Nervous / Anxious Dog - help needed
Discussion
Im looking for some advice / tips to help a nervous dog.
We have a 1 year old Spring X called Aubrey who we have had since 12 weeks old. The issue is when we are at home or outside on walks he can be very nervous / anxious which can be seen as aggression towards people and other dogs.
At home: It seems anything can set him off barking and getting himself worked up. Car doors, delivery vans, doorbell ringing. Also sometimes the TV set's him off and he can start loudly barking. In the evening we have to limit what we watch as beeps from the TV set him off.
We have managed to kerb it a little bit by having a tennis ball handy or treats to occupy him and get his attention. This ok to a point, but not so fun when your all settled and for no reason he starts barking. I'm sure our neighbours love us. haha! Also we have a bed for him under the stairs, so he is told to get in his bed and he calms down after a while.
On walks: off the lead he can bark a little when confronting dogs and owners but because he is in control of himself (i.e. can escape) he tends to be ok. Its when he is on the lead he can be a nightmare. Occasionally he will see a dog and be fine, but majority of the time he goes ballistic. Barking constantly and lunges towards them. This is him being scared, but it can look to be aggressive and scares other owners. Also if he sees a cat he loses his mind and its difficult to control him. Tries to drag me or my partner across the road to get to the cat.
We can manage the situation again with a ball or treats if I get his attention before he realises, but if he has spotted the cat / dog its difficult to calm him down. The issue is compounded by the fact he has an older brother who i think he feeding off his brother and if he see's Aubrey barking he tries to protect him and then you have two dogs barking and being difficult to control.
We have a Halti Head Harness which I'm going to try out at the weekend and see if that helps control him a little more. Also i have reached out to the trainer we use, but due to lockdown they are only doing Zoom sessions, and they are not cheap. If I'm spending that money id rather wait till for a F2F session. She has advised to avoid situations as much as possible to not confirm to the dog the behaviour is normal.
I know the correct response is to see a behaviourist, but while we are in lockdown have you have any similar experiences and tips I could try?
Cheers
We have a 1 year old Spring X called Aubrey who we have had since 12 weeks old. The issue is when we are at home or outside on walks he can be very nervous / anxious which can be seen as aggression towards people and other dogs.
At home: It seems anything can set him off barking and getting himself worked up. Car doors, delivery vans, doorbell ringing. Also sometimes the TV set's him off and he can start loudly barking. In the evening we have to limit what we watch as beeps from the TV set him off.
We have managed to kerb it a little bit by having a tennis ball handy or treats to occupy him and get his attention. This ok to a point, but not so fun when your all settled and for no reason he starts barking. I'm sure our neighbours love us. haha! Also we have a bed for him under the stairs, so he is told to get in his bed and he calms down after a while.
On walks: off the lead he can bark a little when confronting dogs and owners but because he is in control of himself (i.e. can escape) he tends to be ok. Its when he is on the lead he can be a nightmare. Occasionally he will see a dog and be fine, but majority of the time he goes ballistic. Barking constantly and lunges towards them. This is him being scared, but it can look to be aggressive and scares other owners. Also if he sees a cat he loses his mind and its difficult to control him. Tries to drag me or my partner across the road to get to the cat.
We can manage the situation again with a ball or treats if I get his attention before he realises, but if he has spotted the cat / dog its difficult to calm him down. The issue is compounded by the fact he has an older brother who i think he feeding off his brother and if he see's Aubrey barking he tries to protect him and then you have two dogs barking and being difficult to control.
We have a Halti Head Harness which I'm going to try out at the weekend and see if that helps control him a little more. Also i have reached out to the trainer we use, but due to lockdown they are only doing Zoom sessions, and they are not cheap. If I'm spending that money id rather wait till for a F2F session. She has advised to avoid situations as much as possible to not confirm to the dog the behaviour is normal.
I know the correct response is to see a behaviourist, but while we are in lockdown have you have any similar experiences and tips I could try?
Cheers
Edited by Challo on Friday 15th January 16:24
A205GTI said:
Have a look at Southenddogtraining.co.uk.
loads of videos specializes in dog issues, Found him on Tik tok and his videos have been great in training our puppy,
good luck!
Thanks will take a look. loads of videos specializes in dog issues, Found him on Tik tok and his videos have been great in training our puppy,
good luck!
parakitaMol. said:
Hey Challo
I am so sorry to hear that, it sounds very difficult for your dog indeed, and worrying for you.
Honestly, I really truly would not advise taking advice on 'trying' things with a dog like this. I know people try to be kind and do really want to help but - you could make things a whole heap worse with behaviour problems.
