To address the problems the lady faces with Harry and Toto, management has to come first. Harry is an 8-year-old terrier, and Toto a Bichon Frise age three.
Over the years, Harry has bitten several times when out, including a child. Fortunately so far he has done little more than to break the skin.
Toto, a more recent rescue, is fine outside the house, but may go for the feet of anyone moving about indoors.
Jasper is a wonderful Border Collie. He is beautifully suited to life as a house pet in his particularly lovely home environment. They have a big garden with a stream running through it, lots of lawn with rougher areas, two alpacas and a couple of geese.
As soon as I arrived and walked through the garden, sun shining (at last), having said a polite hello the super-friendly Jasper leapt into the stream! I’m sure he has a sense of humour. They will play a game where Jasper hides the ball and the lady has to find it!
Jasper’s ‘Border Collieness’ breaks through just sometimes. Whether his attitude to the geese and alpacas is prey driven or herding gone wrong, something instinctive kicks in. He goes deaf to being called. It’s the same when he hears a football bouncing. He’s off!
Apart from being a talented escape-artist, the young dog has just these two failings. He will chase and attack the geese if he gets the chance. Jasper gets very aroused at the sound of a bouncing football; he will chase and attack that also. He flattens it – kills it!
They have inadvertently taught him to chase and attack a football!
Their previous dog had loved playing with a flattened football and Jasper was introduced to this at a young age. It’s not surprising that the sound of a football bouncing gets him going. A dog’s hearing is so much better than our own that they often get no warning when he suddenly runs off.
He could then scare children if he leaps up at them to grab their ball. He is such a gentle and friendly dog, a complaint would be dreadful.
The geese are a different matter and he is drawn to them. Their flapping of wings when they are alarmed he finds highly arousing.
The couple need Jasper on ‘remote control’ which means rock solid recall. Over time they can condition him to respond to a whistle followed by food, as the sharp sound is much more likely to interrupt him if caught quickly enough. He will build up an automatic response to the sound of the whistle.
They will also use clicker for work with both the geese and the ball – where, although he’s not actually clicking it himself, Jasper in effect works the clicker by behaving in a certain way, thus earning food. By looking away and staying calm he will in effect cause the click which will result in food.
They will start work well away from the geese with Jasper on lead. I suggested a squeaky ball if suddenly a goose flaps its wings. Squeak to get his attention. Then roll the ball the other way, thus redirecting his urge to chase onto something acceptable.
The aim is for Jasper to not only gain self-control around the geese, but also to have something alternative to redirect onto. something that is incompatible with the chase and attack on a goose.
Because he so loves playing with his flattened ball, they will differentiate between flat footballs and round ones. He’s such a clever dog this should be no problem. Any new football will now need to be flattened before he’s given it.
As with the geese, they work slowly from a distance where he doesn’t react, Jasper on lead. They can start by holding the ball, then putting it down somewhere out of reach but not moving. The clicker will mark and shape every little bit of desired behaviour like relaxing or looking away.
When he no longer is excited by the sight the stationery football and when he can calmly sniff it, they can introduce a small bounce from behind their trellis. And so on. A bouncing ball will become the signal for Jasper to run to them for fun of a different kind rather than chase and attack the ball. ‘Fun’ will be things that are specifically fun to Jasper.
For now, when they are out anywhere they think there may be a football, Jasper must be on a long line. This is so he is no longer able to rehearse his football chase and attack.
With a bit more brain work in other areas of his life, clever Jasper should be less in need of getting gratification from the behaviours they want to avoid.
Ella
Two years ago when the couple were living in India they adopted a street dog – or she adopted them.
After a few days, one at a time, she carried five puppies to them.
Later they returned to England, bringing Ella with them. Her puppies stayed behind.
The two shyest pups still had no home by eighteen months of age, so six months ago the couple shipped them over here to join Ella. They had named them Whitey and Red simply to identify them, and these names have now stuck.
They have already done exceptionally well in integrating these three street dogs from India into life over here.
