Please Help: Agression with wearing a collar or harness

[Amycr]

Good morning,

I am in desperate need of guidance on how to help my dog with her aggressive behavior when we are trying to put a collar or harness on her. She is about a year and a half old, and we (my boyfriend and I) got her when she was about 6-8 weeks old. She is a Queensland and mini Aussie mix. I will start out by saying that I feel as though her aggression is our fault because we did not properly socialize her when she was a puppy. Although we had guests over on a regular basis, we failed to take her out on walks or to dog parks. I've done some research and I feel as though her aggression is fear based because she is only aggressive when we are trying to put a collar or harness on her and the only time we really do so is when she is going to the vet or the groomer, which is another nightmare I will touch upon. She is not aggressive towards our other dog or our cats (but she does chase them around like crazy). She is not aggressive if you take her food away when she's eating, which I made a point of doing when she was a puppy to teach her that it was okay. She is not aggressive towards other people who come into our home, but she is afraid of other people. When we have guests over now, she often cowers and runs away, which is something she never did as a puppy. In fact, she was quite the opposite. She used to run up to people and jump in their laps for pets and cuddles. Now, she will barely even cuddle with me or my boyfriend.

Now to the real issue. I understand that she probably has a negative association with a collar or harness because the only time she wears it is when she goes to the vet or groomer, which she does not like. She used to put up a little bit of a fight when trying to put a collar or harness on her but she never bit or became aggressive. About 2 months ago, my boyfriend left the harness on her when they returned home from the groomer so she could get used to wearing it. When we tried to take the harness off her, she didn't like it but she was fine. Ever since then, we have not been able to put the harness back on her without severe aggression. After reading some articles, I decided the best approach would be to ease her into wearing the harness and give her a reward while she's wearing it in the hopes of breaking the negative association with the harness. My plan was to put the harness on her and let her play in the yard with it on and then give her a treat. About a month ago, when I tried to put the harness on her for this purpose, she attacked me and left bruises and bite marks all over my hands. I let her retreat into her crate and closed the door to allow her to have the space she needed to calm down and regain her sense of security. After a little while, I opened the door to the crate, pet her and tried to comfort her. We decided that we needed to ease her into wearing the harness at a much slower pace. We started showing her the harness and allowing her to sniff it without putting it on her. We then started putting it in her crate when she was eating, sleeping, etc. to hopefully get her used being around it without any negative association. We did this multiple times over several weeks.

Fast forward to last night, I decided that it was time to try it again. I wanted to put the harness on her and take her into the yard so I can throw her ball and play with her. I spent about a half hour trying to put the harness on her in phases. Each time she started showing me her teeth and trying to bite me, I stopped, pet her, told her it was okay and gave her a few minutes to calm down. I tried very hard not to scold her because my understanding is that it only makes her fear worse. I was able to get the harness on her with only a few small bites to my hands, but when it came time to buckle it, she went ballistic. She attacked me again, this time she bit me pretty hard several times and left my hands bruised and swollen. I let her retreat into her crate and gave her some time to calm down. I decided she didn’t want to let me buckle it and I didn’t want her trying to run around and play with it dangling off of her body, I thought it would be a good idea to give her some wet food with it on, which is a treat to her, let her calm down a little more and then I would take it off of her. Fast forward again to me and my boyfriend trying to take it off of her. She went ballistic again and retreated into her crate. We coaxed her out and when I tried to take it off of her, she attacked me again and this time, she bit me hard enough to break the skin.

Here is where we feel stuck and have no idea where to go from here. I would love to take her to training or obedience classes but we can’t do that if we can’t even put a collar or harness on her. Like I said before, I know this is our fault for not properly socializing her as a puppy and I feel terrible about that. We love her and really don’t want to have to out her up for adoption, but we have a 5 year-old in the home and I fear that her aggression may escalate and result in him getting hurt. Any advice that you can provide to assist us with correcting her behavior would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading my post.

[Erica]

Hey there! This sounds like quite the trouble. For now, I would suggest a having a martingale or slip lead on hand in case you absolutely need to get her out and have her secured - they're easier to put on dogs who don't like to be handled, but obviously aren't ideal as they work like choke chains if the dog pulls.

You can also turn a normal leash into a slip lead in an emergency:


Now for long-term:

I would first get a completely new and different harness. If you had a red step-in harness, I would get a blue roman harness, for example. Then, over the next few weeks, I would work for a few minutes a few times a day following the steps in this video. For a dog with this extreme aversion to the harness, I would spend four or five days or more on each step - five days of marking/treating for the dog being near the harness, four for touching with the nose while the harness is on the ground, four for touching the harness while it's in the air, five for touching the body with the harness, etc. Go slow! If you move too fast, you'll just end up at square one again.

Is she okay with you petting her? Follow this video to see if she enjoys petting or if she's just tolerating it. If she's just tolerating it, refer back to the part of the harness video where Emily was gently putting a hand on her dog, then removing the hand and feeding a treat. You will want to do that a little bit each day while you're working on the early steps of the harness video. If your pup actively moves away from your hand, don't chase her and let us know so we can work on a different solution.

Don't work on this for too long at a time - set a timer for three to five minutes at most (if you can manage keep it to multiple 1 minute sessions throughout the day, that's really good!), and use really great treats (real meat like hot dog, or chicken if your dog is sensitive is usually a dog's favorite). If you go for too long, your dog will start to get frustrated and stressed out. Many small sessions will be better than one long one.

It would also be a good idea, if possible, to get a trainer in to see your dog themselves, in case there's something subtle you don't know to look out for that would help. I understand that not every area has a good rewards-using trainer, though, so isn't always an option! If you want help finding a good trainer in your area or want me to check if one you've found is good, feel free to message me. It can be difficult to tell from a website what a trainer is really like, but there are some subtle cues I've noticed that can usually sort the wheat from the chaff.

