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The Labrador Wrecking Ball
I’m working with a couple, Dan and Kate, and their challenging dog, Lenny, who is a large and powerful lab mix. They are an older couple who adopted him late last year. He is reactive on leash, especially toward other dogs, and has overwhelmed Dan multiple times while out on walks. He moves very swiftly to a highly aroused state in many different contexts, including when a toy (or really any object) is held in a person’s hands, when he wants to tug on something, when anyone attempts to manage him by holding his collar, and when trying to put on or take off equipment. He has a large fenced yard to play in, but he has knocked over both Dan and Kate several times, running directly into them when he’s zooming around. (Since he never runs into trees or fencing or lawn furniture, this is a purposeful behavior.)
In a perfect world, I wouldn’t choose to match a dog like Lenny with this couple, but they love him and aren’t willing to give up on him yet.
One of the core issues with Lenny is his difficulty understanding boundaries around people’s personal space. If you were working with these folks, what exercises would you suggest to help them with Lenny?
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12 Replies
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What a beast! And “Lenny” is the PERFECT name for him. I can almost feel him vibrating in this photo, about to leap up and muzzle punch something.
I saw a LOT of dogs like this at the shelter, back in the day. Poor dude has NEEDS, so many needs. I’m sure you are talking about structure and enrichment… it will be interesting to see what ideas folks have!
I’m looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts – I’ll tag a few big beast lovers – @jenz @pawsup @abbie @bernerlabreclectus @Denise @hortonvl @Jen74 @Leanne @Joanna @Ava @zaneb @laurie @Ben @Kai @joye334 @maddialflen – jump in with some thoughts to share. This is a great opportunity to practice creating training plans.
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LOL, yes @catherine , he has a talent for muzzle punching! Oy!
Dogs like Lenny tend to linger in shelters because they are so hard to manage, only to degrade behaviorally even more. Lenny spent a long time bouncing between a shelter and very brief stays in foster homes before the fosters quickly returned him.
It is very challenging indeed to find a good match for these dogs as it takes physical strength, dog-savvy, confidence, calmness, absolute consistency, tons of exercise and enrichment, and training, training and more training.
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What a beautiful dog! I agree with Catherine- you can feel his personality! So many things going on here- I don’t have time to touch on them all.
I don’t know if there is pulling but head halters are an option for the big strong boys. Collar work is a must. I start by feeding the dog as I just touch the collar with no duration ( watching body language) build to changing to touch collar mark and reward instead of feeding the whole time. Building up to a good hold and longer duration holding the collar. I eventually even add a cue collar so the dog knows I am heading to grab it. Once the dog is completely comfortable I add to small recalls – recall dog they come say collar and grab mark and reward. This is of course the short short version – going at your dogs pace is key! I train all my puppy clients this and my boy was trained as well ( for fear reasons) he understands collar means my hands come near him and it’s a good thing.
I I think also some impulse control games with this guy would be beneficial- honestly my boy loves body slamming- not understanding he weighs a ton. I would do sessions on leash and walk and start adding more energy. Not enough to make him get too excited and mark and reward for being calm still. I also added the word slow if he ran around too close and mark and reward when he slowed down( that was more capturing)
I am excited to hear about your adventures. Shelters are amazing, but I do see some mismatches time again but it’s so sweet these people want to stick with it and help him. You will do amazing!
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Such great tips, @pawsup — thank you for chiming in!
We are indeed working on head halter desensitization. Dan is slight in stature, not steady on his feet, and has arthritis issues in his hands so there’s ZERO way he can control Lenny on a body harness or collar. Kate did some nice preliminary work introducing the HH so we’re now at the point of teaching Lenny that yielding to slight pressure on the HH (inside) leads to a treat.And we’ve introduced the steps leading to collar grabs too. Such a great tip!
Impulse control is practiced at meal time, and is a work in progress for greeting behavior, but we have many more exercises that need adding.
We’re carefully introducing tug so that the rules of that game can be cemented (along with him learning how to toggle between calm and animated), but at the moment he literally cannot tug for longer than 1 second before he goes to an insane level of animated pulling. A strong DROP cue is essential before we can deploy a flirt pole to help burn off excess energy. He’s crazy for that activity but it’s not safe to do yet. With fetching, he’ll only go 3-4x and then stops.
We’ve even discussed a doggie treadmill, though I’m not sure something like that is reasonably in their budget. I’ve also recommended a PupPod which could quickly become an aerobic activity of running to the ‘rocker’ (gradually set up at increasing distance) and then returning to the food dispenser, repeatedly. Hoping they’ll spring for that.
Part of me itches to have him in my care to do some of the initial work, but between having two tiny dogs and a small yard with tons of foot traffic going by, it would be a nightmare to board him. Oh, and he doesn’t accept crating and shows anxiety when separated from Dan. ????
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You are doing alll the right things!! Sounds like you have a plan and things are moving in the right direction! My favorite saying “slow is fast in dog training “ I agree your little ones might not appreciate a board and train???? Please keep us posted! I would love to hear updates! I am super busy nowadays and don’t comment much- but love reading updates!
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I love the idea of a collar cue!
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Thanks for helping this couple with their “wrecking ball”.
I too am working with a mismatched 10 month old “wrecking ball” and first time dog owners in a busy home.