Red and Whitey
Having only mum Ella to start with, they transformed her into a dog who is chilled and secure. Although seldom on lead, she always stays close. They used to take her everywhere with them.
When the two pups arrived things necessarily changed.
Red is soft, friendly and cuddly with people. Whitey is more of a problem. She is suspicious, more scared and very independent. Unlike Red and Ella, Whitey doesn’t seek out human contact.
They live in an open country area with no fences. The couple just open the door for the dogs to go and toilet. They let them out one dog at a time or they will run off together, go hunting and exploring, maybe coming back hours later. Whitey in particular.
Street dogs from India have, after all, been used to coming and going much as they please.
One might think mum Ella would welcome the company of her two female pups, but it doesn’t look like that to me. She has the burden of keeping the other two ‘in line’. She’s ready to step in as soon as play gets vigorous or if one becomes aroused by something. Troubled, she faces them, teeth bared and growling.
When all three together go out on a walk, the non-reactive Ella may now join in the distance-increasing aggression when they see another dog.
Where letting them all run freely off lead is something they have been used to, it’s not appropriate now. They could run into trouble or danger.
Whitey has already nipped a couple of people. She goes round behind them like a herding dog. Someone merely finding a dog a threat can end in the police taking action according to the new dog law. The dog could be condemned to being on lead always when out and muzzled. It’s not worth the risk.
Recently one of the pups went for a distant dog – joined by the other two, which resulted in them all being kicked by the male owner of the other dog.
They will for now be walked individually, or Ella alone with the two pups together. Going back to her old happy walks, a dog and her humans and without the other two to worry about, will be nice for Ella.
They will work on Red and Whitey’s reactivity to dogs when out by using distance and counter-conditioning.
Recall starts at home. If the pups don’t come to them promptly when just outside the house, then they won’t do so when they see another dog or a rabbit when out on walks.
This means preventing all further rehearsal of running off. Street dogs from India will have no boundaries, but just as the couple brought Ella round with hard work, they now need to work on the two younger girls.
They will make use of a long line with the two pups, both when letting them out to toilet and on walks. One pup can be on lead with the other on the long thirty foot line. They can do lots of recall work and keep swapping dogs from lead to line.
As ‘Come’ (or ‘Biscuits’!) has a history of being ignored until the dog is ready, they will train them to come to the whistle, starting at home.
Underpinning everything is getting the dogs’ attention. A problem with having several dogs is that they can relate to one another rather than to us.
The more the dogs are ‘with their humans’ on walks rather than with their focus upon one another, the better control their owners should eventually have. The more relevant they make themselves the better.
This means working on each pup as an individual – as they did originally with Ella.
They will keep things as calm as possible at exciting trigger times such as before walks and reunitings. These are the times when arousal might erupt, with one over-aroused pup redirecting onto the other and poor Ella feeling she has to step in.
Layla really is the near-perfect little dog for her lady owner, particularly at home. She stable, confident and can be taken anywhere.
The one and only area where she is less than perfect is that, once she’s free, she may run off and she won’t come back.
Layla has been chased along beaches and chased down busy roads. She is not let off lead at all now
.
The three-year-old Bichon Frise is an independent little thing. She’s not demanding. She may do her own thing but that’s no problem – not most of the time anyway.
To come when called isn’t really about training. Layla knows what ‘Come’ means, I’m sure. She just doesn’t see a sufficiently good reason to do so.
This is about two things: motivation and building up a conditioned response – so that when she hears the word ‘Come’ she reacts more or less automatically.
Where motivation is concerned, the lady needs to make herself as compelling and relevant (to Layla) as possible. Mutual love isn’t quite enough. When out, the lady is competing with the environment of wonderful smells, other dogs, birds and so on.
What can she do?
She can work on getting and holding Layla’s attention at home to begin with. To make herself motivating she can get Layla to work for some of her food – Layla loves her food fortunately.
