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On Edge While On-Leash


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Over the weekend, Truman started exhibiting a behavior that I haven't seen him do before. We went to a greyhound holiday bazaar where there were tons of other greys, and everyone was kind of milling around with their dogs on-leash. Anytime a dog came up to him for a sniff introduction, he became very agitated and would go into a defensive stance and bark. It looked like a fear-based response. With Henry and James (his housemate and another dog we see often), he was 100% fine. He was also fine with humans approaching him. But with the unfamiliar dogs, something was clearly putting him on edge. Eventually, I just stood back and asked the other people to give him some space.

 

The only thing I can think of that might be causing this is an incident that happened maybe a month ago at our dog park. Truman was trying to initiate play with an older dog, and I could tell the dog wasn't happy and thought it was obnoxious. He tried walking away, but Truman kept persisting, so I took Truman by the collar to another area of the park for a time-out (on occasion, I will time-out him for about two minutes if he gets over-stimulated and becomes annoying). The other dog then followed and unexpectedly, started barking and instigating a fight. Truman got really freaked out and begun thrashing around with his collar still in my hand. The martingale of the collar became twisted tightly around my fingers and wrist. The other dog backed off, and after we got untangled, we immediately left the park. Since then, he has been to the dog park many other times without any issues. Off-leash, he is his normal, playful self.

 

Could that one incident be enough for him to associate being on-leash with vulnerability in the presence of other dogs? We've taken our dogs to GiG and Grapehounds with lots of dogs together on-leash, and he never did this before. We are signed up for an advanced training class in January, so I plan to do some more on-leash interactions to gauge his response. I'm just wondering if anyone else has dealt with the same type of behavior?

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Guest Wasserbuffel

I don't know if the dog park incident started it, it might have. I just wanted to post that I deal with that behavior at all times. Jayne has been leash reactive as long as I've had her. It's worse with other greyhounds than with other breeds, especially smaller dogs. At meet and greets, we just stay a little apart from the others. The regulars of my group know what she's like and give us the space we need. If we're going to be in a particularly crowded space, or I'll need someone to hold her while I set up a table I'll take her muzzle with us just to be safe. Although she usually just growls or barks, she's snapped on occasion too.

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It could be from that incident. Being held by the collar while he was attacked, or he felt like he was being attacked, probably made him feel defenseless. Now, he may be associating the leash the same way.

Lots of positive interactions should help. Start at a good distance away and give training treats when he doesn't react. Gradually get closer. If he starts to react when you get close, then back up and start over.

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It could be from that incident. Being held by the collar while he was attacked, or he felt like he was being attacked, probably made him feel defenseless.

 

That was exactly my thought... he usually bounces back from stuff like that fairly quickly. But I'm thinking that one incident was traumatic for him. We like to go to greyhound events where there are often large groups of dogs on leash, so I definitely want to work on it more.

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Sounds like a normal day out with Paige to me! Although it's awful to deal with, I'm actually pleased that she isn't the only one - thank you Jayne! My two are muzzled anyhow, and the only way I've been able to reduce leash reactivity is by wedging treats into the mouth as soon as we see another dog. It's gotten better, and now we can walk about 15 metres away from other dogs with no reaction, although closer is still problematic. I'd go with the positive stuff with mega awesome treats and see how it goes. Get him before he reacts (Paige isn't food motivated so when she opens her mouth to bark the treat is wedged in before she gets the chance. Now she looks to me before reacting).

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Guest Wasserbuffel

Jayne isn't reactive to dogs at a distance, I guess I didn't make that clear. She just doesn't want them approaching her or sniffing her butt. The little twerp will strain on her leash wanting to greet a dog, then get mad at that dog when it's too close to her. She'll even walk with the other greys in a group with no problem, as long as they don't get in her business.

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Guest Giselle

Some dogs are incredibly tolerant. Others aren't quite so tolerant. In my opinion, it really is a fundamental part of our dogs' individual personalities. That's not to say we can't modify their behaviors, but I think we often need to temper our expectations of our creatures with a bit of honesty. So, to me, he sounds perfectly normal. Just control the environment, reward pro-social behaviors, and remove the animal from any uncontrollable or stressful situations. It also requires you to pay a little more attention to your pup's signals and know when is too much. Any contructive obedience class will be helpful, too, but it's really about rewarding the desired behaviors directly and not allowing the animal to practice undesired behaviors - especially accidentally. This means that I'm often found hollering, "My dog isn't friendly. PLEASE leash/hold/control/keep your dog away!". Unapproved attempts to greet my dog are met with a stern "NO" and a body block. That's just how some dogs need their environments controlled. It's just life! :)

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Guest Wasserbuffel

Everything Giselle said!

 

I keep some tasty treats with me for stuffing in Jayne's mouth when she's being tolerant of normal doggy greetings or just closeness. She's gotten better over the last couple years, but I can't let my guard down and I know she rarely does.

 

Once, a year or so back, she had been grumping and growling at the two male greys at a M&G for even walking within a couple feet of her. Then a customer of the pet store came by with a puppy that jumped over the male greys and they tolerated it. I kept Jayne behind me, and explained to the woman that Jayne isn't tolerant like the males and would correct the puppy, so that's why she was behind me. The woman got excited and asked if I would let Jayne meet and correct the puppy, since it would be good socialization for the pup to be taught how to greet correctly from a dog who would actually do it (it was rescued and removed from its mom too young). I allowed it. Jayne corrected the puppy twice and then it behaved nicely for her and they got on very well until the pup and owner moved on. After that, Jayne became some sort of serene Mother Theresa for the rest of the M&G. She mingled with the two males she'd been grumping at earlier without so much as a raised hair. Two weeks later, the same males were again intolerable.

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Hahaha, I enjoyed that story about Jayne. Sometimes I really take pause and think about how lucky I am for Henry. He's pretty much been Truman's parent/playmate/babysitter since Truman was 12-weeks-old. He still corrects him all the time! If we're at the dog park, and Truman is annoying another dog, Henry will body block him and run him out as if to say, "You're being an obnoxious twit! Stop it!"

Edited by a_daerr
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