Any thoughts anyone?

[sarahp]

I'm no dog expert, and wondered if anyone has anything useful to suggest on a problem we have with our first rescue dog, always had them from puppies before and never had anything like this. He appears to be a pure saluki, castrated male found straying so no history of any sort and we've had him 5 years now. Very very nervous when we got him, much better now but still terrified even of me if I'm holding anything like a newspaper in my hand, I'm sure he's been hit by something held in a hand in the past.

Totally sweet, kind and gentle in normal circumstances, walked on a long extending lead as chases anything that moves but has a tendency to snap at other dogs, which are normally loose, if they approach him when walked. I'm sure it's more of a nervous thing but what can we do about it? OH walks him on long group walks and he's absolutely fine on those, I think he must accept all the other dogs as part of his own pack, but if walking just with us he's a bit dodgy with strange ones. We do of course shorten the lead right up and warn other dog owners that we encounter, but they often seem happy to risk having their dogs snapped at and let them come to try to play with him - or as happened this morning, can't get them to come to call anyway. Any suggestions at how to get him to stop doing this?

[nia2311]

Have you considered taking him to discipline/obedience training? My Aunt runs a dog training group near Eastbourne and I must say they seem to be fantastic, not just for teaching a dog to be obedient and accept you as pack leader, but also for controlled socialisation of dogs. Also a trainer will often have a great deal of expertise in dealing with nervous animals. I am sure you are right that he may have been mistreated in the past, which means it will be all the more difficult to retrain him, but it can be done.

At the yard my son's ride is stabled at, they have a dog agility course and a group meet there regularly. I must say the trainer is amazing - has a total affinity with the dogs, and some of them arrive acting all silly and mucking about their owners. But the moment the instructor takes them onto the agility course, they are like different animals. I wish I knew his trick!

[brindlerainbow]

I have a Boxer that will be grumpy towards other dogs if she is on the lead and they are off the lead. I can only assume that she is doing it because she thinks she needs to protect me as if she's off the lead she will happily play with other dogs with no aggression what so ever. Im guessing the dog see's you as it's property to protect. Sight hounds do like to chase but I think it would be worth trying the dog off the lead on a walk to see what happens but make sure you walk where you are unlikely to find anything too chaseable like sheep,cattle etc. Maybe go into an area that is enclosed

[sarahp]

Done that! He did two rounds of puppy classes not all that long after we got him, for just that reason - we'd never bothered before with the others, they seemed to get trained by default here, apart form the first collie who went with me to sheepdog training classes. Must say he was hilarious, learned it all but rather at his own pace shall we say, they aren't the most intelligent or naturally obedient of dogs. We had a go at most of the agility obstacles too, but he wasn't keen on that, and refused point blank to go through the tunnel. The socialisation bit wasn't as good though, partly because we had a very very dominant rescue kelpie on the course who had to be placed behind a chair with no sightline to any of the other dogs or he would fix on it with an eye of iron, so to speak. He is obedient within the breed limits, a collie he isn't, and accepts us as pack leader OK, he's not a dominant dog, it's just the strange dogs on walks thing. Easily pulled away, and never going to savage anything, but we'd like to stop him snapping in the first place if we can.

I'm sure it's nerves on his part, from the mistreatment, rather than straight aggression. When we did the training classes we volunteered him as a guinea pig - and our collie x lurcher too, who'd never done any classes in her life - for a practical exam for would be dog trainers. He was responsible for one failing though, as she allowed us to get in a position where another guinea pig went for him in the dummy class. Lurcher absolutely loved it, in another life she'd have been a great competition dog. Our very good trainer, who was examining, reckoned we would never be able to train the chase instinct out of him however hard we tried, and we haven't.

[nia2311]

I was reading that a dog on a lead can feel very vulnerable when approached by a loose dog because they cannot behave in the normal dominant/submissive way. When on a lead, they are always submissive, which doesn't help with them communicating to the loose dog. Unfortunately, the suggested solution if the loose dog attacks was to let go of your lead and let them sort it out. I must say I wouldn't be terribly chuffed doing that.

I would say your dog feels vulnerable on his lead when approached by loose dogs and is just trying his best to be a normal dog. I would consult your dog trainer to see if he/she has any solutions, as again I am no expert in these matters.

[sarahp]

Sorry, cross posted brindlerainbow. That sounds possible. Sorry though, walking off the lead not an option for something that chases anything that moves, can jump 6' fences and doesn't come to call when chasing. Our walks around here are all over commonland or farmland, all with the likelihood of animals to chase and fences, if there are any, would be normal height, for which he has no respect. We had enough trouble trying to play with him in the garden off the lead, never mind out on a walk - he has chased our sheep and the ponies too on different occasions after jumping the fences to get to them. And if he went over one more fence into the woodland after a deer he could go in the woods for miles and miles, never to be seen again!

[sarahp]

Nia - a load of us were walking once on a bridleway through a farm, all with dogs on leads because of the animals around, when two German Shepherds came out and attacked our lurcher, who was so terrified she slipped her collar and got loose. Letting them sort it out would have involved her being killed! I'm afraid I kicked the GS in the ribs until it went back from whence it came - it had showed no aggression to people and probably not something one would recommend in cold blood but I had to go to her rescue and my blood wasn't cold.

I'm sure being on the lead is the basic problem, just wondering what to do about it.

[amumwithapony]

Its a tough one. I have a whippet bit*h and have just about sorted her recall out after about 5 months. I use bits of meat in my pocket, something tasty like left over chicken or beef and reward her with that everytime she does come back. After 5 months its just about spot on. She darts back from whatever she is doing and sits as soon as I whistle her, including a couple of times when she has tree'd the local squirrils. So training sighthounds to come back is not impossible but shes a pup, not 10!

Maybe if you try and explain to the other dog owners that he is nervous and you approach their dogs first and you greet them? That way he may percieve them less of a threat? But that would only work if the other owners can get their dogs back before they've got to you, which not all can I know.

[sarahp]

His recall when in the house is fantastic, on trainer's advice he's whistle trained but it would never work when chasing, he has far too high a prey drive.

We've tried warning other owners but it doesn't seem to stop them letting their loose dogs come up to talk to him. Some have no recall for theirs anyway, as you say. Haven't tried greeting the other dogs, but they are really interested in our dog not people

[viking]

I'm wondering if anything can be done about induced, self protective behaviour.

One of our terriers was attacked by a Labrador. Our terrier was on a lead. The Labrador was running loose and was way out in front of its owners. It came teeth bared and hackles up and we had a nasty few moments. The terriers attitude became changed. From that day on it was a question of - if these loose dogs come at me when I'm on my lead, nail them first.

Unfortunately, we never did manage to change this opinion.

[sarahp]

Luckily our lurcher to whom this happened didn't go like this, she's fine with other dogs when on the lead, which is rare anyway as she is very obedient so safe to be let off loose on our Surrey commons. Whether attacking or just wanting to be chatty, loose strange dogs come charging up to rescue saluki on his lead, often well in advance of their owners too, and although he doesn't go into full attack mode, he can snap, I'm sure out of nerves and self-protection like your terrier.

Maybe like yours we will never be able to do anything about it, just wondered if anyone more experienced with dogs than we are had any magic solutions.