One thing I immediately set up for their situation was protected contact for training and some interactions. Would protected contact training be something that could help in Lenny’s case?
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Fabulous tip, @jenz ! Lenny does have a chew-proof cable leash looped to something very sturdy in the family room, with a cozy bed in that tether zone. We can then easily step into that zone to interact or train, and just as easily step away if any shenanigans begin.
So glad you mentioned this. ????
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I have only trained my own dogs thus far, but have had rescues and plan to volunteer at the city shelter here, so I expect to see this problem a lot. One of my dogs I acquired as he was running wildly zig-zagging across my rather busy street dragging a cut or broken cable tie out behind him. I threw him in my yard with my two other dogs and tried to find his owner for two or three weeks but never did (thankfully). I called him Cyclone for a a while, but thought no one would want a dog with that name, ha!
He was a Goldie/Chow mix by looks and had a Golden’s temperament once he settled down. He had never been in a house, knew no commands, was about 6 months old, was just wild on a leash. I am certain having my older female “show him the ropes” helped a ton, as did the fact that I had another rescue about his same age who was bigger than he (Pyr mix) and they played in my large yard a lot. For leash walking, if I remember I did the “we’re not moving if you pull” or “we’re going the other way if you pull” and walked him with my older female so she could help set the pace. Moving forward is very rewarding so that is of course what they want to do on leash.
Which brings me to my point, which is no help as far as training tips, but more a question this brought up. How do dogs like this get socialization and “free running” as I call it, where they can stretch their legs and really use up some explosive energy? Because that has saved me with two different sets of rescue “siblings”, as I work full time, etc.
i believe that far too many dogs are denied their need for play and socialization when they move to one dog only homes and never get out into the world. They do good with their human families but the value of play and like kind social outings seems so important to dogs.
These are just some thoughts, and I know it must be hard to take Lenny anywhere at all at this point. But finding some kind of dog meetup or getting with a friend’s dog for play time might be helpful. Also playing easy games that help burn up energy, like “find the treat” or other scent games could help calm Lenny a bit.
Are they working on things inside vs outside? My current wild children are much calmer indoors so practicing leash work etc inside is much easier as Ranger gets VERY EXCITED when we are going out the front door. We’re working on that by playing games, doing training maintenance and some little agility drills in the front yard away from the other dogs so he knows going out the front door is not a cue to explode.
i’m rambling ????, but uou got me thinking…!
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@awolfe , this is wonderful input — thank you!
Lenny is lucky to have a very large fenced yard, so he can romp there. And thus far, they’ve found ONE large dog who is moderately well matched to him who comes to play once a week. I also keep encouraging them to find fenced yards via sniffspot.com so he enjoy off-leash romps in other locations.
He failed in an EPIC way during his doggie daycare ‘test’ and was on the dangerous side there (I saw video footage!). So unfortunately that’s not an option.
You are so right that play with other dogs can be a marvelous way to burn energy while also helping a dog hone his social skills. I’m so glad there’s at least one dog Lenny can play with now, and he is indeed better-behaved in the house after this play.
And you’re spot on about practicing skills indoors before doing so outside. Lenny is the poster child for such advice as his arousal levels spike quickly as soon as he goes into his yard. Squirrel hunting is a favorite activity. Once the head halter work is cemented inside, we’ll begin the steps to exiting the house calmly, moving around the yard calmly, etc. One day we’ll graduate to walks!
Thank you for sharing your story with us!
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@virginiad I would love an update on Lenny! How are things going? They are in good hands with you. A few things I thought about were in addition to tug, using a flit pole where Lenny can complete the stress response cycle by chasing and catch the lure, shaking for a second or two then a good drop cue with a food scatter. Then complete the cycle to the other side. Since they have a yard, they can do this off leash. I did have a dog that sounds similar. We used a modification of Dr. Overall’s relaxation protocol which allowed the dog to be released between tasks until he could naturally relax on his mat between tasks. I find this a more helpful way to teach relaxation protocol with dogs that just need to move. Also the muzzle punching is concerning. Since there seem to be a large number of triggers and Lenny seems to be so easily aroused and stays in that zone for a while, plus the mismatch with the energy of the handlers, perhaps a consult with a VB might be helpful.? I know given finances that can be a heavy lift but there is this new company that does VB consults with local veterinarians. It might be more affordable?
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Thanks for asking about Lenny, @abbie !
They did get a flirt pole early on but his arousal level would shoot up so fast when playing, even briefly, that it was dangerous. He would quickly develop a sustained muscle contraction in his jaw (it’s called a tetanic contraction) that literally made it *very* difficult for him to release the toy, even with fresh chicken held at his nose which he normally LOVES. So they need to do a lot of DROP training in less stimulating situations first.
A few weeks ago, his pet parents saw our vet in the area who specializes in behavior and he’s now on meds. They are already seeing a bit of a calmer Lenny, which is making training and life with him easier. The head halter use is also making a very positive difference. The vet behavior specialist did indeed recommend a calming protocol, but they feel it’s so labor intensive and they have so much work to do with him, that they can’t prioritize that now. I understand completely. Lenny is a lot!
I’ve also recently learned a new-to-me technique for reactive dogs that may be an elegant tool with Lenny, better and faster than the negative reinforcement used with the head halter. I will report more on this in a later post. I’ve used it with a few dogs already and am super-excited.
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