If you are insured you should be covered for a vet referral to a behaviourist. Worth checking
The only advice I will give is to first see a vet (always the first call with behaviour) and get a check up (you will need this anyway) and then get your vet to refer to a behaviourist - you can look on https://www.apbc.org.uk/find-an-apbc-member/ for a list
If you discuss this behaviour with your vet and they feel your dog may need medication as well as behaviour support then you will need Veterinary Behaviourist - so ask for a referral to somewhere like RVC (Jon Bowen is really good) or Lincoln - (Prof Daniel Mills is really good).
You don't need to wait - they are all doing Zoom consults and they don't need to see your dog doing this to know how to help - If you want to see a behaviourist then I would start the ball rolling sooner than later because there are a HUGE backlog of lockdown behaviour problems that they are trying to get through.
Your trainer is correct, try to minimise all situations where you know your dog is going to react. It sounds like you are doing a good job of spotting. However, you will not "confirm to your dog that the behaviour is correct", I am not sure really what that means. However, you do want to 'manage' a situation so your dog does not rehearse these behaviours, the more times they do it, the harder a habit is to break.
With regards to your other dog - I would suggest another 'first aid' strategy is to walk 1:1 - because this means you can be 100% focussed on your dog and manage the situation better - they will also find this reassuring.
If you see other dogs approaching, try to get as far to one side as possible and turn your dog so they are not facing the oncoming dog. This is also something that helps quite a bit - head on approaches aren't a great signal to a dog and many react badly to that.
If you want any further help in finding someone please do feel free to ask or PM me, I have a great network of trainers and behaviourists good luck x
Wow thanks for all the information. He recently had a check-up at the vets and they advised everything is good from a health perspective, but I will check our insurance documents and see if we can go down that route. I am so sorry to hear that, it sounds very difficult for your dog indeed, and worrying for you.
Honestly, I really truly would not advise taking advice on 'trying' things with a dog like this. I know people try to be kind and do really want to help but - you could make things a whole heap worse with behaviour problems.
If you are insured you should be covered for a vet referral to a behaviourist. Worth checking
The only advice I will give is to first see a vet (always the first call with behaviour) and get a check up (you will need this anyway) and then get your vet to refer to a behaviourist - you can look on https://www.apbc.org.uk/find-an-apbc-member/ for a list
If you discuss this behaviour with your vet and they feel your dog may need medication as well as behaviour support then you will need Veterinary Behaviourist - so ask for a referral to somewhere like RVC (Jon Bowen is really good) or Lincoln - (Prof Daniel Mills is really good).
You don't need to wait - they are all doing Zoom consults and they don't need to see your dog doing this to know how to help - If you want to see a behaviourist then I would start the ball rolling sooner than later because there are a HUGE backlog of lockdown behaviour problems that they are trying to get through.
Your trainer is correct, try to minimise all situations where you know your dog is going to react. It sounds like you are doing a good job of spotting. However, you will not "confirm to your dog that the behaviour is correct", I am not sure really what that means. However, you do want to 'manage' a situation so your dog does not rehearse these behaviours, the more times they do it, the harder a habit is to break.
With regards to your other dog - I would suggest another 'first aid' strategy is to walk 1:1 - because this means you can be 100% focussed on your dog and manage the situation better - they will also find this reassuring.
If you see other dogs approaching, try to get as far to one side as possible and turn your dog so they are not facing the oncoming dog. This is also something that helps quite a bit - head on approaches aren't a great signal to a dog and many react badly to that.
If you want any further help in finding someone please do feel free to ask or PM me, I have a great network of trainers and behaviourists
good luck xNice to hear the Zoom session would work, I always thought they would need to see the dog doing that behaviour but I presume they can help regardless. I'll give them a call next week and see what availability they have to make a start. I agree with your comments on walking them separately when possible, but I do think we need to step this up more. Its often to easy to take them together.
I just checked her email again, and her comment was by putting him in that situation they are practicing barking and lunging and the behaviour becomes stronger. I should avoid allowing this to happen until an alternative behaviour can be taught.
I'll take a look at the link you sent, and reach out for any contacts if my trainer is not available.
We had our first zoom session last week so thought it would be good to update the thread.
The session was really good, and exceed my expectations. We discussed the issues we are having with Aubrey and she has advised a number of things to start with in and out of the house.
At Home:
1. Keep a radio on all the time. This will help have some background noise on, and mute any noises from outside that had startled him previously. The noises will still be their, but less surprising for him.
2. Sleep. Getting him to sleep as much as we can while we are working at home. If they sleep, they become more relaxed and less adrenalin they have in their systems. Means he is less chance of getting worked up in the house, or on edge when we go for a walk.
