Dog Training Summary: Anna Leash Panic
Anna (approx 3 year old Pit Mix) was adopted last year by a great family. They called with an original issue of a reactive dog on leash and wanting to achieve the ability of their 11 year old daughter being able to leash walk her.
Anna was adopted from a local rescue group. The foster had not seen any reactive issues in her behavior and had mentioned even having her in a group obedience class.
It was believed that Anna may have been chained outside with puppies that she had to defend from other dogs.
We did a 6 week series focused on obedience work and behavior modification for the leash reactivity. Anna's reaction was not really one of aggression -- there was no growl and really not even a bark. Rather it was a crazy shrill sound with an intense fixation on the other dog. She clearly had a very emotional reaction at other dogs when she walked through the neighborhood or when they tried to go to pet stores.
We made significant improvement in 6 short weeks and the family opted to continue efforts on their own.
I didn't hear from them for almost a year.
The call came about a month ago that Anna had attacked the neighbors dogs. Apparently she had escaped the house through a door that was not secured properly while the family was not at home. They wanted intense board and train to evaluate, training and rehab this issue.
What I now know about that day was the neighbors had been out in their front yard on a beautiful spring day with their dogs playing in the yard. Apparently for quite some time Anna worked herself into a frenzy seeing them out there, and once she got the door open charged over. The neighbors, thankfully were able to prevent a significant incident and no one was harmed (This is actually kind of a clue to Anna's issue and her evaluation)
Anna had made a couple of doggie friends -- and could relax around them at a local cafe or take a walk with them. But, if she was sitting on her families balcony, she might get stimulated at some of the passersby. She also escalated when certain dogs ran past her.
So a few days later Anna moved in with me for a planned 2-3 weeks.
Following standard protocol here, she was separated from my pack initially, and our first day together was spent with a nice long walk, and some playing ball time.
The very first morning here -- Anna found a bunny in the yard and gave a relentless chase through the yard, until the bunny found his escape route. She chased, but was not barking or growling. Just running.
This led me to give consideration to what we're dealing with was more a a very high prey/chase drive than aggression.
The first few days here was ta very strict tune-up on her obedience and learning to do an emergency U-Turn (Uh -oh let's go!). She was pretty good, but we did a fair amount of distance work, distraction work, and then some play each day. Our goal s not about walking through the neighborhood yet. I wanted a solid obedience foundation in place first and for her to have a relationship of trust with me.
I embraced her chase drive and played a lot of ball with her and let her chase toys. (Flirt poles are great options for chasing "prey" and the Chuck-It is awesome for throwing the ball)
After about 3 days her, I introduced Anna to Lexie. No issues. I decided to then try Vika -- another young Pit who absolutely loved to play with everyone. Anna was a bit to much for her. Anna actually did try to play. She did many of the behaviors you'd want to see in a playful dog like turning her backside to Vika, stepping back from the play for a pause, etc. But -- every time she does go into to play she goes for the neck. Not just a good game of bite-face, and not biting Vika at all, just VERY rough. She would run and run and run through the yard.
At this point Anna got moved from the front room of my house to the main living space. In the front room she was crated and behind another x-pen used as a barrier that gave visual line of sight, but where no one could get directly nose to nose with her crate, Now she's exposed directly to everyone, but no contact.
I'm still not letting her outside with the Weenie Dogs since I'm still not entirely sure about her prey/chase drive, and they run through the yard like rabbits :-)
A day or so later she met Vinnie outside with no issues.
And then we met the weenie dogs -- and NADA. No reaction to them at all. In fact, the weenies are known to very clearly say "get outta my face!" to another dog, and she respected that.
Anna's issue is not aggression.
During this time I have also noticed that Anna is highly excitable. And I do mean HIGHLY!
She gets persistent about licking me when she wants attention if I was sitting down. If I was standing she'd like my feet or jump up on me, even mouthing my hands. She would FLY out the back door when you let her out - -which by the way I stopped as soon as I expected prey/chase drive, because it's important to control how outings begin. If she's goes out over stimulated it's much less likely to get her back down -- if she goes out calm we have better control.
Anna was a bit dramatic in her crate. Not crate anxiety, because she was fine if I wasn't home. But if she was crated and I was here, including after she had completed her meal, she would have a bit of a hissy. That was ignored and with requiring her to calm down before getting out -- she quickly got the message that there is no drama permitted and it doesn't work anyway.
Anna was required to manage impulse control everywhere. Coming out of her crate, exiting the house, exiting the car, waiting on her meal, waiting for the ball to be thrown, waiting while other dogs walked past her, etc. We practiced place and down stays daily while other dogs ran in the yard and played.
Towards the end of that first week, we went to Petco and Petsmart in the same day! I went at a time of day that it would not likely be crowded, but that might have some exposure to other dogs. She did really well, but definitely had some escalations. Our focus was on our obedience work -- though nothing harder than heel and sit. Watch me is essential as well.
The next day we went to the park for our first outing. We went at a very time when it was not overly busy and had a good walk. It was introducing to the environment more than other dogs. She did well, a few minor escalations, but nothing crazy.
At this point it's about creating consistency in her expectations of my behavior, what I expect of her, and sticking with simple obedience. Sit, Heel and Watch Me. Nothing More is necessary.
Anna road with me to a few client appointments. On one particular
outing she had a very difficult time in the car. Unfortunately I
arrived a little early to get her settled, but the owner came outside
with her dog before I was ready! I had really hoped to get Anna
settled and go knock on their door and set it up. But they were already
there.
Welcome to the real world. You cannot control everything.
