Help to help 2 year old lab overcome a fear of other dogs

[Threerivers]

I've a 2 year old male lab who has a fear of other dogs, especially small terrier type dogs and I am running out of some practical ideas to help Bruce overcome his problem.

Bruce’s apparent fear and anxiety of other (small) dogs began after he completed a basic obedience training course. Up until then he was walked on the park near our house and allowed to socialise with all sorts of dogs he met.

He was six months old when he completed the obedience course very successfully and had no problems socialising with the other pups in his class. His confidence took a nose dive after an incident with a badly behaved border terrier pup during the assessment night (last session of the course). During the assessment the visiting lady assessor asked us to let our dogs off the lead to socialise, everything was fine, Bruce displayed a combination of active submissive (inviting the other dog to play) and submissive behaviour (rolling on his back) towards the unruly youngster then something happened which amazed us all in the class. The border terrier weed in Bruce’s face when they were playing. Bruce’s reaction was one of shock and he backed away from the border terrier and looked at me with a “what was that for” look. Noone corrected the border terrier and we simply put our dogs back on the lead and carried on to the next part of the assessment.

From that day on Bruce took an instant dislike to any small terrier type dog we encountered and he still, although not quite as bad, pulls on his lead and barks and yaps when he sees terrier then when they get near, he pulls away from them (sometimes pulling me with him). We got him castrated at 12 months in case he was trying to be dominant and his behaviour was because he wanted to put them in their place. This did calm him but he still displays the “I am excited to see you and want to play but I’m pulling away from you because I’m frightened behaviour”, he’s worse if the terrier yaps or barks first. I have noticed that he will react to other bigger dogs if they display behaviour to Bruce that they are not calm and submissive – in the past he has got in to fights. If another dog ignores Bruce, then he does the same.

I did take Bruce to a behaviourist last year. She assessed him and confirmed that he displays a fear towards other dogs. She recommended we join her classes to get Bruce socialised. This helped him a great deal and he enjoyed the sessions and was beginning to gain some confidence. We got to the stage where we would let our dogs off, under the guidance of our behaviourist, to play – Bruce never showed any aggression to any of the other mixture of breeds of dogs, which ranged from terriers to whippets and to collies and labs.

In fact to try and desensitise him to border terriers, I got him to sit close to a border terrier in the class – that worked and Bruce was comfortable with that but the classes have now ceased so I am back to trying to train Bruce on my own.

I have enlisted the help of my friend with another Lab and we took the two dogs into a remote area in the country and let them run and play near the river where they were both safe – Bruce loved it and never showed any aggression to Rouble – when he was first introduced, he just sniffed him and walked away. One day, my friend was looking after my pack while I went to a show and she ‘borrowed’ Bruce and took him to her house for a few hours – she experienced no problems at all with him and he got on really well with Rouble – Bruce just made himself at home and settled.


My problem now is how to handle him on the lead when we encounter small terrier type dogs. At the moment, if he makes a fuss and pulls, I make him sit and wait until the other dog passes us or if we are walking past other dogs or he sees dogs in the distance, I make him sit and wait and focus on me until he calms down. If he remains calm then I reward him but I would like to move on and get him to walk past another dog without him making a fuss. I realise that I need to communicate to Bruce that it is okay to walk past the other dog without pandering to Bruce.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions other than what I have already tried.

[two-dogs]

Jane,

Whether or not the Border terrier peeing in Bruce's face was the spark for his current behaviour, Bruce has an approach-avoidance conflict going on when he sees another dog. If 'pee in the face' really was that unpleasant and a shock to Bruce, then this could explain the avoidance, and that Bruce is a well-socialised dog who likes to play when play is on the cards, the approach.

It also sounds like Bruce could naturally be, what you have described as, 'active-submissive' in temperament. 'Active-submissive' is just another term for 'approach-avoidance' - active approach, with submissive avoidance. Submission is just a fancy word for social fear, dominance is just a fancy word for social confidence.