3. No balls in the evening. He is obsessed with tennis balls so while we thought it was good to give him on to keep him quiet, or occupy him he just thinks its 'work' and wont settle. We have made the lounge a ball free zone, and in evening he doesn't get a ball. He can have a chew or rope but its time for him to settle and relax. Its defo helped the last few nights and he seems more relaxed.
4. Reward him for looking at us. We have a few pots of treats around the house and he gets one for looking at us. We cannot call his name, but supposed to keep that contact between him and us and should mean he is more focused on us while out rather than other dogs.
5. Teaching them to change direction. Playing a game called 'this way' which teaches them to change direction on command. Should mean I can remove them from situations on command, and not drag them via leads.
Also because he just follows me round the house I have to ignore him at times. If I make a cuppa I need to ignore him and not fuss him or call his name. He needs to learn to not rely on me all the time.
While walking:
1. Avoid situations where other dogs will be. This will not allow him to have learn bad behaviours.
2. If we cannot avoid a situation with another dog, then try to get attention early and reward with treats. We have been doing this and worked so far.
Occasionally we have had an issue and they have both lunged at dogs, but much improved and the groundwork seems to be working. Still a long way to go, but onwards and upwards. We have a F2F in a few weeks, and hopefully that will enable us to teach some new behaviours and allow them to meet other dogs and not go crazy.
The session was really good, and exceed my expectations. We discussed the issues we are having with Aubrey and she has advised a number of things to start with in and out of the house.
At Home:
1. Keep a radio on all the time. This will help have some background noise on, and mute any noises from outside that had startled him previously. The noises will still be their, but less surprising for him.
2. Sleep. Getting him to sleep as much as we can while we are working at home. If they sleep, they become more relaxed and less adrenalin they have in their systems. Means he is less chance of getting worked up in the house, or on edge when we go for a walk.
3. No balls in the evening. He is obsessed with tennis balls so while we thought it was good to give him on to keep him quiet, or occupy him he just thinks its 'work' and wont settle. We have made the lounge a ball free zone, and in evening he doesn't get a ball. He can have a chew or rope but its time for him to settle and relax. Its defo helped the last few nights and he seems more relaxed.
4. Reward him for looking at us. We have a few pots of treats around the house and he gets one for looking at us. We cannot call his name, but supposed to keep that contact between him and us and should mean he is more focused on us while out rather than other dogs.
5. Teaching them to change direction. Playing a game called 'this way' which teaches them to change direction on command. Should mean I can remove them from situations on command, and not drag them via leads.
Also because he just follows me round the house I have to ignore him at times. If I make a cuppa I need to ignore him and not fuss him or call his name. He needs to learn to not rely on me all the time.
While walking:
1. Avoid situations where other dogs will be. This will not allow him to have learn bad behaviours.
2. If we cannot avoid a situation with another dog, then try to get attention early and reward with treats. We have been doing this and worked so far.
Occasionally we have had an issue and they have both lunged at dogs, but much improved and the groundwork seems to be working. Still a long way to go, but onwards and upwards. We have a F2F in a few weeks, and hopefully that will enable us to teach some new behaviours and allow them to meet other dogs and not go crazy.
Another Quick Update:
Things have been progressing well since our first zoom session with the trainer. Behaviour at home has vastly improved, much calmer, sleeping more and generally less agitated. He still has his moment, barking at the doorbell, having a crazy 5min spell. We have been able to calm him quickly, and he is much more chilled out at home.
Had our first 1to1 session outside yesterday and was really impressed. She gave the base steps to get him used to seeing dogs. Keeping everything at a distance a first and rewarding him for not barking, then getting a little closer again rewarding him for not barking. We learnt some skills to get ourselves out of sticky situations, and to recognise the signs when he might bark, or is agitated and needs some time out.
Long road ahead, but feel much happier that we are on the right track and making progress.
Things have been progressing well since our first zoom session with the trainer. Behaviour at home has vastly improved, much calmer, sleeping more and generally less agitated. He still has his moment, barking at the doorbell, having a crazy 5min spell. We have been able to calm him quickly, and he is much more chilled out at home.
Had our first 1to1 session outside yesterday and was really impressed. She gave the base steps to get him used to seeing dogs. Keeping everything at a distance a first and rewarding him for not barking, then getting a little closer again rewarding him for not barking. We learnt some skills to get ourselves out of sticky situations, and to recognise the signs when he might bark, or is agitated and needs some time out.
Long road ahead, but feel much happier that we are on the right track and making progress.
Gassing Station | All Creatures Great & Small | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff