# Leash reactiveness



## AuberryShortcake (Mar 9, 2010)

I have a 2 year old female GSD (Gypsy) that is a rescue. She has been in my house since March. She gets along well with dogs she knows, but has always been snarky with unfamiliar dogs, growling and curling her lip at them. When she does this I give her a firm no and refocus her attention on myself.

As Gypsy is in our home longer and becomes more and more herself it appears she is becoming more and more leash reactive. At first it was just cats and other small mammals like squirrels. Now it is dogs as well, even dogs inside fences that are no where near her. The hair on her back stands up, she growls, barks, and lunges at the offending creature. I can usually catch her before she goes nuts, you can always tell when she is about to do it as she becomes very focused on something other than me just before she does it. If I catch her I can redirect her, and I can also redirect her after she gets started although it is much more difficult. I am not sure if I have done something that has caused this behavior or if this is a symptom of instability in the dog herself that would have coome through eventually no matter what. I am also completely unsure as to how to go about correcting this unacceptable behavior. I have been told "Oh, she is just being protective" but that isn't true, how much prection do I need from a 5 inch tall poodle that is safely locked in a 5ft high fence all the way across the street? She does not exhibit these behaviors with people.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

AuberryShortcake said:


> you can always tell when she is about to do it as she becomes very focused on something other than me just before she does it


Its fear aggression. When you see her start to fixate, that's the time to correct, not once she's so fixated or already reacting, as at that point no one is home. By redirecting you are juat avoiding her behaviour, not addressing it or teaching her she cannot indulge on her desire to attack. The most obedient dog will not respond to command in a real fight or attack as the blinders are on


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

hunterisgreat said:


> Its fear aggression. When you see her start to fixate, that's the time to correct, not once she's so fixated or already reacting, as at that point no one is home. By redirecting you are juat avoiding her behaviour, not addressing it or teaching her she cannot indulge on her desire to attack. *The most obedient dog will not respond to command in a real fight or attack as the blinders are on*


 
Your comment, which I have also seen in the past, does bring up a question however for anybody who might have the answer.

If a dog will not obey a command in a dog fight, (which i assume that 99.99% will not), then why would we expect a ScH (or K9 or PPD) to "Out" on command? Might it be because they don't consider fighting a human to be in the same class as fighting another dog?

Will a fighting dog stop in a dogfight on command? How about a **** hound or a bear dog? Are they called offy voice?

Just very curious! Any experts out there?


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## Twyla (Sep 18, 2011)

AuberryShortcake said:


> Now it is dogs as well, even dogs inside fences that are no where near her. The hair on her back stands up, she growls, barks, and lunges at the offending creature. I can usually catch her before she goes nuts, you can always tell when she is about to do it as she becomes very focused on something other than me just before she does it. If I catch her I can redirect her, and I can also redirect her after she gets started although it is much more difficult. I am not sure if I have done something that has caused this behavior or if this is a symptom of instability in the dog herself that would have coome through eventually no matter what. I am also completely unsure as to how to go about correcting this unacceptable behavior. I have been told "Oh, she is just being protective" but that isn't true, how much prection do I need from a 5 inch tall poodle that is safely locked in a 5ft high fence all the way across the street? She does not exhibit these behaviors with people.


You are almost describing Woolf perfectly when he sees a strange dog, and even some he knows. Your pup is showing fear aggression. Locate a behaviorist in your area, one very familiar with GSD. Talk to several and find out their methods of training, watch how they interact with your dog during the interview. You wouldn't believe some of the 'interesting' ones we met during this process. 

What I use to break Woolf's focus if I missed the cues and he has gone on into his jumping and lunging is his favorite orange squeaky ball. 

As far as what caused it, could be something that happened in her life before you and you see the results, could be genetics or a combination of the 2. 

What you are seeing is definitely not protection. 

While you are searching for your behaviorist, begin developing a very strong 'leave it' command and 'watch me' command. You are ahead of the game by already recognizing her cues, using those commands can help get her by that ferocious 5 inch poodle.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

codmaster said:


> Your comment, which I have also seen in the past, does bring up a question however for anybody who might have the answer.
> 
> If a dog will not obey a command in a dog fight, (which i assume that 99.99% will not), then why would we expect a ScH (or K9 or PPD) to "Out" on command? Might it be because they don't consider fighting a human to be in the same class as fighting another dog?
> 
> ...