I have seen many Labs (and other young dogs) who display approach-avoidance behaviour towards other dogs, particularly when on the lead. The approach is very active and forward, and as the dog gets closer to the other dog, its excitement begins to rise. If the approach from both sides is linear as opposed to an arc, things start to get tricky for the approach-avoidance dog. It is at this point that the approach-avoidance conflict kicks in - the approach gets too much, it is all wrong, and the dog is trapped on the lead, so avoidance takes over. Excited barking gives way to 'keep your distance' barking, but with the approach still going on, rather than the whole thing ending in conflict, the approach-avoidance dog naturally turns tail. This whole scenario happens in a similar way when an approach-avoidance dog meets another dog off-lead, but as a chain of behaviour it happens much more rapidly and is generally less fraught because the dogs will approach in a naturally canine fashion and both have plenty of room to move without the restriction of leads.

I have a similar thing going on with Beau at the moment, except that he was kept in a garden for months and not walked or socialised before he came to me. I have been approaching it from a similar angle to you, making him sit when we spy another dog and rewarding him for any attention he gives me, but not reacting to anything else he might do (bark, etc). He's been with me since October and it took about 3 months for him to start sitting automatically when he sees another dog. We let the other dog pass by, and watch it move into the distance. Then I ask for his attention, which he now gives without fail, and we go and investigate where the other dog was walking before continuing on our way. I use the same protocol with clients' dogs too.

Like Bruce, Beau is more likely to bark if the other dog does, but listening to both dogs when this happens (unless it is obviously play-barking) it's sounds like a case of 'keep away from me ... keep away from me ... no you keep away from me ... no you keep away from me ... no you keep away from me ... I said keep away from me ... see, you just had to keep away ... just remember that for next time, pal' from both dogs. It's all bluff.

You say that in the past, Bruce has got into fights - have any of these resulted in actual injuries or were they just a load of noise?

You will eventually be able to walk him past other dogs without him reacting if you keep up with the making him sit and wait and watch and give you his attention in return for treats/praise/etc. It will take time, and then some, but you will get there with him - just be consistent, look out for opportunities to practice, use and manage your environment so that you set him up for success each time, e.g. if another dog is approaching on the same side of the road, cross the road to give both dogs space, keeping yourself between Bruce and the approaching dog so you can use you body to guide him away. Then you can make him sit and wait and watch, etc, before crossing back over when the other dog is well past and letting Bruce sniff where it has walked. Then get his attention again and walk on your way. You ARE walking him past by doing this, you are just doing it in stages. Eventually you will be able to leave out the sit and wait, and so long as he is watching you and in particular your treat hand, you can drop a few treats on the floor as you pass by, which will provide Bruce with a displacement+avoidance behaviour as his nose goes to the ground to find the treats as the other dog passes by, and provide the other dog with a clear signal from Bruce that he's not interested in meeting it right now and would just like to pass on by. What you may observe when you get to this stage is the other dog dropping his nose to the floor too.

So, IMO you are on the right track with him. It might also be a good idea to find a local training/agility club where you can have some fun with him whilst keeping up his socialisation with lots of different breeds.

Lizi, Tilly & Beau

[Threerivers]

Thank you Lizi - your post is extremely helpful. I'm glad you have explained that Bruce could just be a naturally active/avoidance in temperament.

Things are beginning to make sense now and it would explain why the trainers at his puppy obedience class couldn't understand his active+submissive (approach - avoidance) behaviour towards the border terrier pup - they expected him to display one or the other but not both. When I think about it at the obedience class - he would participate well in exercises that involved dogs and handlers doing eg, heelwork but they also got us to do group exercises, eg, getting us to sit our dogs closely together in a circle - Bruce was less comfortable with that and would try and pull away.

Re him getting into fights - it was all noise and snapping, I guess to warn the other dogs off - but he was on a lead and the others weren't.

Re walking past other dogs, unknowlingly I already cross the road if the other dog is on the same side and walking towards us but I haven't crossed back and let him watch the other dog go into the distance then let him sniff where it has walked then get him to focus on me. I'll give it a go and I'll also try putting treats on the ground. I haven't used treats as a distraction, but have allowed him to sniff the grass verge or whatever else that may be interesting to him as a dog passes. He seems quite comfortable if other dogs are walking in the same direction as him, either behind or infront of him, it is just when they have to pass him.

