We have a 5 month old springer spaniel and have had him since 8 weeks old. When we first took him to the vets to have his jabs, he made a loud shrieking noise when any dog came anywhere near him (he was not approached directly as hasn't been vaccinated at this point).
He has never stopped doing this and will make this noise on a walk when a dog comes near him. It appears to be fear as he becomes very submissive and lies down. His heckles never come up but he will either shriek loudly or bark.
Whilst it looks like fear, he will wag his tail sometimes and try to approach other dogs himself but as soon as he gets too close he will shriek again and pull back. We have started letting him off the lead and he will run up to other dogs himself wagging his tail and then freaks out when he gets close!
We have tried to distract him with treats but this doesn't seem to be working. He is not as bad with some dogs he has met before but is still wary. We have been taking him to puppy classes since he was 12 weeks old and whilst he is better there he is still hesitant around the others.
What can we do to stop this fear on his walks? It certainly isn't just excitement as he becomes very submissive and pulls away.
Dog shrieks at other dogs
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
Re: Dog shrieks at other dogs
Hi Soph,
Can you give us a bit more information, what did your puppy class tell you to do about this behaviour?
You are almost certainly correct that this is fear, it could be fear AND frustration, because he appears to want to meet other dogs but doesn't know what to do when he gets there!
For the time being, do not get near enough to other dogs for him to display this behaviour - stay at sufficient distance that he can take high value rewards from you, and listen to you - if he won't listen and won't take a high value reward that you know he normally likes, that indicates that even though he isn't reacting he still isn't actually relaxed and happy.
If this means turning and running away from other dogs, crossing the road, hiding out of sight, changing direction - do this. It may also mean walking in quieter places and at quieter times of day for the time being.
Your goal is to find the point at which he can see another dog in the distance but he can listen to you and get a reward, then you can make a point of pairing the sight of other dogs with that reward.
Note that the goal is to make 'other dog' = 'get a reward'... it is NOT 'behave nicely when theres another dog = reward'... the former is classical conditioning, the latter is operant conditioning or in laymans terms, the first one is changing his emotional reaction, and the second is training him to behave.
We cannot train until the emotional reaction is happy and relaxed and if we try the chances are we will fail OR we will suppress behaviour and cause a bigger problem in the long term.
Let us know what you covered in puppy classes and what you have been attempting to address this so far, as there may be more changes we can make and more tweaks to what you are doing.
Can you give us a bit more information, what did your puppy class tell you to do about this behaviour?
You are almost certainly correct that this is fear, it could be fear AND frustration, because he appears to want to meet other dogs but doesn't know what to do when he gets there!
For the time being, do not get near enough to other dogs for him to display this behaviour - stay at sufficient distance that he can take high value rewards from you, and listen to you - if he won't listen and won't take a high value reward that you know he normally likes, that indicates that even though he isn't reacting he still isn't actually relaxed and happy.
If this means turning and running away from other dogs, crossing the road, hiding out of sight, changing direction - do this. It may also mean walking in quieter places and at quieter times of day for the time being.
Your goal is to find the point at which he can see another dog in the distance but he can listen to you and get a reward, then you can make a point of pairing the sight of other dogs with that reward.
Note that the goal is to make 'other dog' = 'get a reward'... it is NOT 'behave nicely when theres another dog = reward'... the former is classical conditioning, the latter is operant conditioning or in laymans terms, the first one is changing his emotional reaction, and the second is training him to behave.
We cannot train until the emotional reaction is happy and relaxed and if we try the chances are we will fail OR we will suppress behaviour and cause a bigger problem in the long term.
Let us know what you covered in puppy classes and what you have been attempting to address this so far, as there may be more changes we can make and more tweaks to what you are doing.
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
