# Dog aggressive on lead



## Graeme (Mar 8, 2009)

Hi,

Last week we took in a rescue dog. She is a 5 year old collie/jack russell cross.

She is very well behaved in the house, obeys basic commands and leaves the cats alone. On the lead however its a different story!

She pulls constantly and is extremely aggressive towards other dogs. She goes into a frenzy and a red mist descends. This culminated today in her biting my calf when walking her past another dog.

We have tried the halti however she goes absolutely beserk and manages to pull part of the halti into her mouth and has almost destroyed the halti in less than a week! We also have a normal harness however she was on the harness when she bit me.

Off the lead she is fine with other dogs, its just on the lead when walking down for example the high street that she's a real problem. I can't just let her go which is the main suggestion I have found searching for similar threads.

Does anybody have any ideas on how I can get her used to walking past other dogs on a lead? I have contacted a training school and they quoted me £60 for an assessment session. Do these work? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Graeme and Rhian.


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## Deb (Jan 28, 2009)

i don't know if this would work with older dogs but i have bought something called corrector spray which emits a loud hiss which is supposed to mimic another animal (my puppy bites and jumps on the lead). Have not used it for that yet but used it today to stop her going upstairs (only used it x2) and it worked fab. She now sits at the bottom of the stairs and waits for me to come back down. Have not used it outside because since i bought it yesterday she has not bitten and jumped!!!! only pulled and pulled and pulled!!


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## cpatel (Nov 3, 2007)

Hi

I would suggest working with a trainer or behaviour counsellor.

Yes if you can find a good trainer then they should be able to help you both a lot. My advice would be to not use a training school that is going to treat aggression with aggression as this could cause further complications.

If you are not happy with a trainer or a school you can try locate others using:

1. The Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors
2. CAPBT - COAPE Association of Pet Behaviourists and Trainers
3. Welcome to APDT - Association of Pet Dog Trainers UK

Also I would say that there is usually a reason why dogs bark and lunge at other dogs or people on leash. If the dog is doing this because they are uncomfortable with other dogs while they are on leash (as the leash takes away the option to flee) then just dealing with the barking and lunging by punishing the dog will not make the dog any more comfortable around other dogs on leash, if any thing the dog may think every time I see another dog on leash something bad happens. So you want to try and deal with the underlying issue.

Chirag

Chirag Patel DipCABT, CPDT
San Francisco SPCA Certificates in Training & Behaviour and Dog Aggression
Member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers #00923 (UK) #71093 (US)
Pets as Therapy Assessor

Dog Star Daily Blogger - Please check out Dog Star Daily for loads of free puppy & dog training articles, videos and blogs.

Telephone: 077 2531 0204
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.domesticatedmanners.com

(DipCABT = Advanced Diploma in Practical Aspects of Companion Animal
Behaviour & Training from the Centre of Applied Pet Ethology)
(CPDT = Certified Pet Dog Trainer with the Certification Council for
Professional Dog Trainers)


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## candysmum (Jan 18, 2009)

Graeme said:


> Hi,
> 
> Last week we took in a rescue dog. She is a 5 year old collie/jack russell cross.
> 
> ...


If she is fine off the lead but isn't on the lead it sounds like she has been maybe attacked or something while on the lead and this is nervous aggression. When she is on the lead and you have to walk past another dog either cross the road and WALK don't look at the other dog TRY not to feel any fear etc becasuse you know how she is going to act alos have treats in your pocket see a dog coming show her it and walk past the dog once past it lt her have the treat.

Another way is putting you between the two dogs as you walk past don't let her get eye contact with the dog if she goes to turn her head use the lead to redirect her and keep her eyes off it. again use the treat so her attention is on the food not the dog and give her it with lots of praise once she has gone past.

another way but could be more dangerous is make her sit by your side close to a garden while the other dog walks past again have a treat and reward her when the dog has gone past.

Remeber NEVER put yourself in harms way

Good luck


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## alphadog (Jan 29, 2009)

I agree with candysmum. I've settled two dogs with dog aggression by doing this.

This was my method (virtually the same ) Firstly when you see another dog step to one side as it approaches and ask her to sit, then treat. Then using the tastiest of treats, get your dog's attention and praise and praise as the other dog approaches. Keep the treat close to your dog's nose and move it so that your dog is not looking directly at the other dog but can still see it in her peripheral vision. Give her the treat if she can remain focussed on you and stays calm. Don't forget to praise repeatedly as the other dog approaches.