I suppose what your saying, is allow him to be himself in order to change his behaviour - allow him to avoid the other dog in the first instance and then condition him to allow dogs to pass him and vice versa.

I do look for opportunities where the other dog is on the opposite side of the road and get him to sit and wait but I have been getting him to focus on me first rather than allowing him to watch the dog and then getting him to focus on me so I'll try that too. I've also looked for opportunities on the park where he can sit and watch other dogs from a distance which he is comfortable doing, and I've tried exercises where I'll walk in the same direction as another handler and dog, but keep a distance between us all -Bruce is comfortable with that it is just when another dog gets too close into his space or if another dog is walking towards him, even if on the opposite side of the road.

I'll also look for another agility group/training group in the area. The club we went to last year that was run by the behaviourist that assessed Bruce, has ceased to run but it was great for Bruce as we not only got involved in training we did agility as well.

Thank you again.

[two-dogs]

[littlelab]

That was so interesting and very very helpful for me too it sounds like my Maia is the same and it now explains a lot

[Threerivers]

[quote="two-dogs"]

[Threerivers]

[quote="Threerivers"][quote="two-dogs"]

[two-dogs]

Fabulous, well done Jane (and Bruce!), and thanks for the update, I'm pleased that it is working for you and Bruce is catching on quick.

In situations when it isn't safe to cross the road, as an alternative to trying to put as much distance between you and the other dog and asking Bruce to sit, you have the option of turning around and walking in the other direction for a bit, as you have said that he is ok when he is walking in the same direction as the other dog. You can then look out for an opportunity to cross the road, then turn around and walk back towards the dog at a less confrontational distance.

Lizi, Tilly & Beau

[Threerivers]

Just thought I would give you an update. It's nearly four weeks since I began this thread and asked for some help with Bruce and I am pleased to report that Bruce has made absolutely brilliant strides in that time and today he actually allowed another dog to approach him and Bruce greeted the dog by sniffing it.

Here's how it all came about. For the last few weeks we have been practising our strategies for helping Bruce deal with dogs that approach him face to face so they become less of a threat to him. These exercises have been done while he is on a lead and walking on the pavement. Today, I felt that he had gained enough confidence to maybe try and see if he would cope with dogs running around him off lead.

We went on the park opposite our house and on a retractable lead we did some stop whistle training, recalling and some retrieving. As a reward we went to the wooded area of the park and Bruce had a good sniff about(still on the retractable lead).

As we came out of the trees, I spotted some a couple of people and their dogs walking down the path towards us. Both dogs were off a lead and one decided to run towards us upon seeing Bruce. Bruce did whine and attempted to pull backwards away from the dog so I just made him sit and wait and quickly put his slip lead on (in case he lunged and snapped the retractable lead as he is a strong dog). The other dog stopped a few yards in front of us, looked at Bruce then ran off back to his owner. Bruce continued to just sit and watch the dog then after a few seconds looked at me for his treat!! The second dog (an German Shepherd) then came bounding up to say hello. To my amazement Bruce decided he wanted to greet this dog and sniffed it. Its owner called the dog back and we went off in the opposite direction back towards the house.

When we got near the house we played some ball games (Bruce was back on the retractable lead) and I spotted a Border Terrier being walked along the pavement next to the park. A few weeks ago the sight of a Border Terrier would have really scared Bruce but he just stopped playing with the ball for a moment and watched the dog go by and then carried on playing.

I'm so proud of my boy he's achieved so much in just a few weeks and his confidence seems to be growing gradually day by day. I have found distracting him in some way, either doing an activity together while they are other dogs around or with treats as a dog passes by really helps.

Apologies for the rambling but this achievement is a big one for both Bruce and me.

[labler]

Well dear.......im glad youve worked through the problem.. good luck to you and bruce....from another bruce