# Leash Aggression



## willow1620 (Apr 24, 2012)

Hi, we have a 9 month female vizsla that has started showing leash aggression towards people, cars and other dogs when we're on our walks. We moved to a new city about a month ago when her aggressive behavior started. Currently we have her on an easy walk harness but are wondering if we should try something else. Also we've been trying to get her to sit and pay attention to us when someone walks by which seems to work when we have treats but only when we have treats. She is very food motivated so we know she'll do whatever we want when we have food but we don't want to be dependent on this and hate that she acts like she's going to kill someone when she walks by. She is very sweet and sometimes timid around strangers she meets off the leash and is very social at doggie day care and the dog park. HELP!!!


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## born36 (Jun 28, 2011)

Not sure whether it is being caused by fear and if this is the case you are going to have a long road ahead. 

If it is being caused by her feeling like she needs to protect you then you could try switching her to a halti or gentle leader head harness as this often times will take the edge off a dog that is protective on lead.


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## littlelulu (Jun 21, 2011)

Hi, Willow! First of all, you’re not alone! Leash reactivity is very common. And yes, discovering why she exhibits this behavior is the key to helping your girl. But since she is timid with strangers in general I would bet money that she is being leash reactive (at least towards people) out of fear. Our girl, Lulu, who is 3, sounds similar to your pup. When we got her from the breeder at 8 months, they told us she was a bit shy/timid. Which, over time, has translated into some leash reactivity towards strangers (barking, lunging at them). She’s telling them that she’s uncomfortable/scared and that she wants them to get away from her. And yes, as born36 mentioned, fear issues can take a very very long time to overcome. They are best treated gently and patiently and could takes months or years to improve depending on the severity of the dogs fears.

Without going into too much detail (because really I could go on forever and there are entire books dedicated to the subject!), you have to help protect your girl in ‘scary’ situations (i.e. when a stranger approaches) and slowly help her make better choices. When dogs are on leash, we have, in their minds, greatly reduced their choices in any given circumstance. They are ‘trapped’ and have no way of escaping things that frighten them. Hence, a timid dog may feel that they have to resort to lashing out at someone/something that scares them (i.e. they have no flight, so they must fight). So what you have to do is give her some distance or help her ‘escape’, which is a reward in itself. I work with Lulu on this all the time. When we are walking or on the sidewalk, I have taught her to ‘switch’ to my other side whenever I see someone approaching. In addition, we move over so that she doesn’t feel any pressure to be near strange people. Definitely relaxes her. Just having you between her and the stranger helps immensely and it lets your pup know that you have things under control and you’re not going to let anyone get in her space. Eventually, she will realize that you are going to give her space and she doesn’t have to react in an aggressive way. Over time, once a dog is comfortable and feels safe at a farther distance, you can gradually move them closer to their trigger. But if their body language changes back to being uncomfortable or they go over threshold (barking, lunging), then you’ve moved too fast and have to increase your distance from the trigger again. 

We tend to control all of Lulu’s interactions with strangers, even off leash (if we see someone, we call her to us – with reactivity and shyness an excellent recall definitely helps a lot!) so she doesn’t feel the need to react or control the situation. She knows that we are going to take care of everything, which takes a lot of pressure off of her. But all of this takes tons of work and repetition and even after that we still backslide once in a while and you can’t always control your environment. Sometimes people and dogs just pop out of nowhere and you just have to deal it and move on. 

Giving treats like you are is definitely not a bad thing – you’re trying to help make a positive association with a ‘scary’ thing which is great. I give Lulu treats all the time when we’re out, especially if we’re surprised by someone and we can’t get far away and we just need to get by them. But I would suggest that you just keep moving with her while treating her instead of making her sit, especially if you are getting her to stay still while someone is approaching in your general direction, that could freak her out more. Teaching her to do hand touches also helps too since she can’t bark at a stranger and touch her nose to your hand at the same time . Lots of people with reactive dogs have had lots of success getting their dogs to do hand touches while passing triggers.

Anyway, there is a lot of info out there on leash reactivity but the book I suggest is called “Behavior Adjustment Training: BAT for Fear, Frustration and Aggression in Dogs” by Grisha Stewart. Great book on helping fearful dogs make better choices in scary situations. Also, I bought Lulu a “Dog In Training” which I featured in another thread (I’ll try to find it and post it) so people will give her some space.

Good luck with your girl!

Edit: Hope this links to the training vest thread: http://www.vizslaforums.com/index.php/topic,5367.msg40852.html#msg40852


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## littlelulu (Jun 21, 2011)

Yeah, I forgot to mention that a head collar (I prefer the Gentle Leader over the Halti brand) as born36 suggested can make a big difference with reactivity. The Easy Walk harness is good, too. But a head collar is basically power steering for dogs and it's very hard for them to be reactive or lunge when wearing one and they hit some calming pressure points on the head as well. Some people hate them, some love them, you just have to figure out what works for you and your dog. Like anything else a head collar is a tool, not necessarily a permanent solution. I tend to only use mine in high traffic situations where I need more control like at agility trials or going to and from agility classes where we could be "surprised" by a strange person or dog.

I got Lulu's Gentle Leader head collar and matching leash off of ebay (best deal) and got them both in hot pink! Hey, if Lulu is going to wear one sometimes, then she's going to do it with style!


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