This should build up her confidence around other dogs and quickly she'll learn that, dogs = treats = I love other dogs!!

You can make your own uber tasty treats that will make training so easy. Have a look at Doggie Treat Recipes - liver treats are my dogs' favourites.

Have you thought of clicker training her?

Good luck, keep us up to speed! x


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## Guest (Mar 8, 2009)

Not wanting to sound too "Cesar Milan"y  pulling on the lead and aggression on the lead seems a lot like dominance to me (among other, lesser, problems possibly - like some negative experience on the lead maybe...)

A lot of the time dogs are far worse on the lead than off the lead...basically the owners, unknowningly, tend to make things worse...not being assertive enough pack leader so that the dog feels he needs to take control..and then being stressed (after a bad experience - reasonably) and "transmitting" that through the lead... its a bit of a vicious circle really.
You may be the pack leader inside, but possibly not when you are outside of your house...

You should probably get some professional help yes because you risk having your dog put down if she attacks someone..

Good luck to you!!


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## goodvic2 (Nov 23, 2008)

Hi. As the owner of 2 adult rescue's I have suffered the same problem, except I have double the trouble. Just to say that I agree with all the above 3 posts. I would prob say that it is not dominance on the lead but fear. Basically when dogs are faced with a situation they have to make a choice of either; fight, flight, ignore or submit. When a dog is on the lead they cannot "flight" whereas off the lead they can. So your dog can either submit (not likely in unbalanced dogs), ignore (only acheived with corrections/training) or fight, which in my experience a lot of rescue's do and you are obviously experiencing.

If you do not feel that you have the know how on how to deal with this then get in an expert. When I got my 2 rescue's I was a first time dog owner and dealt with everything in the wrong way, a year later and I am still paying the price for not dealing with things in the right way. wwwchiefdogwhisperer.co.uk is the company I have been working with, you may find the website useful, I would highly recommend it.

Finally the advice given in previous posts in what I used as well. However, depending on how good your timing is and how quickly your dog will go from calm to uncontrollable, you may find that using the treats will not work yet. You will prob find that you have to cross the road or even turn around in order to not make eye contact. The most important thing is to distract the dog as SOON as they look at the other dog, you will prob have to sharply pull the lead in order to do this. I use half check collars.

As I said if you do not manage to get this under control quite quickly, definitely get a behaviourist involved (one which is recommended). These behaviours can easily spiral and you could find that she gets aggressive off the lead as she will get used to behaving this way when she see's another dog - last thing you want!

Hope this has helped.
Vicky x


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## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

This sounds much more like fear than dominance. Don't use a corrector spray, or force, it will only make things worse, confirming to the dog that being on the lead when another dog approaches leads to something unpleasant happening, and the unpleasantness comes from you! cpatel's approach sounds right to me, but you have only had the dog for a few days and will not have formed a bond with her. Make your dog feel you are her leader and protector, when you see another dog coming, turn and walk away, always keeping a good distance for now. If this means not going down the high street, go somewhere else with little traffic so you can cross the road if you have to. Deal with it calmly and confidently. Later, as the dog comes to trust you, and nothing horrible happens to her, things should improve. Group training classes should help, but it could be too early in your relationship with the dog for this, give it a month say. Use treats, and get her to sit at a distance, then gradually get it closer.
Could you have your dog off lead in the park with another dog, you chatting to other dogs owner, then recall and put her on the lead while other owner does same, then walk them together? Abandon embarrassment and get other local dog owners to help you!
I have a collieXjack russell, and know others. I think they are fantastic dogs - clever, responsive, playful and most seem to have a positive attitude to life (not yours though at the moment!)
There won't be an overnight fix for this, it will take time and work.


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## hutch6 (May 9, 2008)

MY rescue GSD does this.

She can be walking perfectly happy and looking at the flowers etc but if she sees another dog other than my BC she will prick her ears up, start "chuffing" and then let rip with lunges and barking. Not the most ideal thing.

I have tried the treat thing but she will take the treat and then go nuts again until the dog is out of sight. I feel liek i am rewarding her for the behaviour.

She is the same when off lead too. She'll run upto the other dog, have a sniff and then start barking in their face. She will often give them a little nip if they run off as if to say "Don't walk away when I am talking to you!" and willt hen bark in their face again. 

Sometimes intervention stops it, sometimes a treat will stop it, sometimes she will just say what she wants and stop but I have tried everything I can think of.

Suggestions?


