactivity. We fitted Ziggy with a Gentle Leader and a leash that snapped around Leslie's waist, and then we worked on 'heel' and 'wait'.
Leslie has always been extremely dedicated and consistent with working with Ziggy and he began to improve because of lots of patience and love. Leslie is also very diligent about giving Ziggy a lot of exercise and making sure that they practice all of the tools and techniques that they were taught. Ziggy also joins the midday play group once a week for socialization and fun while she is at work. Ziggy has improved tremendously with Leslie and in our play group in the last year and we are so proud of them!
Ziggy responds to me so well at the park and he is one of the first to come running when I call of the dogs. He happily sits and does 'down' when I ask him to even if there are a lot of other dogs around and he no longer gets leash reactive on the leash when he walks with the other dogs. He also used to panic and mouth me when I grabbed his collar, but now he nicely accepts a collar grab. He walks very nicely on the leash now without a Gentle Leader and he makes a lot of eye contact. When I used to walk in to the house to pick up Ziggy for the play group, he used to jump all over me, but now I've redirected his energy into doing "spins" on command instead of putting his paws on me. No dog is perfect and Ziggy is still working on a few things, but overall, we are so very proud of the leaps and bounds that Leslie and Ziggy have made together! Keep up the great work!
From 0-6 months of age, puppies are like little sponges that are willing to absorb as much information as they can about their environment. It is crucial that you and your puppy take full advantage of this window of time and socialize your puppy to all kinds of new places, people, pets, things, noises, sights, sounds and experiences. Your puppy should meet at least five new people, four loud noises, three new dogs, and two new places everyday in order to be one calm puppy. Your puppy should meet people who are round, tall, short, young, old, loud, happy, wearinga hat, carrying a large object, wearing a backpack, carrying a child, rolling on the ground, doing jumping jacks, walking another dog, jogging, biking, etc.!
The more
positive experiences
and exposure that your puppy has early on in his life the better. The puppies that turn out to be the calmest and most balanced are the ones that have been taken everywhere and anywhere that they were allowed to go. A lot of vets tell new puppy owners that they shouldn't take their puppy anywhere until he has his full set of shots. Unfortunately, this process can take anywhere from 2-5 months, which means the window of socialization is about to shut. Here are several rules that you should follow to safely socialize your puppy:
1) Put your puppy in a large beach bag or red wagon and take him on all sorts of fun outings.
2) Sit outside on a bench or at an outdoor coffee shop with your puppy in his bag so that he can take in all of the people and action.
3) Avoid walking your puppy in high dog traffic areas and common paths.
4) Don't let your puppy go to the bathroom where several other dogs might be going too.
5) Never take your puppy to a dog park unless he has all of his shots and is confident enough around other dogs to "hang with the big boys". Instead ask your friends and family to bring over their well
socialized dogs or young puppies that are healthy and friendly for a fun play date.
6) Avoid baby talking and giving affection to your puppy when he's scare
d. If you do, you'll be reinforcing his scared reaction to the person or object. Wait until your puppy calms down and takes a step towards the scary object. Then you can give him tons of praise, love and rewards.
7) Allow your puppy to explore at his own pace. Never force your puppy or drag him into a situation that he's not comfortable with. Be patient and stop to smell the roses!
8) Whenever safely possible allow your puppy to follow you around off-leash. Never do this around busy streets or where there may be other possible dangers. At a young age your puppy will follow you around just like he would his mama dog, so take advantage of this dependent age and your puppy will learn to follow you everywhere as he grows up.
9) Take treats and/or kibble with you everywhere you go so that you can reward your puppy for good behavior. Remember to 'show' your puppy what you want him to do instead of yelling at him for accidentally doing his own puppy idea of what he should do.
10) Ask all of your friends, family, neighbors, strangers etc. to help you train your puppy by having t
hem ask your puppy to sit and reward him with a treat. Your puppy will learn to love all kinds of people and to sit politely in front of people instead of jumping on them for attention.
Puppy Scavenger Hunt
R
ules: Have fun and expose your puppy to lots of positive, fun experiences, places and people!
1) Ask the mailman or UPS man to give your puppy a treat for sitting nicely.
2) Find a gardener carrying a large object like a blower or a rake and see if he'll give your puppy a treat.
3) Take a car ride to the vet or groomer and give your puppy a special treat there without having an actual appointment.
4) Take your puppy to a dog friendly store like Home Depot or anywhere else you can think of that allows dogs.
5) Ask your puppy to do sit, down, and leave it with at least three othe
r people around you in a place that has a lot of action and noises.
6) Drop a magazine or book while your puppy is in the room with you and then say, "good!" and drop a treat right next to the object that made all of the noise.
7) With your puppy on a leash ask a child to have your puppy sit and then have him drop a treat on the ground for your puppy.
8) Roll a skateboard near your puppy and ask him to sit. Give your puppy lots of treats of choosing to sit nicely and look at you instead of running or lunging towards the skateboard.
9) Carry a large cardboard box or something like it into the room and praise your puppy if he doesn't act scared of it. If he is scared set the box on the floor and wait till he approaches it. If he takes a step forward say "good!" and give him a treat.
10) Find a tall man wearing a large hat and ask him to give your puppy a treat.
Invite some friends that have puppies or even adult dogs to join your scavenger hunt. At the end of the hunt throw a Puppy Party and invite your friends over to meet your puppy. Make sure your puppy has a great time, but that he doesn't get overwhelmed. If your puppy is tired make sure that there's a quiet safe place for him to take a nap without being disturbed. Overall, make sure that your puppy is going everywhere and anywhere with you and meeting all kinds of people and dogs that are nice and friendly. Have fun!