The lady could also use fun if she could find something they mutually enjoyed. Although it may not be appropriate in this case, here is a nice video showing how play can be used to make the person really desirable to be with and to come back to.
Over the past two years at least, Layla has learnt that ‘Come’ is optional. She comes back when she wants. She has also learnt that the word come will probably be repeated many times “Layla, Layla, Come, Come, Come…”.
This selective hearing now has to be replaced with a new, automatic, response to the word ‘Come’.
There is no quick fix for a dog that ignores being called. The only way to achieve good recall, particularly if one is unable to run about oneself, is through lots of repetition where the dog is only set up to succeed.
When someone says ‘Catch’ we put your hands out without thinking. When the lady says ‘Layla – Come’, Layla needs to run to her almost without thinking.
‘Come’ meaning ‘come’ will be best absorbed by Layla if done in graded steps, over a period of time. It will be a good while before ‘off lead’ is reached.
So, I have created a plan where they start in the house with frequent sessions of walking around. Copying what I did, the lady walks away from her calling “Layla – Come!”. Layla catches up and is rewarded. The lady can then call her from room to room. She can then call her when she’s out of sight. Eventually they can graduate to having Layla on a 30-foot long line, outside where there are more distractions, tied to something like a tree.
Bit by bit you they will be building up an automatic response.
The lady will be motivating Layla: ‘I’ve been called, I will come right away. It will be worth it!”.
She can also reinforce ‘Come’ by calling Layla for anything she likes, like meals, putting her lead on for a walk or going to the car.
When Layla is running on the beach on her long line, the lady should only call “Layla – Come” when she is coming anyway. The competition from the environment makes it too likely that ‘Come’ will be ignored and devalued.
How long will it take? Who knows. It will depend upon how patient the lady is and how many short sessions she can manage – sufficiently short that Layla remains motivated and doesn’t become bored.
Two or more years of freelancing won’t be overturned in just a few weeks.
The word here is Won’t. Lily hears. Lily understands. Lily decides not to.
She has been taken to special recall classes and was a star pupil in that environment.
Eighteen month old cream German Shepherd Lily and was a joy to meet. She had the ideal start in life. Her mother and father were both friendly family pets so she has inherited great genes temperamentally.
I don’t see a fair example of dogs, particularly German Shepherds, because I go to help sort out problems. It’s was real treat to be welcomed so happily.
The problem with Lily is that she won’t come when called.
Lily has got out of the front door. She then ran from garden to garden as the lady called her frantically. She sat in the middle of the road and just looked at her. Eventually a neighbour caught her.
What brought this to a head is that recently Lily got into a field full of cows and was chasing and barking at them. What a nightmare! She had run off, out of the field they were in and into a cow field. The lady, uselessly, was running after her, shouting for her to come back.
The lady loves to see her beautiful young dog running freely but that can no longer be possible if she won’t come when called. People with children can be intimidated as can someone with a small or nervous dog when a large dog runs up to them, barking.
So long as she’s off lead she loves other dogs. On lead, she will lunge and bark.
The fact Lily won’t come when called on walks will be part of a bigger picture. I did a bit of digging (something Lily likes to do but that’s another story!).
When out in the garden, particularly at bed time, young Lily won’t come in until she is ready. She may even enjoy refusing – playing games, teasing.
If she won’t come in from the garden when called, then there is little hope that she will come away from a rabbit running towards a road when they are out.
That Lily often won’t come when called isn’t due to lack of ‘training’. Good recall is about motivation and habit. Lily is constantly rehearsing not coming when called. She understands what is wanted and then decides to comply when she is ready.
When off lead, Lily may sometimes chase off people on bikes, people with dogs on lead or children – or cows. She is rehearsing this same behaviour at home by barking at people passing her garden fence. It works and the people go.
Despite training classes, Lily is such a puller that the lady can’t cope without using a Gentle Leader head halter.
She showed me what Lily does when she picks it up. The dog runs away from it. She hates it. This in itself is an eye-opener. It’s like she is being called for punishment.
