Dog is Whining-Howling-Screaming on Leash When He Sees Another Dog

If you haven’t encountered this behavior during leash work yet - I promise that you will.

This is the dog who may have learned to heel on leash, but when he sees a distraction (usually another dog) he vocalizes in a very LOUD whine – kind of like the old style police siren you might see on an episode of “The Untouchables.” I’m not talking about a little whine; I’m talking about an ear piercing scream that can literally be heard a block away. Sort of a cross between a bark and a howl, it’s called “baying” when done by hounds but in this case the behavior is coming from a dog of any breed, who is expressing either anxiety or frustration.  

The natural instinct of many new trainers when they encounter this behavior will be to correct with a hard leash prompt. Sometimes a well-timed correction will work, but usually this is not the correct solution. Why not? 

First, you would have to correct the dog pretty hard in order for the drive to be broken. Think of how that would look: the dog is screaming, people are looking out the window wondering what that awful sound is, and there’s a trainer yanking hard on a leash. “Oh my! That trainer is torturing that poor dog! Quick Louise, get my cell phone so I can take some video!”  

Second, correcting the behavior with a leash prompt if the behavior is rooted in anxiety might create an even worse problem (leash lagging). You run the risk of the dog shutting down completely. 

Another thing people try when confronted with this problem is to use food treats and/or a "look at me" command in an effort to “redirect.”  Using food may temporarily mask the problem but it won’t fix it. It won’t address the root of the problem. Plus you run the risk of inadvertently reinforcing the undesirable behavior.

Same problem if one tries to use a “sit” command to fix the problem.  Instead of trying to  take drive out, the best way to address this issue is to put the dog in drive.   

The solution:

The handler must become more interesting than the other dogs, by keeping your dog in motion. Use your dog’s drive as your ally. Pick up the pace, make some unexpected turns, slap your hip, change directions. Become more interesting to the dog than the distraction. Keep the dog moving and keep him focused on YOU. 

This is not a quick fix. It takes skillful handling, lots of practice, and it requires gradually increasing the level of distraction to proof the exercise, but eventually even the most siren-like dog can be taught to walk politely, and quietly, on a leash.

What if this noisy behavior occurs in the car or at the Vet’s office?

In these situations I prefer management. In the car, teach the dog to ride in a Vari-kennel (blocking out the visual stimulus of the other dogs). At the vet, either arrange for an appointment at a time when you will be the only client, or find a vet who does house calls.  

"What Should I Do If My Dog Growls At Me?"

Growling

 

“What should I do if my dog growls at me?” is a question that trainers frequently hear. Even though it’s a common question, the “correct” answer is hotly debated among trainers. Here are some of the most popular   answers, along with their pros and cons:

 

Option 1: Do nothing. Remain perfectly still.

Pro:   Easy to execute.  
Con : If the growling is fear-based you run the risk of getting bitten in situations where the dog is growling to signal a desire   for increased distance (i.e. “Go away!”), especially if you are standing stiff and facing the dog. If it's dominance based you'll have to give distance in order to "comply" and this will reinforce the behavior. 

 

Option 2:  Redirect the dog. Offer a bone, toy or food treat to get his mind on something else.

Pro:   Owners, and new trainers, safely escape injury all the time with this time honored maneuver.

Con:  What you’re really doing is reinforcing, not redirecting. You  are rewarding the behavior. Dog growls, he gets a treat or toy – that’s a positive reward. When you reward a behavior you increase the likelihood that it will happen again.

 

Option 3: Correct the behavior immediately. For example, frontally align yourself and make direct eye contact, scold in a low tone of voice and if necessary do a leash correction. Teach the dog that it is never acceptable to growl  at you.  

Pro:       Looks great on TV shows (if the dog backs down).

