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Leash aggression
Hello everyone, I have a few questions relating to leash aggression. Recently it seems I have many pet parents needing help with leash aggression. The reactions from the dogs are pretty common with leash aggression including: lunging, growling, and barking.
I like the book Feisty Fido by Patricia B. McConnell and Karen B. London. I have used the concepts in the book especially to teach getting the dogs attention away from the other dog (learning a really great focus). I also use the u-turn and leave it method to create distance.
From my experience I have worked with Pet Parents and their dogs to learn these concepts and make walking much more manageable but I was wondering if anyone has found other tactics helpful when working with leash aggression?
Also I was wondering if any one has been able to train a dog to never have a leash aggressive experience again? In my experience the dogs get a lot better in some or even most situations but will have set backs, is that known to be normal with leash aggression and that it just doesn’t really have a permanent “fix”?
I really appreciate any thoughts on this subject, thank you.
Peggy -
3 Replies
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Hi @Peggy – this is a fabulous topic for discussion, thank you for bringing it up!
One thing I would remind my clients (especially those who live in cities or other densely populated spaces) is that there will be situations where the environment is going to throw you a curve ball, and you just have to “get out of Dodge.” What I mean by this is that your clients may encounter situations you can’t prepare for: walking past someone’s home right as they’re walking out of their front door with their dog on leash, passing by a dog on leash at an outdoor restaurant, having a dog in someone’s yard run up to the fence as you pass by.
Sometimes, when these occurrences happen we don’t have enough time to create distance. To help my dog clients is use a very happy and cheerful voice to encourage the dog past the trigger object, cheering them on and trying (if possible) to lure them away with a high value food treat (or toy, if that’s what I’m using).
In terms of “fixing” leash reactivity, many of the behavioral issues you’ll face as a trainer will not be “fixed” in the long term. What we are really trying to accomplish is to both change the dog’s emotional state of being around the object they fear and teach them (what are essentially) coping skills. However, much in the same way that human anxiety can be managed, treated, and coped with but never really “cured,” this is often the case with dogs.
One final thought: you can’t reward fear! Check out this awesome article by Dr. Patricia McConnell that delves into further explanation.
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HI @Peggy Great question indeed! I’m sure there’ll be lots of super tips dropped in this thread. I have to say you have exellent timing as I just got off a call with Dave Shade who is our guest speaker next week and we just narrowed down our topic to his passion teaching reactive dogs using force-free, fear-free methods! I’m super stoked. Please plan to attend live and bring questions! I’ll be posting more about the event as we get closer – but here’s the info and his bio.
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Hi @Cait thank you for such great information. I’ll definitely check out the article, thank you again!
Hi @Catherine oh awesome, I’ll definitely plan to attend. Thank you.
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