Manage The Behavior
The first rule when you want to teach your dog a new behavior, or in this case, unteach a behavior, is to ensure that your dog can be successful. So you first must know what “success” looks like … which in this case is “calm and relaxed.”
In order to change your dog’s behavior, he has to stop performing the unwanted “nightmare” behavior. Keep reading to find out how to do that.
(You may be ready to surf away about now, but hang with me; it’s not as hard as you may think.)
Let’s be honest—the idea of wearing a leash isn’t a very pleasant one. Who wants to be directed where to go all the time? Some dogs have no problem being tethered to their owner on a leash, but other dogs hate it. If you’ve just rescued your dog, it’s possible he’s never even seen a leash. How do you entice your dog to use a leash when he has no interest in doing so? Our team at East Valley Animal Hospital in Gilbert, AZ understands the frustration. Here are a few tips on how to make your dog more comfortable walking on a leash.
Your pup might dislike walking because of a negative association he has with the leash.
Dogs are emotional creatures who retain memories by attaching them to people, smells, and items. The sight of a leash may trigger negative emotions in your dog. If you can try to determine where this fear began, you may be able to move our dog past it. But because your poor doggo can’t tell us why he’s scared of the leash, there’s no knowing for sure. Instead, focus on this question: What emotions does your dog display when the leash comes out? Scared? Angry?
If your dog is a rescue, a leash may remind him of abuse he’s suffered at the hands of a former owner, which may be the source of his anxiety. Luckily, there are trained professionals who can help your dog work through past trauma.
Alternatively, your dog may have learned through experience that being put on a leash leads to a bath, or a visit to the home of your least favorite cousin and her mean cat. Put yourself in your pup’s shoes as best as you can.
Canine Body Language
Canine body language plays a large role in leash reactivity issues. To get a better understanding of this, we must first look at how dogs normally greet each other without the leash. When 2 off-leash dogs greet each other, they arc their body, approach the other dog from the side, don’t make eye contact, and perform a “getting to know you” style dance of going in circles while sniffing each other’s genital region. These are appeasement behaviors which may signal to the other dog that they are friendly and mean no harm. A leash, however, makes it nearly impossible for dogs to exchange proper greetings through their body language. Even worse, the leash forces the dog into positions which signal to the other dog that they want to fight, even when that isn’t their intention. When dogs meet on leash, they are usually pulling their owner along, which results in completely different body movement including face-to-face greetings with eye contact, a stiff body, head up high (towering over the other dog), and their chest pushed out. These are all “fighting words” in dog body language. Dogs should never, ever, be allowed to meet on leash due to the fact that the leash itself causes dogs to give off the wrong signals, resulting in a much higher likelihood that a fight to break out.
Once bitten, twice shy Up until now we’ve explored a variety of ways that leash reactivity has evolved from good intentions. Unfortunately at this point, things have gotten serious. Our previously social dog is frightened of other dogs because he was “disciplined” by the other dog for his poor, though perhaps unintentional, social behavior. Now the previous social butterfly has turned into Cujo on a leash by barking, growling, pulling, and lunging at other dogs. Cujo is still frustrated that his leash is holding him back, but he no longer wants to go toward other dogs to play, he wants to put on the best show he can in an effort to keep the other dogs away so that he doesn’t get bit again! Now we are back to Fight or Flight.
Misreading the situation Even with the best of intentions, owners often misread their dog’s communication signals. We can’t blame them; Humans don’t speak Dog. We’ve all seen it happen; The owner that allows their leashed dog (let’s call him “Social Dog”) to run up on another dog (let’s call him “Surprised Dog”). All the while they are exclaiming “My dog’s friendly!” We’ve already learned how leashes cause miscommunication among dogs and how this exact situation can go bad really fast. However, the owner thinks their dog is being “friendly” and “playing” by rushing up to the other dog face-to-face (with eye contact), bumping into the other dog, towering over them (because the leash is pulling the dog upward), and being overly excited. They have completely missed the fact that this behavior isn’t friendly to the other dog, it’s rude, and sometimes scary, especially to a shy dog!
What causes Leash Reactivity? When people see leash reactive dogs, they sometimes assume that something bad happened to them in the past, to make them that way. Sometimes this is the case, but we can usually look even deeper than that– what caused the bad thing to happen in the first place? Our answer often lies in a combination of the things outlined below.
Leashes are a trap! Quite literally, leashes trap dogs by impeding their movement. When a dog feels fear (often as a result of miscommunication, such as getting the wrong body signals from a leashed dog), they only have 2 options; Fight or Flight. The leash, however, removes their ability to flee the situation (aka their “flight” response). Even the friendliest dog has no other choice than to fight. At the same time, dogs know that a fight will result in getting hurt themselves, whether they win or lose. They will go to great lengths to avoid the risks of fighting, therefore they will do everything possible to deter dogs from approaching them in the first place (such as growling, barking, lunging, and making themselves look big). Outbursts due to feeling trapped are a scare tactic, done for self-preservation.