Con #1: This response has a good chance of actually triggering a bite.
Con #2: If it does not trigger a bite, you will be shutting down your dog’s   warning system, making the dog much more dangerous. In the future when he feels threatened, instead of giving a warning (growl) he may instead choose to bite. A dog who knows how to warn (growl) is safer to work    with than one who bites without warning. Ask any experienced groomer!

So yes, there is disagreement among trainers on this topic. Ignoring, rewarding, or confronting a growl may each have undesirable consequences.   A good handler reads the dog's body language and knows how to prevent situations that will cause the dog to growl. But to get back to the options available, let's continue.  

If, despite precautions, the dog growls at you: 

Option 4:  Shift the dog from a threatening mode to a cooperative mode by putting him into drive. Your attitude  becomes, “I’m not interested in your growl. I’m doing this new activity instead.” When you put a previously growling dog into working drive, you shift him into a completely different frame of mind. For example, one might go get the dog’s leash, in order to bring him from a "get away from me" frame of mind into a happy, “let’s go for a walk!” mindset. Or call him to sit, down, and then reward with a treat. 

Essentially, you are diffusing the  situation by shifting the dog into working drive to bring him from an undesirable state of mind into a safer one.  (This option should not be used in situations involving resource guarding. For resource guarding, classical counter-conditioning with many repetitions and a commitment to a weeks-long or months-long project has a high success rate when applied patiently and properly.) 

Putting the dog into working mode operates on the principle that active submission is first obtained by evoking a new response, and then rewarding the new behavior. But there is an important caveat: the handler must have done sufficient groundwork for this procedure to be effective. "Groundwork" simply means that the dog must already know and respond reliably to  basic obedience commands. So if we are working with a dog who has growled at people, we generally start by a) avoiding know triggers; b) training the basics obedience commands; and c) applying the principles of the deference protocol in everyone's daily interactions with the dog.

Conclusion: Of the above options, I prefer option 4 because there is little chance of inadvertently reinforcing the aggressive  behavior, since we are first evoking a new response to gain submission, and then offering the reward, rather than directly rewarding the undesirable behavior. 

 

What is THE Most Important Dog Obedience Command?

As the saying goes, “The only thing that two dog trainers agree on is that the third dog trainer is wrong.”  This is particularly true when discussing which of the “basic obedience commands” is the most important. (Some trainers don’t like the word “command” at all, preferring the less authoritarian sounding term “cue.” But for this post, we’re going to use the more familiar term, “command.”)

Trainers don’t agree on which command is the most important. In fact, they don’t even agree on the list of what the BASIC obedience commands are!  Some trainers add “look, touch, wait, leave-it, place, off, away, stand” and many others to the list of basics. These can be important things to teach your dog, but in our program, we always begin with the following five basic obedience commands:  sit, down, come, stay and drop-it.   (Note: We also teach heel, aka "loose leash walking" to all dogs in our basic obedience program, but it is considered to be an exercise rather than a command, so for that technical reason we're not including it on the list.)

Any dog who does not do all five of these on command, under distraction, is not fully under the owner’s control.

Before I can answer the question, “Which one of the five basic commands is the most important?” I want to first discuss why each one of them is vital:

·        Sit is the most frequently used command. It is part of a lifestyle of routine and polite deference to the owner (e.g. sit for meals, sit to receive a toy or bone, etc.). It’s also necessary for a dog to learn first, so that we can more easily train two of the other commands (stay and down). 

·        Down doesn’t mean “get off” - it means lie down – all the way down so that the dog’s chest is on the floor. It is the most submissive posture a dog can take. It shows trust, it helps teach self-control, and it helps a dog to learn to settle when you need her to. (It’s also a good way for an owner to evaluate the skill of the trainer they’ve hired. A competent trainer should be able to teach a good solid "down" to every dog they work with - no excuses.)