We went to walk just about every day. I had a friend meet me with her dog to take a walk with us, and no reaction. Shocked even me! We had a great walk. We were able to watch ducks and geese with really no escalation at all! The only thing that set her off that day was someone ran past us. Sticking with her skills, we got it under control and moved on in just a few seconds. She stayed a little amped up, and escalated again a little later, but we moved through that one too, with consistency. At this point we can't hide from the triggers, we have to deal with them in the same way every time.
After about a week, Anna was moved into my room at night in an x-pen. I wanted to see what her response would be while other dogs moved around her and she wasn't crated. She still had her crate for the day along with everyone else, but at night when we're watching TV and for sleeping, I upgraded her to have some more room and just simply be being the partition. She relaxed and slept well.
As Anna's confidence grew I increased the challenge. We went to the Dog Park. Not to go in, but to be at a place I knew we'd see more dogs in motion. It was a great outing. She saw many dogs in the fenced are with no escalation. It was a great walk until a JA (figure it out) with an off-leash dog came charging towards me and Anna. He even had the nerve to ask me if it was my dog making all that drama -- I told him no - his dog caused it by charging towards us and by him not having any ability to verbally recall his dog. Thankfully there was no incident, just anxiety for her.
Nice -- it's supposed to be a leashed area -- what a setback. But, again, welcome to the real world. She had another really crappy experience seeing another dog a few minutes later. But we ended on a good note with a different dog and went home. I was determined to end positive -- but sometimes you have to cut your losses and take a break to try another day.
It was about a week and a half and she was fully integrated into the pack of 5 other dogs for not only hanging out in the house, but going potty outside with everyone else. She respected the weenies and never pressed her boundaries with them. She tried to play with Vika, but still a bit too rough and when Vika said enough, she backed off.
We went to walk every day. They weren't all perfect, but they were all good and saw signs of improvement. She walked with Vinnie or Vika side by side with no issues, My friend brought another of her dogs and no issues at all. If fact, in some ways the pack walks helped her stay in the zone.
At the end of two weeks I had planned to take Anna to one of my classes and pack walk and her parents were coming to observe.
It was a mistake -- a big one.
1) She was so excited to see her parents even though they had come to my house first, It was a lot of excitement.
2) The park was CRAZY busy on a beautiful Sunday. It was too stimulating and Anna lost her <beep>
After about 15 minutes of not being able to calm, her I loaded her in the car to take her back home, but I needed to wait on a client to let them know we were all leaving :) Her family went ahead and left.
We worked with Anna a bit trying to calm her down -- it didn't work well. So I actually got her back out of the car, moved her out towards the woods and back of the fields at the park, and we had an escalation free walk!
We decided to extend Anna's training for another week and half. For a total of 3 and half weeks. At this point, I decided to contact a holistic product company I had met at a trainers conference. They may floral essence blends customized to specific problems. You might think it's hokey-- but it was worth a try. I mean I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
So we continued our work -- every day. Our new products came and we kept working. Park walks about 6 of 7 days.
With great improvement, including walks on the green-way. They weren't
all perfect. There were a few outbursts, but they got fewer, shorter
and less intense. We'd even start walking with or behind a dog that
had caused her to escalate.
We practiced obedience skills, impulse control and even sat in the car and watched dogs walk past us. We went to the pet stores again.
I was super pleased with where we left off and sent Anna home to her family with strict instructions to not take her for a walk for 3 days -- until I could be there with them to train them!
We went Saturday afternoon for a long walk in their neighborhood and saw many dogs. Anna would sit and observe with no escalation -- observation is good, interest is ok. When she made the choice to look away from the other dogs, we walked on. If she showed no real interest, we kept walking.
We kept it to Sit, Heel and Watch Me. And many times if there was a "safe" zone we'd give her full length of the leash to have a nice leisurely walk without being in a command. Walks have to become enjoyable and relaxed. They cannot be 100% work.
It was a beautiful walk. Until neighbors had 2 off leash dogs. Crap! What went wrong was two things
1) The neighbors started yelling at their dogs who were still in their yard and creating a big drama
2) Anna's dad got nervous and tense too (Can you blame him?)
I honestly think if everyone had kept cool, and just had Anna retreat in a u-turn heel we would have avoided the escalation altogether. It will come with practice and repetition and confidence :)
I'll go back next week, but they are off to a great start and Anna is healing.
The family is guided to:
- Be very strict on obedience right now. Daily and for a very long time. Until the escalations are diminished and everyone is more relaxed together.
- Play Daily -- Fetch, Toys, anything that stimulates her prey/chase drive and gives her both mental and physical activities.
- Manage Impulse control -- no exits from doors, crates, etc that don't start calmly. Don't allow licking. Don't allow crate drama.
- Practice down stays by the front door (with it open). Down stays in the yard with reward. Place while they do other activities around her.
- Clear differentials between play and time to be obedient.
- Walks are prescriptive in what to do when they go past another dog and holding her accountable to her obedience commands (heel, sit, watch me) Nothing more! Take play breaks on the walk in "safe zones" where there are no houses or other dogs nearby at the time.
- High value treats for a job well done and focus on the handler not the other dog
- Reward good decisions - like looking away from and ignoring other dogs and especially for relaxation and focus on them.
- Pack walks with well-balanced neighbors dogs. Not dogs with excitable energy.
- And to relax! Expect a good walk. Create a good walk.
I have a few Anna Videos on Youtube
Please know that EVERY case is different. Though there are many similarities in symptoms and many common steps to resolutions -- it is critical to be sure that you are solving the right problem with the right techniques. Errors in judgment or diagnosis can make matters worse or even become dangerous to yourself, others or the dog. Seek Professional Assistance before trying techniques on your own.
Dana Brigman
The K9 Coach
Dog Training - Matthews, NC
980-339-8064
www.thek9-coach.com
info@thek9-coach.com
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