Is leash aggression the owners fault?
When dogs fight with other dogs on leash is the owners lack of confidence the problem?
Hardly! Owners can and should NOT be blamed for being nervous when handling their leash-reactive dogs.
It goes without saying that if you have seen your dog bark, lunge, or snap at another dog when on leash that you will anticipate more bad behavior. The anticipated unpleasantness makes most people nervous.
Still, my clients are often astonished that the dogs behave better when I am handling the leash.
When I am called to consult with a client whose dog routinely behaves badly on leash towards other dogs, a common question is: Have they (the owners) been transmitting their fears down the leash to their dogs? From this my clients often surmise that it must be my calm, confident demeanor that gives me the edge when handling feisty dogs. I would argue otherwise for several reasons.
Reason #1 When meeting new clients and handling a new dog for the first time I am absolutely NOT CALM.
I am always nervous when meeting new clients and handling new dogs. I might hide my fears and doubts well from my clients, but I am sure that if you were to put me to the test you would find that my heart rate is elevated, my mouth is dry and I my hands are sweaty.
Reason #2 It is more scientific to rule out other, simpler explanations first.
The answer to how well a dog can detect and to what degree they react to fear has not been sufficiently studied. however, the mechanism responsible for self-preservation called Fight or Flight is very well understood and is the key to helping many of my clients navigate on-leash encounters between their dogs and other dogs.
Reason #3 I have a very good success rate with teaching my clients new skills that improve the situation despite their nervousness at trying something new and their fears that they won't do well and/or that their dog is beyond help.
Imagine if you were taking tennis lessons and your instructor simply coached you by saying, "You need to swing with more power and accuracy." While this may be true, it won't help you KNOW HOW TO DO THESE THINGS!
A good instructor/coach/teacher is always able to break things down into specific tasks that a student can practice in order to obtain better results in overall performance. Telling someone that they are doing poorly or that they need to be, or do things better is NOT an educational technique.
My personal results with the aforementioned bad-coaching technique was a frustration-induced, "more powerful" but drastically, LESS accurate swing.
So what is the CONNECTION between the LEASH & AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR?
All animals have an innate protective response. When you are afraid (really, really afraid) your The is commonly referred to as the Fight or Flight Response.
Reactions include:
FREEZE -victims that we would describe as shocked, stunned, catatonic (this may precede other actions).
FLIGHT -a way of creating distance between you and a real or perceived threat.
FIGHT -another way of creating distance (turn the tables and get the scary thing to back off or run away).
The trick is to KEEP THE LEASH REALLY LOOSE & to KEEP MOVING FORWARD at a quickened pace so that your dog does not feel stuck or trapped. This is hard to do when you own body is anticipating a bad encounter, so my clients with badly behaved dogs all tend to slow down and hold their dogs back. This is a recipe for disaster. The slow pace and tension causes the dog to lunge forward aggressively.
Keeping the leash loose is easier said then done when there is a history of things going badly, so here are some hints. Carry your dogs favorite toy or better yet, walk your dog when she is hungry and hold some cheese or some yummy meat in front of her nose as you pass by dogs. Using your best goofy voice and moving quickly helps too. Also, be sure not to punish or correct (jerk the leash) your dog for relapses.
Remember you can't punish away fear!
So fix the fear, and the barking and lunging will disappear.
3. I will not punish my dog for behaviors that stem from fear.
I will not punish my dog for barking IF/WHEN my dog is barking because of he/she is afraid or frustrated. I may have to do some investigating to determine if my dog is afraid or barking to demand something.
I will try and remember that aggression stems from fear. This means that when my dog is behaving aggressively (barking, growling, lunging) the cause was something that upset/scared my dog.
I will NOT make my dog's fear worse by punishing behaviors that my dog is not in control of (flight/flight is a reflex).
I will consider that my dog is frustrated, upset or fearful and needs Classical Conditioning.
THEY LOVE OTHERS DOGS... Why do they show it like this?
* What makes a dog behave badly on-leash?
* Is your dog trying to embarrass you?
* Is there anything you can do to change your dog's behavior?
Leash Reactivity is a common problem for dog owners/guardians. True leash reactivity is defined by aggressive looking displays that are only seen when a dog's mobility is restricted by a leash.
A similar problem called Barrier Frustration occurs whenever a dog is repeatedly allowed to see or hear something that it is never allowed to interact with. This consistent exposure and repeated frustration eventually causes aggression. In mild cases the aggression ceases if the barrier is removed. In sever cases the aggression becomes so entrenched that even when the barrier is removed the animal will remain aggressive. Most cases of barrier frustration involve aggressive displays towards people or dogs seen through fences or windows.
The last and final cause is a Classically Conditioned Response. In other words the dog is taught to be aggressive. I'm not suggesting this is done intentionally, but rather the opposite. Classical Conditioning is a type of learning. When an animal is Conditioned Classically (also called Pavlovian Conditioning) the animal is taught a relationship between two things, places, or events. The relationship is INDEPENDENT OF THE ANIMALS BEHAVIOR, THOUGHTS, or ACTIONS.
A typical case-evaluation for Classically Conditioned Leash Aggression looks like this.
1. The puppy is separated from its litter-mates and brought into its new home.
2. The puppy is unnecessarily kept away from all other dogs and puppies until all puppy shots have been given. Incidentally most puppy shots are not complete until the pups are about 3-4 months of age. By this age the pup is already through all of its Socialization Period and too old to acclimate to new people, places, and experiences quickly and easily.
3. The puppy is then allowed to interact with other dogs for the first time in about 2-months. At the same time many puppies are unfortunately introduced to their first training collar. In an ideal world an anti-pull harness would be worn and used by the puppy form the moment it first enters its new home. Sadly many people are still using choke and pinch collars on young pups.
4. The puppy (on-leash) encounters its first dog. In excitement the puppy pulls forward and the collar tightens. The puppy pulls forward again and barks. The handler, not knowing better and wishing to teach their dog good manners, jerks the leash back and "corrects" the puppy for the inappropriate barking. At this moment the puppy DOES NOT LEARN: barking is bad. Neither does the puppy learn that barking is wrong. Instead what the puppy learns is that everything is fine, UNTIL THERE APPEARS A DOG and then bad things happen.
**Imagine that you were in a dark parking garage and someone came up behind you and grabbed you. You scream and so they stab you. Would your first response be, "Oh, I probably would have been OK if I didn't scream." No you would scream because it is your natural, human response to fear. Barking is a dog's natural response to frustration or fear. It makes no more sense to your dog that the leash correction is barking than it would make to you that screaming when grabbed from behind is the cause of imminent pain.
To further cement this relationship of events (Dogs + Leash = Yucky) the dog then gets to play off-leash with puppies in class or at the park or daycare. When NOT ON A LEASH the puppy pulls towards a new dog and is immediately given access to the dog. No pain, no choking, no problems. The dog draws the obvious conclusion (Dogs + NO LEASH = Everything is Fine!)