·        Come is the lifesaving command. It means, “turn around and get back here right now, regardless of what else you feel like doing.” The last thing that any untrained dog wants to do is “come” when distracted. There are many other exciting things to do outside, and most of them are a lot more fun than running back to the owner, even for a tasty food treat. That’s why we have a precise three-phase training methodology that makes “come when called…NOW” the only choice for a well-trained dog. The dog should do it like a reflex, without thinking. When she hears the word “come” she must stop focusing on the running squirrel, turn around and run back to the owner immediately.

·        Stay is a necessary command because it helps dogs learn self-control (and helps with all kinds of behavior problems, like rushing to the door when guests arrive, darting out through open doors, jumping up on people, etc.). 

·        Drop-it is another very important command that every well-trained dog must master in our obedience training  program. It means “immediately open your mouth and drop whatever you have.” Dogs can put all kinds of and dangerous things in their mouths, so we include drop-it as one of the five basics.

All five of the basic obedience commands are important. But since "come" is the lifesaving command, I believe that it is the most important of the big five. 

It also takes the most work. Meanwhile, dogs should never be allowed to run around off leash in an unfenced area until they have mastered it. It takes lots of practice, but it’s worth it!

(In this video, a rabbit showed up while we were
taping on a different topic. The dogs spotted the rabbit across the street behind the trainer and took off down the street after it. This is a real-life demonstration of the life-saving importance of a solid recall, or "come" command.)

Dogs & Toddlers - Can They Get Along?

Dog bites are the second most frequent cause of childhood visits to emergency rooms. The vast majority of dogs bites involving children are from dogs the child knows or lives with. And when a child less than 5 years old is the victim, the family dog is usually the attacker.  

Young children who are just beginning to walk can be quite unsettling to some dogs. From the dog's perspective, "these little people are noisy, they throw things, they fall on me or trip over me, their movements are erratic and their behavior is unpredictable."

The risk is even greater in homes with old, sick or arthritic dogs, or with under-socialized dogs who never learned to enjoy children while they were puppies.

If your dog has growled or snapped at your child, seek professional help immediately. And of course,  it's always better to prevent aggression in the first place, by following these guidelines:

- Children should be taught not to approach the dog; instead the parent can invite the dog over to the child.

- Children must NOT approach a dog who is eating. 

- When the child is eating, the dog should be crated or  resting in his gated area.

- Learn to read your dog's body language. Pay close attention and learn to notice things like  stiffening, whale eye, hard eye (staring with dilated pupils), lip curls, lip licking and  stress yawns. Your dog is always communicating through body language. Learn to read these subtle signs, and give your dog some distance from the child when you see them. Don't wait for a growl, snap or bite to occur and then try to "correct" your dog. You can't scold aggression away. Instead, try to prevent it by noticing early warning signs like the ones above.

- A child must never be allowed to approach  dog who is tied up/tethered.

- While the parents are away and a baby sitter is on duty, the dog should be crated. It's too much to expect a babysitter to watch your dog and your toddler.

- Set your home environment up for success. Provide gated areas where your dog can rest peacefully without fear of being tripped over or jumped on. 

- Keep your child away from your dog's food, toys or beds. 

- Always supervise interaction between your dog and your child, and teach appropriate boundaries to both. Never let kids and dogs play together unless you're right there in the middle of the action.

- Certain areas of the home can be highly prized by dogs. These places include:  a dog bed, under the coffee table, between the coffee table and the couch, on the couch, etc.  Use extra caution when high value places such as these are involved. If necessary, move furniture around or use gates to to prevent access.  

- Gates and crates can be a big help in creating safety zones - but never let a child reach through a gate or tease a dog who is in his crate or behind a gate.

- Never let a child play in a  dog's crate. 

- Dogs learn by association. These associations are powerful and can work for you or against you. Scolding your dog every time the toddler is around ("Get away from Junior's toys! Play nice! Put that down! FIDO NO!") teaches your dog that the child gets him into trouble. Instead, set your dog up for success by proactively arranging a safe environment. Form positive associations by using praise and play to reward good behavior when Fido and Junior are together.