How To Fix A Dog or Puppy Refusing To Walk On Leash | Wittle Havanese
Do you dread taking your dog for a walk because they lunge at other dogs, other people, or objects like cars or skateboards? Maybe they bark or growl too. Walking an out-of-control dog is both physically and emotionally exhausting. It’s tempting to avoid walks altogether, but then your dog isn’t getting the mental stimulation and physical exercise they need. So, what do you do? Read on for tips to manage and improve your dog’s lunging behavior.
Dog experts often label dogs who lunge and bark during walks as “leash reactive.” A reactive dog is one who becomes overly aroused by normal situations, and a leash reactive dog is one who behaves that way on leash. But what causes this behavior? There are three possible motivations for lunging. The least likely is aggression. Although rare, some dogs truly want to do harm. Fear is a far more common motivator. Using the “I’ll get it before it gets me” strategy, dogs lunge to try to make the feared person, dog, or other object go away. Finally, your dog might be excited to approach the person, dog, or object, but because the leash is preventing that, they become frustrated and lose emotional control.
You need to take all these motivations seriously, but it’s important to understand which one is driving your dog. For example, if your dog is frustrated, lessons in emotional self-control come in handy. If your dog is fearful, building self-confidence is key. However, regardless of the reason for the lunging, some of the basic management tools and treatments are the same.
It’s important to prevent your dog from lunging because every time they do, they’re practicing the behavior and developing a self-reinforcing habit. And the firmer the habit, the harder it will be to change. But how do you prevent lunging? First, never punish your dog for this behavior. You will only exacerbate the problem. Your dog will associate the punishment with the other person, dog, or object which will strengthen their fear or jack up their frustration.
Second, use the correct equipment for walking. A buckle collar can put a lot of pressure on your dog’s throat when they lunge. A front-clip harness is a better choice. It will put the pressure on your dog’s chest and help turn them back toward you when they spring forward. A head halter (also called a head harness) is another option for a leash-reactive dog. It loops around your dog’s nose and allows you to control their head like the reins of a horse. However, many dogs need help adjusting to a halter and they can damage their necks if they hit the end of the leash with too much force. To prevent that, you can clip one leash to their buckle collar and another to their halter, so the collar leash takes the force during lunges and the halter leash gently turns your dog’s head.
Finally, be proactive. Plan your walks for times when your dog is unlikely to encounter any triggers (the people, dogs, or objects that cause the lunging to occur). That might be late at night or with the sunrise. Also choose the quietest route. And always be on the lookout for triggers so you can keep your dog far enough away that they don’t react. That might mean taking evasive action like crossing the street or making a 180-degree turn. If you can distract your dog before they notice the trigger, even better. Constantly monitor the environment and your dog’s body language so you can predict lunging before it occurs and act accordingly.
Management will prevent your dog from practicing lunging, but it won’t improve their behavior or ease their emotional state. For that, try desensitization and counterconditioning. This technique will change your dog’s emotional response from negative to positive (in the case of fear-based or aggressive reactivity) or from out-of-control excitement to calm (in the case of frustration).
The trick is to get your dog in the presence of their trigger but far enough away they don’t react. This is known as below-threshold intensity. That could be 10 feet, or it could be 40. And different triggers might have different distances. Once you have your dog below threshold, pair the trigger with high-value rewards they would do anything for, like strips of meat, cubes of cheese, or a chance to play with their favorite toy. You want your dog to build a positive association between the wonderful goodies and the trigger.
Start the process with your dog on leash. Wait for them to notice a trigger then immediately present a reward. When they glance at the trigger again, offer another reward. Continue as long as the trigger is present. With enough repetition, your dog will eventually glance at the trigger then turn right back in your direction, as if to say, “I saw it, now where’s my treat?” This tells you that your dog has realized the trigger makes the reward happen, so the positive association is being formed.
Now you can move a tiny bit closer to the trigger and repeat the process. The goal is to slowly reduce the distance between your dog and the trigger until they are within a few feet or less, all while keeping your dog under threshold. Then duplicate the entire procedure again with a new dog or person. Continue to repeat with as many examples of the trigger as necessary to convince your dog that their trigger makes great things happen. As a result, when they see any trigger, they will look to you for a reward instead of lunging.
Try your best to control the environment during this process. You don’t want a dog or stranger sneaking up and putting your dog over threshold. Instead, enlist the assistance of friends so you can coordinate a training plan using them or their dogs as the trigger. You can also try positioning your dog at a set distance from a pathway or street so you can predict passersby but control how far your dog is from them.