Need Advice On Pulling Dog, Iker

[Yamaha_gurl]

What about having a bicycle in your yard or house, and having some treats laying near it? That way he goes to the bike on his own. You could later try moving it around...that's an easy way to start.

[robinw]

Robin, I would definitely NOT offer treats or too much verbal soothing when he's showing fear - I think you're probably unwittingly reinforcing the fear. I would just stay calm and still until he calms down, and then when he's showing you the desirable behavior of, you know, sanity, offer a treat and an ear scritch and continue the walk. We had a similar situation with Argos after he was attacked. I don't think it was to the degree yours is, but it was frustrating and sad for us.

 

Good luck

Hmmm...I try not to reinforce, but you could be right. I can see how my talking to him could reinforce his behavior.

[Guest Gemma]

What about having a bicycle in your yard or house, and having some treats laying near it? That way he goes to the bike on his own. You could later try moving it around...that's an easy way to start.

 

This would be my recommendation. Let him familiarize himself with a bike when it's still and then go from there.

[robinw]

What about having a bicycle in your yard or house, and having some treats laying near it? That way he goes to the bike on his own. You could later try moving it around...that's an easy way to start.

 

This would be my recommendation. Let him familiarize himself with a bike when it's still and then go from there.

What a great idea! I will put mine in the backyard. Thanks!

[NeylasMom]

Robin, I would definitely NOT offer treats or too much verbal soothing when he's showing fear - I think you're probably unwittingly reinforcing the fear. I would just stay calm and still until he calms down, and then when he's showing you the desirable behavior of, you know, sanity, offer a treat and an ear scritch and continue the walk. We had a similar situation with Argos after he was attacked. I don't think it was to the degree yours is, but it was frustrating and sad for us.

 

Good luck

Hmmm...I try not to reinforce, but you could be right. I can see how my talking to him could reinforce his behavior.

I'm not sure it is. I think sometimes that sort of thing is a sign that everything is a-ok in your world so the dog can relax a bit. A lot of times when Neyla would freeze up, I would try singing to her. I would just make up dumb songs and melodies, a lot of times it would be about how I really wanted to keep walking but Neyla didn't - it amused me and took the edge off of my frustration and sometimes seemed to help her. Other times, I was stuck just picking her up and carrying her. Or I found if I walked to the end of the leash and knelt down, she would walk to me. I would pet her and tell her she was a good girl, then get up and walk to the end of the leash again. I kid you not, sometimes we got stuck on walks and this was how we got home. It was a SLOW process.

 

Honestly, my suggestion is not to take him on walks at times when there is likely to be a lot of bike traffic. In the meantime, you can work on some desensitization starting with a bike just sitting there like someone suggested, but it's clearly overwhelming for him right now. For a long time, Neyla could only do a potty walk in a one block loop around my neighborhood. Otherwise, we took our long walks at night when there were far fewer scary things, especially noises and I took her to the dog park as often as I could to get her good exercise to try to take the edge off. You might just have to consider that he would prefer being at home while you take Treasure for a walk than be with you at those times.

 

But to be honest, while we managed to work through all of her fear issues for the most part, if I had to do it all over again, I would have tried medication as a training tool. I don't regret what I did - I worked hard with her and we had an amazing bond as a result, but if I had known that I could really reduce some of her anxiety with medication and potentially make the work go faster, I certainly would have. It would have been a tough call because she was so comfortably and NOT afraid at home once she got settled in, but being outside took a lot longer. Just food for thought.

Edited July 10, 2012 by NeylasMom

[BootsyCollins]

Oh, dear god, how I wish you had a video of one of your singing sessions

[robinw]

I just put in a call to my vet re: meds. I would prefer to keep trying without them, walks are absolutely terrifying for him. I've had dogs all my life, including frightened dogs, but have never seen anything like Iker on that trail. It can't be fun for him and I don't think dementia tin will come easily.

 

I put the bicycle in the backyard. He peed on it and then acted like he was scared of me

[Yamaha_gurl]

Robin, maybe we can brainstorm and find some very quiet/no people places for him to walk? I'm thinking farmers fields lol

[robinw]

Robin, maybe we can brainstorm and find some very quiet/no people places for him to walk? I'm thinking farmers fields lol

Yes, we can take the dogs for a walk.

[NeylasMom]

Oh, dear god, how I wish you had a video of one of your singing sessions

Thankfully I was usually on hiking trails that weren't very populated (or else we would have never gotten anywhere), but yes, I'm sure I appeared bat** crazy to anyone who happened to see me doing any number of those sorts of things. Of course, that's probably not all taht different from how I look now walking (and talking to) 3-4 dogs.

 

Robin, hope you can figure something out.

[Guest LindsaySF]

Honey goes nuts over bicycles. She's not afraid, she wants to chase them! Barking, spinning, frothing at the mouth. We've done a lot of desensitization with stationary bikes, slowly moving bikes, etc. She's fine with the occasional bike on most walks. But she still gets overstimulated on the bike trail when they come zipping past us, 2-3 at a time, so we tend to avoid walking there. She gets excited with joggers and rollerbladers too... So we avoid situations where I think she'll get just too overstimulated, but I still walk her a lot. The more stuff you expose Iker to the better. Even if he's afraid, with more exposure he will learn that nothing bad is going to happen to him.

[robinw]

Thanks, Lindsay. That's exactly what I've been doing. Galgueros often train galgos for hunting on bicycles. I've seen them training up to half a dozen galgos while they are riding their bikes. I wonder if his terror might be from that and a bit more than can be handled with just desensitization. Regardless of how I handle this, I will continue to expose him to as much as possible. He is a lot better in other ways, such as going inside banks, etc. it's just men on bicycles, and men. He's not as bad with women on bicycles.

[krissn333]

My friend's dearly departed boy HATED bicycles of any kind - he would have a fit if he saw one. It didn't even have to be anywhere near him or headed toward him. He also hated trailers (like little two wheeled trailers pulled by pickup trucks)...especially if they were empty. He seemed to get angry at them though...my theory always was that he didn't like the noises they made and he thought he was protecting my friend from them

 

I think you're doing what you can, Robin, and in time he will understand that those things aren't going to hurt him even though maybe they did when he lived in Spain. Since he's not particularly food motivated, is there anything he likes from you - chest rub, ear rub, etc? that maybe you could do to help him understand that GOOD things happen when you see bicycles and men?

 

My parents' dog Goody was afraid of men when they adopted her. She was a bounce though, and she REALLY likes walks. The easy solution for us to get her to trust my dad and my brother was to have them take her for walks and to offer her treats when they were in the house. Since Iker isn't terribly fond of walking though, I'm not sure that would really work for him. Goody is still leery of stranger men that they'll meet on walks, but what is interesting is that she has never shied away from any of our male friends from our adoption group. Something about them must be "okay" to her and she never hesitates to allow them to pet her. Maybe just have men that live with greyhounds come to your house to visit every so often, and just sit around and chat for a bit? Maybe let the men offer him something of interest?

 

I'm sure he'll get there and it's just going to take time. He's very lucky to have such a loving and patient mom

[robinw]

I spoke to my vet and I am going to give him zylkene for a while. It isn't an antidepressant or anything like that. It's made from milk protein and hopefully will take the scared s**tless edge away. I am going to continue with desensitization training, but hopefully he will be less panicked.

 

I love the suggestion with the spook harness leash, racindog and will definitely do that.

 

Thanks, all. If anybody can think of anything else, please feel free to post your comments

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

I don't have much to add; time, patience, repetition... Reward bravery. I do have to say, he looks fabulous! I have no doubt that he'll conquer this with you helping him; look at what he's overcome already.