In a sport dog, it's definitely not a real fight. There can be lots of defense present and some real venom on the dog, but he isn't in a life or death battle.

I don't know personally but I'd bet a PD would not out if the bad guy is stabbing him with a knife. I've never heard of pits stopping fighting on command. Cesar Milan can't make his own dogs stop fighting on command.


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## Marnie (Oct 11, 2011)

Because we live on a farm and raccoons are everywhere, I had to teach my dogs to come even if they were engaged in a fight with a raccoon. Since I can not see the animals in the dark, the dogs had to be 100% reliable on the come. 

In a dog fight, if your dog is attacking, you should be able to call him out. If the other dog is attacking, don't even try.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Marnie said:


> Because we live on a farm and raccoons are everywhere, I had to teach my dogs to come even if they were engaged in a fight with a raccoon. Since I can not see the animals in the dark, the dogs had to be 100% reliable on the come.
> 
> In a dog fight, if your dog is attacking, you should be able to call him out. If the other dog is attacking, don't even try.


Attackig a coin is a prey behavior. That's different. Though I will say that in the middle of a death thrash on a prey item, ****, squirrel, or bite sleeve, you can't correct or command because no one is home. Have to wait Dow the instinctual behavior to finish. 

No one can call their dog out of a real dog fight. A snarling barking growl posturing squabble maybe, but a real fight? No way


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## AuberryShortcake (Mar 9, 2010)

Can anyone offer ideas as to why after all these months she has started exhibiting these behviors? I am in the dark when it comes to this. Is it because she is becoming more herself the longer she is in the home? This is all so recent and confusing to me, since she paid no mind to other dogs and animals until now. I know there is a honeymoon period with rescue dogs, but can something like fear aggression really be surpressed like that until the dog starts getting comfortable? I am just looking for ideas, trying to understand what is going on better. I will start looking for a behavioralist to get her worked through this, as I am certainly not qualified to try on my own. Thanks for the advice


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## BlackPuppy (Mar 29, 2007)

Back to the original question. 

My dog is leash "reactive". It's fear based. I use a clicker. When he sees another dog and starts getting that "look", I click and say in a happy voice, "Who is that?",and he gets a treat. 

Now when he sees another dog, I click and he looks at me and wags his tail and I give him a cookie. 

That's as far as we have progressed, but I only started 6 weeks ago and we don't have a lot of opportunity to work on it. 

It's called the "look at that" game. Look at That! A Counterintuitive Approach to Dealing with Reactive Dogs Dog Training for Dog Lovers Blog


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## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

how do we know it is fear aggression though because other dogs probably stare her dog down and make it lash out like that couldnt it just be dominance? She said her dog did not start it till it got older? Most puppys wont do this but they get older and turn more alpha and bitchy and sure of themselves they get a rude eye stare from another dog they will go off at them as in to say come over here and will shred you. Just something i noticed. 

Also some dogs might get tired of other dogs snapping and screaming at them when they walk by they start to mature a dog like a gsd might think it can correct every dog in the world before it thinks about snapping.

That sweet puppy is not nice to dogs anymore and starts to pick fights with them you take the dog to a pet store or a dog park you will be in trouble. I see this in alpha female Gsds a lot. JMHO The more you take your dog out in public daily walks and correct her before she goes off the calmer she will be.


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## Ucdcrush (Mar 22, 2004)

Does she have more freedom? What do you mean she may become more "herself" at home? 

I can think of how a dog might become more "herself", and it would be that the dog is doing what it wants more often rather than waiting for the human to direct it to do something. That would not be a good direction to go, and I can see that being associated with frustration, after all, if she has the freedom to do whatever she wants, then why should the fact that a human is holding on to the leash mean anything to her?

Perhaps I am reading too much in to that comment. But I believe too much freedom (i.e not enough structure) which is fairly common nowadays, can play a big part in reactiveness.


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## AuberryShortcake (Mar 9, 2010)

I may not have worded it well when I said she started to become "more herself" What I mean is, the rescue dog "honeymoon" period is ending and she is starting to exhibit less than desirable behaviors that were not present before.


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