She walks down the street, restrained by something that is uncomfortable and makes her feel trapped. Stress builds in both her and the lady. Now she may react to a dog, something she never does if off lead and the dog is free too. She is held tight by the nose. More stress.
Then….off lead at last…she has freedom!
She runs. She plays with other dogs.
Then lady calls her. She won’t come back.
If I were Lily I wouldn’t want to come back to have the leash attached to that head halter again.
Lily will be introduced to a Perfect Fit harness and learn to walk nicely on a loose and longish lead – in total comfort. With a little work, both will enjoy walks a lot more.
At home Lily must lose her freedom in the garden. No more rehearsing the unwanted behaviour. She can be out on a long line (or retractable lead to avoid tangling) so recall is no longer optional. The lady will call her in immediately each time she barks.
Lily will be paid for coming. She will always be rewarded with food as she steps over the threshold.
Lily simply must lose opportunity to rehearse chasing dogs away and ignoring being called in – for a some time.
Indoors the lady has work to do too. She will repeatedly call Lily and reward her, ‘Lily Come’. Lily can earn some of her food. She can be ‘programmed’ to come to a whistle which hasn’t a history of being ignored, with constant repetition and reward.
In open spaces the long line will be attached to the harness so she can have partial freedom. Now the recall work can really begin – building on what they are already doing at home. Lots of repetition and lots of reinforcement.
Being called should never herald ‘time to go home’, or ‘I see another dog’. It must be random as can the reward. It need not always be food.
Lily will lose the option to decide ‘no, I won’t come when called’, because she will be on the line.
Importantly, her brain and her life will be enriched in every way possible with stimulating activities to compensate for what she lacks in off-lead freedom.
Dogs that freelance can cause real problems for other people, dogs, and other animals. We do things the wrong way around. We give our puppies freedom (puppies tend to stay close), and as they become teenagers, too late we then try to rein them in!
It’s so much better to give puppy very little freedom and gradually introduce more distance in a controlled way, reinforcing recall constantly. We are prepared for some teenage rebellion and having to reintroduce temporary restrictions! Lily is still an adolescent too.
Recall is recall. Recall is not ‘come when you are ready’.
Reliable recall is the key to freedom.
Maya
A while ago they moved from a busy place to the country. Her nervousness at encountering an unfamiliar person on a walk is getting worse now that now she meets fewer people.
Maya is a sweet Cocker Spaniel age nine and she lives with another adorable Cocker, Tia, who is a year younger. The two dogs get on famously. Fortunately Tia hasn’t caught Maya’s fear and doesn’t bark at people.
Maya also barks at people she doesn’t know who come to the house.
Her barking generates a response from her humans that could be increasing her anxiety, not helping her at all.
A person arriving generates a confusing range of commands and scolding from both the man and the woman. The humans undoubtedly will be contributing to the mayhem.
Now they will train the dogs to go into another room when the bell rings. They will feed them for doing so in order to build up positive associations.
They will also train their visitors (often a challenge!). The person’s language and behaviour can help Maya greatly.
Most of all, they themselves will keep quiet. When they resort to repeated commands or scolding, they merely compound Maya’s fears. It will seem like unfamiliar people are making them upset too.
I always ask people of dogs that get very excited or that are wary (but not likely to bite), to take no notice of them when I come in and for a few minutes. It’s surprising how hard people find this. They are often surprised how unusually quiet their dog initially is with me.
This actually is not because I have any strange powers. It’s largely to do with the owners acting relaxed themselves and the dog picking up on it!
The lucky dogs are daily walked about three miles by the gentleman. They have a very strict route and routine.
The first and last part of the walk is on lead. Then, off lead, they do their own thing with a couple of clever ‘check points’ where they meet up so that he never loses them.
Then there is a place where they stop for fifteen minutes of ball play.
When he calls them back they come – ninety-nine percent of the time. It’s that one percent when Maya sees a person that she won’t come back. The time when it’s most important.