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## goodvic2 (Nov 23, 2008)

Hi hutch6. As I said in my previous post, if you have a dog who goes from 0-10 in a couple of seconds (which, I guess your's is ok one minute and lunging the next) then I do not believe it will work. A reward can only be given when the brain has completely relaxed and if she goes nuts again then the brain never fully calms down. So as you said you are rewarding bad behaviour. In my opinion the treat only works when you have more control over your dog. (it still doesn't always work with mine and I've had them over a year) 

Have you ever tried correcting her using the lead, i.e by giving it a sharp tug to distract her? (in order for this to work, I have only found using a half check will do) and then changing direction and ensuring that eye contact is avoided. Do you go to busy places or quite places? Cesar Milan touches the dog on the hind quarters with his foot to get a distraction, which I sometimes do myself. It is only a touch and not a kick and it does distract the dog from it's train of thought.

I find with my two that I either have to go to somewhere really quiet where there are no other dogs, or else really busy places where they cannot spend the whole time lunging, in the end they have no choice but to submit.

It also appears as though she has no social skills at all, as is often the case with rescue's. My 2 were street dogs in Greece and were very anti social, they are getting much better, but it's been hard work. Does your other dog have good social skills?

Have you consulted a behaviourist? I have been working with a guy who has a pack of 10 dogs and it has helped my 2 no end.

Vicky x


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## staflove (Sep 4, 2008)

Hi firstley did you introduce the halti in the right way, as some people just slapit on the dog and expect them to were it, i would take her fav treat out with me but if she is seeing red i carnt see that a treat will help i would get her away from the situation ie if you see a dog walk quicker with her saying good girl and pass the dog do not sit with her sroking her and telling her that its ok or you will make the matter even worse than what it is.

ignor the behavoiur and keep walking when you get passed and her attention is on you then praise her and tell her good girl, you could do with some understanding dog walkers to help you out here, my staffy bitch was the same she screamed at every dog she saw it was a night mare and now i can walk passed all dogs we get the odd pull on the lead but its much better then screaming the place down. 

Please do not use a pet correcetor it is in a bottle and the sound his terrible and it could work for your dog or turn her the other way ie bitting you, my little girl bit my hand when i used it and i was with a trainer so please think about what your doing first were are you based just out of interst.


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## hutch6 (May 9, 2008)

goodvic2 said:


> Hi hutch6. As I said in my previous post, if you have a dog who goes from 0-10 in a couple of seconds (which, I guess your's is ok one minute and lunging the next) then I do not believe it will work. A reward can only be given when the brain has completely relaxed and if she goes nuts again then the brain never fully calms down. So as you said you are rewarding bad behaviour. In my opinion the treat only works when you have more control over your dog. (it still doesn't always work with mine and I've had them over a year)
> 
> Have you ever tried correcting her using the lead, i.e by giving it a sharp tug to distract her? (in order for this to work, I have only found using a half check will do) and then changing direction and ensuring that eye contact is avoided. Do you go to busy places or quite places? Cesar Milan touches the dog on the hind quarters with his foot to get a distraction, which I sometimes do myself. It is only a touch and not a kick and it does distract the dog from it's train of thought.
> 
> ...


Cheers for the reply.

She is a dream dog other than this behaviour and also knocking nine lumps out of my other one but that is a seperate thing.

She is perfectly fine with other dogs once she has got to know them but this involves barking in their face as stated for about five minutes.

I don;t belive she knows how to behave around other doigs full stop as her first owners never took her out and if they did they never let her off. I am the first owner to take her for a true walk so I believe. She is fine off of the lead except this behaviour.

It as though she wants to go see them and all that but has no idea about how to do it. She spent time in kennels where I am guessing dogs bark all day so she may have picked this up as the way to carry on.

She has a half-check collar and even if you correct her, use the Cesar touch, walk the other way or any other technique she will not stop barking unless she has either spent some time around them OR knows they are long gone.

Anyone else got a GSD on here and has an issue with this: I throw the frisbee for Dillon (BC), he runs off and fetches the frisbee. Sheeba (GSD) walks perfectly to heel but when Dilllon returns to dropt he frisbee for you she tries to stop him getting to you? Absolutley no dominance issues or anything like that but she tries to deflect his approach on the majority of occasions unless they are getting a treat. She will happily let him come for a treat but not bring the frisbee with him. Wierd dog.

