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  1. #1
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Leash aggression?

    My sister got a 6 month old Lab from a breeder who had originally kept the dog for breeding purposes. The breeder claimed that the dog could not be bred because she has a snaggle tooth. The dog, however, is the most spastic dog my sister has ever had in the course of the last 25 years. She is also leash aggressive. Sweet as can be until you put her on lead then she lunges at other dogs like she wants to kill them.

    They love her to death and have experience with rescued dogs as well as purebreds from breeders and would never rehome her but at this point, my sister is walking the dog at odd hours to avoid other dogs and keeps a close eye out.

    Does anyone have any thoughts? In my experience, leash aggression occurs when a dog is kept outside either on a zip line or by staking it out. Are there other circumstances that would produce this behavior?

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Nancy0's Avatar
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    My dogs have leash aggression somewhat. Most dogs in the neighborhood they are fine with (oh and leash aggression only happens in our neighborhood - never at the vet or Pet store or anywhere else). There are a few dogs though that they will lunge at. Not so much Charlie anymore, but Niner. I've worked with them a lot with treats and diverting their attention, but there are a couple of dogs in the neighborhood (they are alpha males) and my dogs will lunge. If I see one of these dogs I usually go the other way or hide behind a car ha ha. Try distracting with treats. We walk by one house now and these two small dogs act like they want to tear my dogs apart. My dogs completely ignore them now and look to me for treats. Works for me.

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  4. #3
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Frustration is a biggie. The dog wants to see the other dog/person and can't and becomes frustrated and acts out and if the dog stresses up, then they can quickly go from upset to insane in minutes and get themselves all worked up.

    Perhaps the dog would jump to the end of the leash and startled another dog and she was attacked so she is on the defensive now due to bad experiences.

    Or, maybe the dog became frustrated and the breeder used punishment that made it worse, escalated the issue. One of my beefs with prongs and general punishment for leash reactivity/aggression is that people will use them for a leash reactive dog and that can make the behavior worse. I'm not on board with correcting a dog for fear or frustration.

    Lack of confidence is another issue. My Linus, on a scale of one to ten, is maybe a one on leash reactivity. He gets stiff and will sometimes growl even though he's not in the least bit aggressive, even the few times a dog has snarked at him. Someone who does not understand dog behavior would see this as dominance (which makes me laugh). Off leash visiting or saying hi to a dog he knows on leash is a whole different story. Walking through crowds is fine, it's when he's nose to nose with a strange dog, which I try not to let happen and I tell people he is friendly but does not like to meet other dogs on lead.

    Lack of socialization can make a dog leash reactive, too.

    Every leash aggressive/reactive dog I personally know has never once been tied out. The dog was predisposed to it for some reason (confidence, frustration, or ???) and the handling made it worse -- speaking for myself here, too, as I find myself pulling the lead tighter and becoming stiff when Linus goes nose to nose with a dog while on lead.

    Patricial McConnell, Sarah Stremming and possibly Susan Clothier have leash reactivity articles on their blogs.

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  6. #4
    Chief Pooper Scooper JenC's Avatar
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    Hard to tell what causes leash aggression.

    And just because the dog was purchased from a "breeder" doesn't mean that they weren't just some glorified puppy mill. Yes, labs should have scissor bite and a very off-putting misalignment could be a good reason to rehome. But just the comment that it had a bad tooth and couldn't be bred leads me to believe that they were volume breeders vs. show folks. If I bred a puppy that didn't turn out around 6 months, my reason for rehoming would be that I would not be able to SHOW the dog. True breeding is more than one tooth.

    So I am going to just make the assumption that the dog was not well socialized.

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  8. #5
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Is it defense instead of aggression? A leash is a trap, the dog cannot get away and knows it. Some go for the pre-emptive strike and it can look like aggression. This is a six Month old puppy? Hardly seems like it would be aggressive, yet.

    Is she taking it to classes? A good instructor should be able to help her out, determine whether it is fear or anger based, and teach your sister how to deal with it.
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  10. #6
    Senior Dog Tanya's Avatar
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    Agree with Jen.

    It would be many things. Maybe the dog was never on leash. Maybe the dog was attacked on leash. Maybe the dog never left her property and never met "new" dogs, and is scared/reacting out of fear to drive the dog away (this last one is fairly typical of unsocialised dogs that never left the property). Maybe they are so exited/overstimulated at seeing a dog they become over-aroused and reactive (Penny could be like this).

    Sounds like the time to bring in a trainer, there is hope. The dog may never be 100% great at on leash meetings but with work you can definately get to the point where you can walk the dog past other dogs with some small safe distance without reaction. but it takes time a counter-conditionning + desentization protocol best explained in person with a trainer (positive training is very important for reactivity to get to the underlying emotion).

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  12. #7
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    My dogs sound like NancyO's dogs, exactly. If I remember to bring yummy treats, Lark will do fine, sitting looking at me to give her those tasty morsels while stealing glances at the other dog. At the vet's office, at the kennel, dog classes, places with lots of other dogs on leashes, Lark acts like a professional dog, calm, not staring at other dogs, friendly, lying at my feet. At the beach when she's off lead, she will play with dogs nicely and if they're not interested in playing, she will quickly refocus on some other activity. On walks if we pass another dog, not so much, no matter who is holding the lead. I think it's mostly not being able to go over to "greet" the other dog. Mine have never been tied out in any fashion. I couldn't distract her with plain kibble but cheese, hotdogs, dehydrated beef liver, stuff like those will capture Lark's nose and attention.

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  14. #8
    Senior Dog Nancy0's Avatar
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    I forgot to add - in my case my dogs will lunge because they want to go over and see the other dog(s). If they get that opportunity they do nothing when they get there especially Niner. He's a major chicken. If the other dog starts a fight Charlie will stick up for himself, but he never initiates it - not Niner he just runs back to me. The more your sister can get the dog out the better. Start with allowing the dog to see other dogs from a distance. Reward for good behavior. As she gets better allow her to get closer.

    Nancy

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  16. #9
    Senior Dog janedoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JenC View Post
    Hard to tell what causes leash aggression.

    And just because the dog was purchased from a "breeder" doesn't mean that they weren't just some glorified puppy mill. Yes, labs should have scissor bite and a very off-putting misalignment could be a good reason to rehome. But just the comment that it had a bad tooth and couldn't be bred leads me to believe that they were volume breeders vs. show folks. If I bred a puppy that didn't turn out around 6 months, my reason for rehoming would be that I would not be able to SHOW the dog. True breeding is more than one tooth.

    So I am going to just make the assumption that the dog was not well socialized.
    Thank you. They say that they show and that the tooth was enough not to show her but it sounds like that's not enough. My sister did suspect that the fact that this dog is downright manic is probably the real reason they let her go.

    They do have a trainer and I'm sure they'll work it out. I was just curious about what caused it in the first place. I've never had a leash aggressive dog and the ones I've known are zip line or staked out dogs.

  17. #10
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    I forgot to say, what about LAT training as in Leslie McDevitt's book, "Control Unleashed?" That helped me get Oban by the big black dog who charged the fence at us. Oban is no wallflower, he always wants to go up to that dog and say, "Yeah? Yeah? Let's see what you say if I come right up to your fence? You don't talk to me like that." Now, Oban is not the instigator but the ideas apply to dogs who initiate and dogs who respond.
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