She will rush the person, barking intimidatingly. GO AWAY. If they were to put a hand out she may well bite. She’s scared.
If, on lead, they encounter an unfamiliar person, the man will hold the dogs tightly beside him. He may put himself between which may help. However, he will allow the person to come far too close for Maya and she is trapped.
Day after day the walks are on automatic, punctuated by meeting a dog or person. The man does his own thing and the dogs do theirs, coming together at prearranged times and places.
I suggest he becomes unpredictable! This way the dogs will take more notice of him.
Tia – what eyelashes!
He needs to react a lot sooner when he sees a person, taking his lead from Maya. Tightening the lead immediately can only make matters worse, The lead should be long and loose and he should remain at a comfortable distance.
He can then feed her or have a game.
Off lead, if he only calls the dogs at the prearranged ‘check-in’ places or when he sees another person, Maya will have wised-up long ago that being called means someone is about!
By engaging more with his dogs, keeping their attention, they will be walking with him. He should call them at random times throughout the walk and vary what he offers them when they return. It can be food or fun.
I would discourage allowing Maya and Tia out of sight.
With a bit of imagination he will much more easily be able to get Maya back well before she barks at people.
If he helps Maya to associate meeting people with with good things, over time her confidence should grow and she will no doubt get nearer before she panics. Ultimately I can see no reason why they can’t walk past or stop to chat to a person she’s not met before. It will be his job to make sure they don’t invade her space.
Barking at the window and coming when called sound like two separate issues but are they?
The lady has had her for about four months because her owner, an elderly man, moved into a home.
She is divine. In the photo I made a little noise and immediately she opened her eyes and the little tail started wagging furiously. So friendly.
Since moving in to the lady’s home the little dog has started barking at the window as people walk past and it’s getting worse as time goes by.
Sometimes the lady just ignores it, sometimes she will loudly go SHHHHH and sometimes the little dog’s barking at the window gets her cross – understandably.
To stop or reduce the barking two things should happen.
First, the environment can be managed better.
Secondly, we need to look at why the dog is barking and deal with that. Barking at the window is a symptom of something else.
Raised stress levels cause her to – BARK!
Barking at the window will be reduced, obviously, if Candy can’t see out.
Why does she do it?
Candy will be barking at the window because she feels that in some way passing people are a threat. GO AWAY! And they nearly always do – unless it’s the postman.
Like many dogs, she particularly hates a postman.
I ask people how they would react if their child suddenly screamed ‘there’s a man with a gun coming down the path who may shoot us all dead’!
Would we ignore the child and leave him to get on with it alone? Would we crossly tell him to be quiet?
No! We would help him out.
The lady should react in such a way that shows Candy that she has some support.
Helping Candy out will involve reassurance and calling her away. This is where reliable recall comes in.
When the lady calls her, Candy must know that abandoning her self-appointed job of guarding the house, trusting the lady to deal with it, is worth her while. If the lady calls her and gives her nothing, it will soon be like ‘crying wolf’ and she will be ignored.
Having called Candy, the lady can reward her and then decide what to do next. She may investigate or take her somewhere else. She may even have a game with her.
This means she can be called away from barking at the window. She can be called in straight away from the garden.
It means that eventually the lady should be able to let her off lead. She would dearly love to see her running free. A while ago she had let go of the lead accidentally and Candy was off! Eventually she came back but not sufficiently near to be grabbed before running off again.
The lady will continue to walk Candy on the long line, but will actively work on recall when out also.
Candy didn’t bark at the window at all when the lady first had her. Once it started, the barking has got worse and worse – as things do. With a different approach both dog and human will be a lot more relaxed.
They love to see their dog running free, charging about and having fun.
They adopted Boxer Bella sixteen months ago and she is having a wonderful life. Being with her for three hours it was hard to imagine her to be anything other than a sweet, soft and gentle dog.
For me she showed none of her usual over-excitement when people visit.
I tend to get back what I give. Calm confidence attracts calm confidence (just as excitement attracts excitement).