I just think she needs to go to one of these socialisation classes and learn how to carry on properly but I knolw she will be very disruptive and regardless of what people think, a barking, lunging GSD makes everyone react in the same way - panic. The thing is, as much as I like her and think she is wonderful there are other issues which are preventing her from staying with me so I don;t want to create a strong bond if I am only having to rehome her again. I don't think it is fair on her having to be rehomes let alone when she has a solid understanding with me. By that I mean the whole person - dog thing not just "You know who's in charge and trust me".


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## alphadog (Jan 29, 2009)

hutch6 said:


> MY rescue GSD does this.
> 
> She can be walking perfectly happy and looking at the flowers etc but if she sees another dog other than my BC she will prick her ears up, start "chuffing" and then let rip with lunges and barking. Not the most ideal thing.
> 
> ...


My old boy had a HUGE issue with other dogs and I had to learn very quickly how to spot a dog before he did, because once he'd spotted one he rushed from 1 right up to 10 on the anger scale, without warning. As I saw the dog apporach (even if it was 200yrds away) I would start the routine I explained in my other post. Because he was unbelievably wired (scared probably and determined to get in there first with the other dog) I would praise, click and offer treats the whole time the other dog was in sight, he learnt eventually that the more he chilled out the more he was treated. We would not leave the spot until the other dog was out of sight, so that he learnt that I was in control around other dogs and he didn't have to take on that responsibility. I would really recommend trying this, but it does add a lot of time onto your walks especially if you come across a lot of dogs enroute.

Just one thing I disagree on with the other posters... I do not cross the road or turn around and move away from another dog. IMHO our dogs are always looking to us for cues as to how to react in a situation, if we start to avoid other dogs then we are going to re-inforce his fear of them - (dog is thinking... 'if my boss moves away then there must be something to worry about'). Of course there are exeptions, every dog is different and it's hard to get a full picture on forums. :wink5:


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## Graeme (Mar 8, 2009)

Hi,

Thanks to everyone for the useful replies. I started the treat technique this morning and think it had a positive effect. By the end of an (admittedly) short walk she wasn't really pulling at all. A few weeks of this and I reckon she'll have got it. She seems quite switched on.

Regarding the other dogs, I think that it is fear (as she is fine off the lead) and think I am going to try the turn around and walk in the other direction advice. At least for a while. After that trying the treating whilst walking past on the other side of the road might start to build her confidence.

I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again.

Graeme


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## goodvic2 (Nov 23, 2008)

Just one thing I disagree on with the other posters... I do not cross the road or turn around and move away from another dog. IMHO our dogs are always looking to us for cues as to how to react in a situation, if we start to avoid other dogs then we are going to re-inforce his fear of them - (dog is thinking... 'if my boss moves away then there must be something to worry about'). Of course there are exeptions, every dog is different and it's hard to get a full picture on forums. :wink5:[/QUOTE]

The only reason that I would change direction is because the less reaction you get the quicker the rehabilation process. Quite often you can end up creating a habit borne out of a behavioural issue. It also depends on how fast your dog reaches the out of control stage. If the dog is already there then for alot of people no amount of treats or corrections can reduce that. I agree that if you catch it before this, then yes, what you have suggested is by far the best thing. I also think that where there is a serious lack of social skills it can be quite challenging to ask a dog to go from going "nuts" to submitting. With my two I am asking them to go through the ignoring stage, hopefully then we can move on from there. I'm sure there would be many debates on this but I guess it depends on the individual dog.


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## gtmanning123 (Dec 23, 2008)

This is a little more general, but -
As some of the other posters, I would recommend to find a trainer/behaviourist to remove any risk of getting hurt. But, one piece of advice, if your looking for a trainer / dog behaviourist, be careful if you're going to go with a "positive" trainer, a lot of them are extremely aggressive towards natural/balanced/humane trainers such as Cesar Millan etc. Some of them are fantastic and I'm happy to use some of the techniques myself, just be careful as unfortunately, some of them are quite ferocious...labelling natural trainers/training as 'punishment', this is a strange human concept that's created just from a lack of knowledge, as some "positive" trainers simply choose to keep themself ill-informed of the natural methods, some, however, know the natural techniques and their results well, but choose to use "positive" techniques, which I think is totally cool. I have nothing against "positive" trainers, but as we all do, I dislike aggression, especially if it's simply from a lack of knowledge/understanding.
I'm low on time at the mo so I'm sorry I can't offer my own advice, good luck with your problem, if you don't want to find a trainer, I would highly recommend checking out Cesar Millan, you're problem will just dissapear and you will feel great about yourself.
Keep us all updated on how you're doing.
George


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