Agressive to other dogs when on lead

[JanetWhiting]

I have recently taken on a 3 year old lurcher/saluki cross, training at home is developing well and I can walk her on a lead nicely. However as soon as she sees another dog she is full on, lunging, barking growling, hackles risen and wanting to bite. She has done it with a couple of walkers too - I really need some help, my disabled son is keen to walk her but obvioulsy I cannot allow this whilst she is in this state

 

Jan

[Adrienne]

Hello and welcome to the forums,

I am glad to hear that your training is progressing nicely and that she has good leash skills over all. 

When dealing with behavior problems as such (lunging, barking, growling and attempting to bite), this falls under behavior modification more than dog training. Sure, dog training can help in getting a dog to better control her impulses, but behavior modification should come first considering that the initial goal is to change the dog's emotions. Once the dog's emotions are changed, than training can be incorporated since the dog is less worried about the whole situation, under threshold and better able to cognitively function ( in other words, better able to redirect and perform behaviors like sit, stay etc in face of strong distractions).

If your dog is wanting to bite and therefore cause potential harm, I would suggest for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification to consult with a behavior professional at once. These problems tend to get worse rather than better if not tackled quickly. Look for one who uses humane, force-free behavior modification methods.

For your particular situation, an exercise that contains elements of behavior modification (and therefore changing the emotions towards people/ dogs seen on walks) is the "Look at that" exercise. A good starting point is teaching this at home.  Repeated often enough, this exercise can provide you with a starting point for changing the emotions towards people walking by the window.

It starts by training a strong response to a smacking sound:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/

And then applying it to triggers seen by the window:

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

A disclaimer is warranted here though: Be very careful, touching your dog at any time when she's acting overly aroused can put you at risk for a re-directed bite. You may need a behavior professional to initially help you out for safety and correct behavior modification implementation.

When you aren't actively working on changing the emotions towards triggers at the window, you need to manage your dog's environment so that she doesn't rehearse the troublesome behavior of barking at triggers out of the window. This would mean preventing access to windows when you are not around and unable to redirect her to your smacking sound. This doesn't necessarily mean crating her, if she doesn't get too much in mischief you can keep her in the bathroom (perhaps remove toilet paper rolls to prevent them from becoming his favorite toys) or in a pen in the kitchen or anywhere she can't access windows.

After practicing "look at that" from windows and obtaining a positive emotional response (oh, look a person walking by, where's my treat!, where's my treat!) as described here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/conditioned-emotional-response-cer/ then you would have to move on to doing the same exercise outside of the home, perhaps starting from the yard or in front of the home and then gradually progressing to walks with people and other dogs at a distance. 

A professional can help you organize structured set-ups having people and dogs walk by . If your dog is unable to be redirected when he sees triggers from the window or when outside  and is very anxious when guests are over, he is over threshold. Read about dog threshold levels here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

To keep a dog well under threshold, it would be important to recognize signs of fear/stress to to prevent the dog from reaching that point. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/signs-fear-stress-dogs/

-A dogs threshold levels often reduce if the dog is given distance from the trigger and is exposed gradually in a systematic manner to her triggers. This gradual, step-by- step approach is known as desensitization. You can read more about desensitization here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/

Behavior modification works best when desensitization is combined with counterconditioning. You want to present triggers at a distance and gradually expose to them while also making great things happen when the trigger is present. One of the most powerful ways to do this is by feeding high-value treats that are only given during behavior modification exercises. Creating these powerful associations falls under counterconditioning, you can read more about it here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/

-Other than Look at That, another helpful form of counterconditioning is the open bar/closed bar method. This helps make it clear that people or dogs approaching the are what make treats happen, treats are therefore fed when people/dogs are walking by and no more treats are fed when the people/dogs have gone out of sight. You can read about this powerful method here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/

It's important to point out that, with certain undesirable behaviors, we want to prevent rehearsal of the problem behavior as much as possible. This means that it would be best to prevent certain intense forms of exposure until our dogs are better able to cope with them. Emergency u-turns can help, but we need to turn before our dogs have a chance to act reactive and bark. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/ This prevents your dog from rehearsing the undesirable behavior and also prevents your dog's stress from going high gear.

You can find further tips/discussions on this behavior problem addressed in recent threads by scrolling down through the forums. 

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

Best,

Adrienne

Disclaimer: Behavior modification comes with risks. This is why your best bet is to consult with a professional. A professional will help you work under threshold so your dog is calmer and you along with others around you are safer. Look for a professional who does not use pain or intimidation, as you want your dog to trust you and look forward to seeing triggers without stress.