There is a price to be paid for all Bella’s freedom however
And it’s not always Bella who pays it.She lives with a family where, again, the men like to get her excited. When the man gets up in the morning she immediately bounces about. She rushes downstairs to get a toy. Man and dog, they chase around the house and then around the garden.
She loves it, but are the adrenalin highs that good a way to start the day?
Their perceived problem is out on walks where Bella is becoming increasingly aggressive to other dogs. This is both when off lead as well as on lead.
The gentleman, who is the main walker, needs to be able to have her under better control, so their own relationship needs to be a bit more regulated in general.
He can slowly tone down the manic mornings a bit at a time so it’s that not too much of a shock to either of them. He can introduce brain games and things that require some self-control. Stirring her up from the beginning isn’t the best way to start a day, particularly if you want a dog to react to things calmly later on.
They live just a few minutes’ walk from where she’s let off lead. She pulls madly to get there.
Freedom!
She may run around madly, carry huge logs or disappear, sometimes for several minutes at a time. It’s all high activity stuff where learning to sniff and ‘shoot the breeze’ on a long line may do her just as much good if not more.
She’s stone deaf to being called when on a mission.
Once a dog is used to freelancing, there is little one can do to get her back until she’s finished what she’s doing.
Bella herself paid a price for her freedom a while ago.
The man heard screaming and ran over to find some young girls with a couple of Staffordshire Bull Terriers both on top of Bella. Bella will have been the instigator, she ran over to them after all and they were on leads minding their own business. It was a bad experience for the girls, the Staffies and for Bella who had injuries.
Things have gone downhill since then but still her freedoms haven’t been curbed. They feel their fit and lean Boxer needs the exercise and understandably they love the joy freedom gives her
Anything could happen. The price paid so far is bad, but it could become a lot worse. According to the recent change in the dog law, someone may only need to feel threatened by a dog now for the owner to be prosecuted. This could end up with Bella permanently on lead and wearing a muzzle.
The catalyst for calling me was recently, again out of sight of the man, Bella went for a small dog. The owner was extremely upset and scared as was the little dog.
Now it’s likely the little dog may cause trouble with other dogs, particularly larger dogs, due to its own fear.
With each thing that happens, it simply gets worse, but still Bella is being given her freedom. She freelances.
It’s sometimes hard to convince people who want the very best for their dog, as they certainly do, that the only answer is for her to lose her freedom.
For now I strongly advise Bella to be kept on a long line, dropped perhaps so she can play with familiar dogs. Recall needs to be blitzed for several months at least.
When encountering other dogs the gentleman will himself take responsibility for what happens next. When, on the long line, they see a dog, he will call her and reward her. Maybe this would be a good opportunity for one of his fun chasing games, keeping it short? She may now associate the other dog with fun times.
Whether on walking lead or long line, he will maintain a comfortable distance between Bella and other dogs and work on her. He will no longer keep walking on towards the other dog, holding her tight as she tries to lunge, hackles up and barking,
Bella’s ideal default over time should be to check in with the man every time she sees another dog. She must learn to keep within a certain distance from him and never go out of sight.
Dog walks would be better for everyone if all owners restricted their dogs’ freedom, if all dogs automatically checked in when they saw another dog and if recall really did mean ‘come’. See this nice little video about recall from Steve Mann.
It is so much harder to reverse a situation like this than not to have let it happen in the first place. I would say a new dog or puppy has no freedom initially and is granted it gradually in a controlled fashion when ready.
Recall is as much about the kind of relationship the dog has with the owner as anything else. This needs working on in all areas of the Bella’s life.
If we want calm and attentiveness, we act calm and give our full attention. Encouraging calm and attentiveness, we have better control.
In curbing freedom the dog doesn’t have to feel trapped like a prisoner. We make ourselves relevant so that being near us is just where our dog wants to be. It can take a lot of effort.
