Aggression To Other Dogs

[Ruthi (borrowadog)]

Molly is one of those dogs that gobs off first, and then considers whether things are OK. She's like that with visitors (but bear in mind she still has her puppies) and she is like it on walks. Its all fear, and Molly is generally a rather fearful and worried dog, although already better than when she came 12 days ago.

 

On Saturday we took her to the tennis courts and tested her recall which was perfect with just our boys.

 

So we went up to Caesar's camp, an old iron age hill fort with a flat top and just low scrubland so we could see where the dogs went, and let her off there. She was fine, came back when called, ran around with Seamus - just perfect.

 

Until another dog showed up, that is. She went into full gobby mode and rushed up to this poor dog who was a bit surprised to say the least. She didn't bite, but ran up to him with her mouth open so her teeth grazed his neck without doing any harm. Then she came back. She did the same open mouthed attack to Zulu, daycare doggie, when he arrived this morning, even though she knows him quite well now.

 

Now clearly, we can't have her doing this, some owners might not be as sympathetic as the owner on Caesar's camp who turns out to foster herself.

 

I'm walking Molly on a headcollar now because she's getting strong enough to do harm to my back (no strength at all when she arrived, but a week of proper walks has made quite a difference). If I put her behind me she's a lot calmer, but still clearly upset by other dogs. I really don't want to condemn this dog to lead walks forever, she loves running around so much! I have instigated fairly strict pack ranking stuff with her, NILIF, not allowed on the bed (huh! sleeping hubby let her on this morning while I was puppy minding at 5.00am!). But I wonder what else I can do to help her feel safer.

 

For those who haven't seen the other posts, Molly is a six year old whippetty girlie who arrived here a couple of weeks ago with her 3 half cavalier puppies from a home that couldn't cope. She has been barky/lungy when out for a long time, and consequently was never walked. When they did take her out for any reason she was muzzled. Puppies are now almost six weeks old and doing fine.

[Anne Grose]

It might be safer for all concerned if you go back to using the muzzle while she is out and off lead so that she can't have a go at other dogs while you are working on the problem.

 

I don't know where you are but I can certainly recommend a fantastic dog trainer who might be able to help. Jim Greenwood is a very experienced lurcher (and other dog) trainer who isn't expensive and does a lot with Greyhound Gap and Lurcher Link. If anyone can sort Molly's problem - he could. Jim's telephone number is 01606 550673 in case you are interested.

 

I have used him myself to help with my semi-feral dog who was killing everything in sight.

 

Anne

[Ruthi (borrowadog)]

I'll be off to buy a proper basket muzzle for madam when I get enough time away from puppies. But I do not see it as a long term solution.

 

I think Jim might be a bit far from us in Berkshire. We have some good behaviourists around here, but the trouble is that nothing can happen until after Xmas, and I am away for most of Feb, so we are in a bit of a time box. So I was hoping for a DIY solution to be going on with!

[sanrossscot]

If you still want her to have off lead time, could you use a long line? That way you still have the ability to get her back if another dog is about.

 

If she is calmer behind you I would look at maybe clicker training? Click and treat *a lot* when she is behind you so that she can realise it's a good place to be. That might help her realise that she doesn't have to deal with a situation straight away with the gobbieness.

 

With Zulu, she will still be protective over the pups I would think, so that may take some more management for a while.

[tinneke]

Molly sounds a bit like my little Tinneke. She was an unsocialised puppy and consequently used to be extremely fearful about everything. She behaved in the way you describe towards other dogs, only because she was so scared she didn't know how else to cope with what she saw as 'a threat'.

 

It takes a very long time, often years, to build up confidence in a dog who's had such a poor start in life, so there's no quick fix I'm afraid.

 

However what you are doing sounds really good; establishing yourself as the pack leader. This will give her confidence and, as you say, she already feels safer walking behind you.

 

Looking at it from a dog's 'pack mentality' viewpoint: one of the pack leader's functions is protection. If you take on the protector role you'll probably find that Molly's confidence will build.

 

I found that, if approached by a strange dog, I could help Tinneke by accepting the new dog myself first (while holding T in a safe place just behind me, and gently correcting her when she barked or lunged - but not making a fuss of her, as this rewards panic/fear). Once she saw that the new dog wasn't a threat after all, and was treated matter-of-factly by her 'leader', she calmed down and was fine.

 

But we had to go through this with all new dogs . Fear of the unknown is a hard one to beat.

 

Anyway, this means that she does have to go on the lead whenever another dog approaches.

 

It pays dividends in the long run as Molly will always look to you to guide her (friend or foe?), and when it's always a friend, her fear will gradually diminish.

 

That's what worked for me anyway. Hope that helps.

 

Lynda

[dlmckay]

OK, first off I would say that her bite inhibition is fabulous, because although the mouth is open and the teeth are showing, she's not causing any damage.

 

However, she is obviously distressed at meeting other dogs and is trying to chase them off.

 

Try getting Control Unleashed by Leslie McDevitt http://www.controlunleashed.net/ lots and lots of exercises for frightened dogs.

 

Good luck - it's not an easy problem to solve.