3 Year Old Shiba Mix

[nalaandsimba]

A friend of mine recently-about a week and a half ago- adopted a 3-yr old male (neutered) shiba inu mix from the local spca shelter. He was an owner surrender who had been there for a few days. The reason given for the surrender was that he had chased and "tried to kill" the family cat. Anyway, thats just a bit of background. So, he now lives in an apartment. One problem that they've been having is going out for walks. He walks fine on a leash, but the attempt to get the leash on him can be difficult. Basically, it seems the problem is that he's quite nervous with new people and handling. He nipped (bit, didnt draw blood) at my friend (his new owner) the first night they had him. This week, my wife and I are watching him for a couple of days. The other night, he bit (not sure how hard) their neighbor who was attempting to put his harness on for a walk. Today and for the next few days, we will be responsbile for getting him leashed, and taking him out. The problem is of course, he lets us know, in no uncertain terms, that he wants nothing to do with the harness OR even with his leash to go outside. My suspicion is that it will take him some time to warm up to us--his owner has said that he's been doing better the last few days with them as far as getting his harness and leash on--but that still leaves us needing a way to get him outside to use the toilet. He has no fenced yard, so the leash walk is fairly essential. I certainly dont want to force his harness on or force the leash onto the collar, but at this point he doesn't trust us enough to allow us to just slip anything on nonchalantly...in fact he watches like a hawk as soon as he notices you go for the leash rack, and he's a quick little guy. My wife and I have the idea to spend some time, build some relationship, and at the same time try to desensitize him to the harness with little pieces of chicken...touch harness=get chicken, etc., and hopefuly move up to "head in harness=chicken". (It's a no-pull harness). I can't think of much else information at the moment....he does also have some allergies and seems quite itchy (theyre working on figuring out what he's allergic to, and he is on medication). So, our basic question and predicament is how to get a nice enough relationship (and association with the harness, or at least the leash!) to be able to get it on him without forcing him or getting bitten...and, unfortunately, how to do it fast enough that he can go outside to poop! Oh..incidently, my wife noted he also doesnt give a great deal of warning before he bites/nips. Its straight from standing on floor (albeit being rather jumpy and anxious) to little snap (again, so far nothing to draw blood...just enough to get a point across), with no growling, lip lift, or anything else of the sort that we can tell. Anyhow, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

[emmabeth]

Have a read through the clicker training article in the Articles section of the forum..

What I think i would do, given you need to be able to take him outside but he is clearly worried about this harness/leash thing...

Reduce his breakfast... so hes a hungry dog. Condition him to the clicker in a few short but fairly intense sessions (only minutes long) of click - treat - click - treat - click -treat.. you are looking for him visibly connecting that click means the treat is coming. When he hears click.. and his face says 'wheres the treat' (have the treats in pots beside you and the clicker in the other hand oh and you can use a clicky pen or a jar lid if you dont have a clicker) then you know hes got it.

Do about three sessions with an hour or so between them. Use some seriously good quality but TINY treats.

Then sit with the harness, sit on the floor and have the clicker and a pot of treats in your hand. He should still be pretty hungry at this point and he should realise that the clicker and the treats are good... and because you are sat down not near the leash rack this DOESNT automatically mean its time to put the harness on.. Dont try to restrain him but do have him in just the one room with you. Have a book or magazine handy too..

Any time he as much as LOOKS at the harness.. click adn treat. If he sniffs it, clicka nd treat - basically any and all interaction wtih the harness warrants a click and treat the SECOND it happens. Not afterwards... as it occurs.

Do that for just a few minutes, even if he likes this game and really wants to carry on, after a few minutes (use a kitchen timer maybe?) get up and put the harness away and the treats and clicker away.

If he doesnt want to interact with you just sit and read the magazine dont be tempted to lure him over just yet.

You may find that he gets this surprisingly quickly. If he does, go at the pace he seems ok with and just work towards getting the harness on. Dont worry about putting the lead on it. I would work with him seperately with the lead, and attach it to a flat collar and let him just wear that dragging it around for a bit.

You could also do sessions with him allowing you to touch his neck and collar in return for clicks and treats.

Its highly possible that he has some pain somewhere or is remembering pain, associating with these items. Unfortunately the lead and collar or harness would be one of the most common items used to abuse a dog with, by folk who dont even think they ARE abusing the dog (ie yanking and jerking them around on them).

For now if you cant get the lead onto his collar for walks, I would invest in a slip leash (preferably set so it cant tighten completely) as although these are not ideal you can drop one over his neck with minimal fuss.

I would also question whether the no pull harness is causing him some pain, often these can do that and this may be why he hates it being put on. I prefer to use a static harness that has no moving parts and is just there to secure the dog rather than 'do' anything, so I would encourage his owners to get one of these as soon as possible.

Also in the Articles section is a thread on loose lead walking which is a brilliant way to teach a dog to keep the leash slack - however do not attempt this on a no pull harness or on a slip chain or leash that can tighten up, in fact if a dog is likely to lunge hard and fast I wouldnt even use a flat collar for this, just a static harness.

Fixing his behaviour is going to be achieved by counter conditioning him to the items, and stopping teh confrontation each time he has to go out.. so combining the somewhat sneaky use of a slip leash, with counter conditioning to the normal leash and harness should do the trick. You can do as many clicker sessions a day as you like really, as long as you and teh dog understand the process and you keep the length of each session short and remember to quit whilst you are ahead and NOT push for more and more (its human nature to do this unfortunately but its rarely a good idea!).

[Noobs]

Emms if you don't mind - I saw this video a while back and loved it. It's Jean Donaldson, who is of course a famous positive reinforcement trainer and author, showing how to condition a fearful dog to accept (and like!) the gentle leader head collar. It can give OP a visual aid to what you're describing, even though the tool is a harness and not a head collar, the same principles can be used. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wakterNyUg

[emmabeth]

Good vid, thanks for adding that Noobs!