I have just come home from seeing a wonderful dog – fantastic temperament and beautiful to look at – a cross between a Utonagan and a German Shepherd.
The problem is some reactivity towards other dogs which they want to nip in the bud – he’s fourteen months old – and unreliable recall when it’s really needed.
This started me thinking about the wider picture.
If a great number of the dogs I go to won’t come when called – at least, they will come but only if they feel like it, it must apply to a huge number of dogs.
Concern over how your dog will behave with another dog and the matter of spot-on recall go hand in hand. With unquestioning recall, you don’t have to worry that your dog could upset another dog. You effectively have him on a remote control.
A dog that won’t reliably come when called a danger to himself and others. He can also be an embarrassment to his owner. What’s more, the frightened other dog could itself now need a lot of work to build up his or her confidence again.
An out-of-control, off-lead dog running up to your own dog can change future walks into an ordeal of constantly watching out for dogs and searching for dog-free locations.
It’s a vicious circle. The ‘victim’ dog may be infected and could now be potentially yet another dog that, if allowed to run freely off-lead, risks upsetting other dogs himself.
Because most reactive dogs are more confident when off-lead, owners take risks and let them free.
The owner of the stunning young Koda will be working very hard on his recall which she says is good. He understands ‘come’ and he will come back when called… except…..
….except when he rushes off to play or roughhouse with another dog,…… except when he’s chasing a deer. He will then run for miles. He could easily get killed.
But, apart from those occasions, Koda will ‘always’ come when called.
I go to so many dogs that are reactive or scared of other dogs due to having been harrassed or attacked by another dog. I am therefore acutely aware that one dog’s freedom can potentially have a catastrophic effect upon the confidence and freedom of another dog. Upon the owner also. Walks can quite literally be ruined for them owing to a single incident of an out-of-control dog charging over to them and what then ensues.
Koda has never yet hurt a dog but he could easily scare one. He himself may well be scared of the other dog. The lady is worried because he rushes and barks at some. His hackles will go up. With other dogs he happily plays.
Koda makes his own decisions regarding which dogs he goes to and what he does when he gets there.
Koda freelances.
I see the priority one of controlling his freedom – Koda is still a teenager after all – until he can be trusted not to freelance. Changing his feelings about certain other dogs and hence his reactivity is a separate thing but equally important.
When Koda truly reliably comes back when called, his owners then can decide which dogs he goes to. He has many dog friends he plays with daily. He needs and relishes the exercise he gets off lead.
Reliable means reliable, not ‘reliable except when’….
Here is a nice little video from Steve Mann ‘A Recall is a Recall‘.
There are things to put into place at home: If he’s is walked before his meal instead of after, food will have more power during the walk.
They can avoid getting him over-aroused, so he has more self-control when he goes out.
He barks when the dog next door barks and this can be turned into an opportunity – an opportunity to work on his recall from another dog. An opportunity also to feel better about barking dogs by associating its presence in the garden next door with good things, fun and food.
It is possible that Koda’s diet which contains very low quality protein and additives may not be helping. Poor quality protein can interfere with a dog’s ability to make use of the serotonin that occurs naturally in his system. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps regulate mood.
Starting at home they can work on making coming to a whistle an automatic, conditioned response – something Koda will simply do without thinking. There is only one way to achieve this and it’s to repeat the exercise hundreds of times. He has the lady and her two sons dedicated to making him the best and happiest dog possible, so they will succeed I’m sure given time.
In the case of deer, his prey drive may be such that unless he is whistled before he starts running he simply may not hear them. We have to be realistic. In places where this can happen he may simply need to remain on a long line – fifteen metres of freedom only.
Remember Fenton?
Most people who choose little dogs treat them very differently to how people usually treat bigger dogs, carrying them everywhere and keeping them closely on lead – but not so the couple I went to last night.
Daisy
Their two little dogs, tiny Chihuahua Jack Russell mixes, have deliberately been given the same ‘proper dog’ life as larger dogs in every way possible.
