Reactive, anxious dog

[pagola1900]

Hi, my labrador, Murphy, has many difficulties. He struggles to cope on walks if he sees any dogs or people. He will lunge and sort of squeal. If a dog gets too close it changes to a ferocious growl. I know it's fear based. He is very anxious, including separation anxiety. He can't hear me in those situations. He's also quick to get frustrated and or over excited. He is very bright and picks things up quickly but they don't stick. When he's over threshold everything goes out the window. He's not great at settling down either. He sticks to me like glue, so if I move he does, inside the house. At the moment I choose very quiet, remote walks where 99% of the time we don't see anyone :) He's also on a long line as he will bolt if something scares him (anything unknown to him) or if he does see anyone he will charge at them. Walks are mostly fine like this but I'm not really helping him. He didn't have the best start in life. He was alone in an out building with no socialisation. When I got him he was wild. He didnt know what anything was, he'd never been in a house, been on a walk, or anything. He's come a long way from there. I'd just really like to help him be more confident and help him cope better. Thank you.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello Pagola1900,

Cases as such can be challenging because it is difficult to provide the ideal settings that these dogs need to stay under threshold. You need to pat yourself on the back for all the progress made so far, your dog has surely come a long way!

 

I like to start these dogs indoors by watching other dogs/people as they walk by the window and giving high-value treats to change their emotional response. You want to obtain a conditioned emotional response where your dog anticipates seeing the other dogs/people rather than dreading them. Here is an example of an exercise that can be helpful:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/

 

Then, you would progress to doing the exercise in the yard, and then on walks, preferably in a systematic way with a helper with a calm dog so that you can control the environment better and lower his anxiety. Walking gear is important too to help with your confidence in walking him if you feel a loss of control. My favorite walking gear is a no-pull harness with the leash that attaches to a front ring. There are several makes of models of these harnesses and examples include the Walk Your Dog with Love harness, the Positively No-Pull Harness and the Sensible harness.

 

Since he doesn't hear you when he's over threshold, it's important to work with him under threshold (keep distance from triggers as much as possible) and prevent rehearsal of the lunging and growling behaviors. Here's a guide on thresholds:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

 

 

Since he is struggling in thinking clearly, don't ask him to do anything special for now. Just feed high-value treats when he notices a person or dog at a distance. We want counterconditioning and desensitization to take full effect:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/

 

When he no longer sees dogs or people around, no more treats are fed. Open bar/ closed bar. Treats are contingent upon the sight of people and dogs.

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/

 

What to do if a dog or person is coming your way, but these triggers are too close for comfort and you are afraid they'll send your dog over threshold? The Emergency u-turn may help:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/

It may also help to use objects around as visual barriers such as such as cars, bushes, trees, benches and dumpsters. Choose routes that have an abundance of them. Walk your dog around these to put distance and block some view of his triggers.

 

Only once he is calmer and able to cognitively function, we can start asking for behaviors, for example, every time he sees a person or dog we can ask him to do several steps of attention heeling, making eye contact with us. Practice first in the home, then yard and then on walks and then around distractions on walks:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/

 

For separation anxiety, please read up this recent thread:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/showthread.php?281-Separation-anxiety

 

 

And brain games and clicker training works well for dogs who need to have their confidence boosted, here are more ideas:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/exercises-build-confidence-insecure-dogs/

 

Please let me know if you need any further elucidations on this. Behavior modification requires a gradual step-by-step approach making sure the dog doesn't rehearse the problematic behavior and keeping the dog as under threshold as possible. This requires close monitoring of body language. The most common cause for setbacks is progressing too fast and too intense exposure. The intervention of a behavior professional may be important for safety and correct behavior modification implementation.

Edited December 3, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli