Holly is a German Shepherd with an impressive pedigree of champions – and with very big ears! A beautiful girl.
She has been well trained by careful and caring owners.
Reactive
I was called in to see them because of Holly’s reactivity to other dogs when she is on-lead. She changes character, snarling, lunging and acting scary. I saw her react in a similar way when the paper boy put the newspaper through the door.
She is also very protective of her home territory which is a breed thing anyway but she is a bit extreme. She patrols the boundary of the property which is surrounded by a footpath, barking frantically if the person has a dog.
A different dog off-lead
The lady feels she no longer is strong enough to walk her so the man is the dog walker. He was already making progress before I came, and being more confident than the lady he lets Holly off lead. He has discovered that, off lead, Holly is a different dog.
She may be a little wary of a dog and drop down, she may run wanting to play, she investigates and she will come away when called.
Problems at home too
Like most people who phone me, they start off by listing their dog’s good qualities, feeling disloyal when they start to list problems. It is very common for me to hear ‘she is no trouble at all at home – it’s only out on walks’.
I usually discover that there are relevant issues at home. Her good points indeed far outweigh any negatives. However, she persistently jumps at people whether they are sitting or standing, especially visitors; she gets in quite a panic at people going past with dogs, the postman and even squirrels.
Training alone isn’t enough
Holly is a good example of where training alone doesn’t provided the answer. For example, she understands No and Off but she will jump up again if she feels like it.
Holly’s recall is usually good and she has been trained to ‘come’, but she will ignore it if she is boundary barking. She could possibly be stopped with a training gadget like an air collar – but this wouldn’t get to the root of the problem. It would be a quick fix and probably make things worse – like a plaster keeping a festering wound out of sight.
It is the same when they encounter other dogs. No amount of ‘training’ would stop her feeling as she does. This is a psychological behavioural issue requiring calm, patient and consistent leadership – not commands.