Surrounded by love and care, they have been kindly trained to do the important things like come back when called and to wait. Twice a day the lady takes them somewhere by car so they can run free. The little dogs are seldom carried.
Although both Daisy and Poppy are fourteen months of age, they came from different places. Poppy, the smaller of the two, is much more robust mentally. Daisy is more nervous, easily upset, and it’s for her that I was called out.
Both little dogs get on very well apart from the occasional pop when Daisy gets over-aroused and redirects onto Poppy. Daisy’s general arousal and stress levels are something we will be working on.
They called me in with the aim for Daisy ‘not to react aggressively to dogs that came too close to her’.
Upon discussion, I feel that it is totally acceptable for Daisy to tell another dog – a dog that will probably be a lot larger than herself – to keep its distance. She ignores dogs unless they are in her face, it’s the same with young children, and that is the end game many people would be happy to achieve.
This is where treating little dogs exactly the same as big dogs falls down.
Little dogs and big dogs aren’t the same. Little dogs are a lot more vulnerable. Just imagine what the world and other dogs must look like through their eyes! Anything approaching would loom. Just imagine also how little dogs may appear to a big dog, particularly a dog of a hunting breed.
Twice a day the two little dogs are taken, by car, to a large open park or to the woods. Both come back when called and, always off lead, they have plenty of freedom. Daisy in particular stays close. Of late, the more nervous Daisy has shown reluctance to go for the second walk but that’s okay, the lady allows her choice – she also allows her choice if she doesn’t want to get out of the car the other end. I love that, but why the reluctance in the first place?
I’m sure Daisy is torn between loving the walk and feeling unsafe. Once a day is enough for her at present.
If the lady is anywhere she can’t see other dogs coming, she is taking a risk.
On the beach
A short while ago the two little dogs were chased by a Rottweiler and another big dog that suddenly appeared out of the trees. The Rottie was after the braver Poppy who, when she eventually came back, leapt into the lady’s arms terrified, urinating and shaking. She may have been lucky.
They talked to their vet about Daisy’s attitude to other dogs. The advice given? Not to pick her up because she may then become protective of the lady!
How ridiculous in this context.
Just as behaviourists are not vets and I would always refer for anything medical, few vets are experienced, up-to-date behaviourists and often give outdated advice or may not have had time to see the whole picture.
The two aspects we are concentrating on are Daisy’s general stress levels and confidence, and making sure she feels safe on walks. This means doing things just a bit differently. It means choosing locations carefully.
Making sure the little dogs not only feel safe on walks but are actually safer too means regularly calling them back even if there is no other dog about so the two things are not associated. It means regularly picking one or other dog up and getting her used to being carried for a short distance, regardless of the approach of another dog.crisis. Why?
The owner needs to be the little dogs’ safety net and trusted always to keep them safe. If, then, a big dog approaches, Daisy can opt to jump into the lady’s arms – better than simply scooping her up unless in emergency. If she knows she has backup, she may feel less need to defend herself anyway.
Who are those dogs in the mirror?
See this lovely video ‘Small Dog Syndrome‘ from Steve Mann with his own little dog, a Chihuahua.
The lady will watch Daisy’s body language carefully and keep sufficient distance between her and other dogs. She can be assertive with other owners and parents of young children. She already has a yellow top for herself that says ‘My dog needs space’. I suggest one for Daisy too – ‘I need space’.
If the other dog leaves her alone, Daisy is chilled. She can even sit within a couple of feet of a dog she doesn’t know if the lady stops to chat, so long as it leaves her alone. What more can we ask for?
Would we like a giant stranger looming over us and putting his scary face right into our own? No. He would deserve a complaint if not a slap. We ask a lot of our dogs.
So, we have changed the aim of my visit from ‘For Daisy not to react aggressively to dogs that came too close to her’ to ‘Helping Daisy to feel safe when other dogs get too close’.
Little Daisy will then trust the lady to keep her safe and I’m sure she will soon be happily choosing to go out for the second walk.
