karl said:
I am winter traveling again for the first time since she has been with me, and will be wanting to spend time with old friends at some gatherings but am concerned about her behavior. I am hoping for insight and possible remediation of the only issue I have with her behavior, other than the obvious - keeping her away from other dogs when on a leash.
Thanks
Hi Karl, I was a full time professional dog trainer for abut 15 years. I gave it up when TV trainers (giving terrible advice) began sabotaging the efforts of real, live, trainers like myself. It got to be very frustrating, and the one-size-fits-all "dominance" paradigm ruined many a poor dog who needed an expert, not a showman. That said, there are a myriad of reasons for leash aggression, especially in an older female, which by nature is going to be less tolerant of slights and impolite dog behavior/approaches. I take it she has not caused any injuries, so I'd guess her "attacks" are exaggerated warnings to other "rude" or potentially rude dogs when she is on leash and therefore unable to escape the molestations of exuberant, younger dogs. She may have decided ALL dogs approaching on leash are to be told off good before they can annoy or jump on her.
If your main trouble is "leash aggression" on hiking trails, you could try a trick I have used for years -- I use it for ALL dogs I walk and my own, too. The reason I do what I'm going to tell you is that I never know what the temperament is going to be of a dog I'm approaching on a trail. Is it friendly, does it want my dog approaching it? I have no idea, so I have trained my dogs to ignore passing people, dogs, bikes, etc unless I tell them it's OK to approach. This is incredibly easy to do with a dog who already wants to be left alone, like yours. Also, if a dog is food-motivated more so than socially motivated (many are) it is easy to train this, too. Again, I would bet that your old gal just wants some control over who she meets on leash and feels threatened and confined on leash, and is going way out of her way to warn "young punks" away. Obviously, this is my best guess based on experience: in order to really know, I'd have to talk with you about the history and how you have tried to fix the issue so far. Dogs remember every interaction and we can mistakenly make problems worse sometimes without meaning to.
I carry a little pouch of dog jerky sticks or something better than dry biscuits. I first train the dog to respond to its name out on the trail, using tiny pieces of the treats as a reward. I might do 100-200 repetitions on an hour hike to start with. I train the dog to follow me off the side of the trail, and to sit and wait and look at me (and get lots of reinforcement, praise and little treat pieces) as the other party passes by. When first training this, your dog must learn that approaching others on leash is not an option. It's also MUCH easier to train this if you go off the side of the trail rather than staying in the middle or worse, continuing to approach the other party coming at you.
Here is pretty much what this looks like:
This trainer uses clicker training, but a simple "good!!" or "yes!!" and a treat will work almost as well....if you have good timing and are generous. (I like the trainer "Training Positive" whose video is linked there...)
Check out some more of his videos about teaching attention with distractions, etc.
I agree with another poster that a harness is better than a collar, particularly for leash-aggression in an older dog. You can move away from something without choking your dog and pissing it off even more. Just a note: pinning down a dog, especially a dog in an aggressive state is DANGEROUS and can get you injured!! That is why those TV trainers who recommend this (for the drama value, I guess) have warnings all over the screen to NOT DO THIS AT HOME. Sadly, people DO do it at home, and I have seen many a screwed-up dog that was mishandled in this way. Good luck!!