With a reaction this extreme, I might wonder if she has some hidden pain, too. The vets is obviously not her favorite place, but a check to make sure there's no underlying medical issues would be something I'd suggest.

[Amycr]

Erica,

Thank you so much for this information. I can't tell you how grateful I am for your response. I will purchase a new harness in a different color and use the video to ease her into wearing it. I never thought that there could be an underlying medical issue that might be contributing to her negative response. I will take her to the vet to have her checked out.

I watched the second video you posted and it made me realize that she does not generally like be touched or pet. I mentioned it to the groomer one time we took her in and she said that our dog is a "working dog" or "cattle dog" and those types of breeds are not too cuddly, so I chalked it up to that and didn't think much else of it. I guess I should have gotten an opinion from our vet. When we're in bed, she usually sleeps on the floor but sometimes, she'll sleep in our bed with us. If I accidently touch her with my foot or even try to pet her at all, she will move or jump off the bed with this strange sense of urgency. I just thought that she was mistaking my touch as a signal to get off the bed. She is very intrusive into our personal space as well as our other pets. The cats can't walk around without her jumping all over them or playfully biting them. She also won't allow me to play with my other and much smaller dog without interfering and taking his toys away from him. I can't do anything without her trying to interfere in some way, which is incredibly frustrating and I wish I understood why she's like that. Often times, I have to push her away because she keeps me from being able to get anything done. If I try to close a door behind me, she sticks her nose in while I'm closing it and tries to push it open. If I'm trying to get dressed, she is right under me. If I try to pet my other dog or any of the cats, she pushes herself in between us and doesn't allow me to do so.

When my boyfriend and I play fight, she jumps in and starts biting the person she feels is hurting the other. She is also somewhat territorial over him. Sometimes, If I try to cuddle with him, she'll gently bite me or try to get in between us, so I think there may be some jealousy there. I think she sees him as the alpha and me as a subordinate. His punishments for her or more physical, like spanking her, while I chose to verbally scold her. Maybe that has something to do with it? It's strange to me because I'm the one that feeds her, bathes her and grooms her, so I would think that she would show more loyalty to me but I clearly don't know as much about dog behaviors as I should or want to. This is only the second dog that I've ever had on my own. My other dog is a poodle mix and he's never given me any problems or shown any aggression. Sure, he doesn't like being groomed or going to the vet but he has never tried to bite me, so this is a whole new world to me.

Again, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond to me. You have no idea how much your generosity means to me.

[Nettle]

Bravo for coming here. I'll try and keep this short so you are not overwhelmed.

Have a look at our Board philosophy and you will find that all this alpha domonance business is old hat and very wrong. It's hard to ditch it because it appeals to humans, but ditch it you must. The following is not criticism but observation.

Stop interfering with her food. Let her eat in peace. All you are doing is proving to her that you are bullies. Your dog does not like or trust you because everything seems to be based on punishment. Dogs don't understand punishment, so stop punishing her by word or deed. Stop fixating on what you don't want and show her what you do want.

Check out our Exercise the Mind pinned thread for things you can do together, just you and her, no cats, no other dog. This will start to build trust between you. At the moment she desperately wants to trust you but so far sees you both as a source of uncertainty. She is insecure because she does not know what you want - you need to show her and then reward her when she gets it right.

Don't play fight in front of the dog. She thinks you are killing each other. She is desperately trying to stop her world falling apart. No play-fighting with her either, no rough games, no chasing. There are dogs you can do this with, but not insecure herders.

There is more, but that's enough for now. Read our Training Articles section and some of our previous answers to previous posters, research our list of books, come back with questions. We are on your side and we can help you have a much happier time together. Don't focus on what hasn't been done in the past but on what you can do now.

[JudyN]

I would just add that she sounds as if she's a very intelligent, sensitive dog who is way understimulated - the more mental activity you can give her the better.

Also, why do you need to take a collar off? If you're able to get one on her, could you then not just leave it on? (Play games to distract her for a bit if that helps). It would then be easier to just work on attaching a very light lead to get her accustomed to that, or even just a clip with a few inches of fabric attached which you could leave on for a little while in the house. This approach may be quicker than getting her used to a harness, but you could then work on the harness separately.

[Amycr]

Nettle,

Thank you very much for reading my post and taking the time to respond. I take no offense in what you're saying because we're clearly doing a lot of things wrong with her. I want to fix that. I don't want to do anything that is harmful or counter-productive.

First things first, I will take your advice and stop messing with her food when she's eating. My actions had good intentions, but I see your point and understand that is not the way to go about it. Same with the play fighting. I see now how that affects her and I don't want her to feel that way.

I will also check out the articles you referred me to. Thank you again for the critique. I need this level of honesty in order to learn.

[Amycr]

Judy,

You hit the nail on the head. She is very intelligent and under-stimulated. Do you have any references I can look at regarding how to properly stimulate her?

We don't have a collar for her. When she out grew hers as a puppy, she was too big and full of energy to walk her with a traditional collar. She would just end up pulling on it and choking herself, so we switched to a harness. We don't keep the harness on her because I feel like it constricts her too much, so I felt bad leaving it on her all of the time. I agree that having her wear a collar 24/7 would help with wearing the harness, so that's what we're going to get for her, as well as a new harness.

[JudyN]

Do you have any references I can look at regarding how to properly stimulate her?

There's a thread on exercising your dog's mind here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1135 She might also take to clicker training - there's some links at the top of the first post in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11503