Nervous aggression

[bendog]

edited

[msmith90]

I'm just curious, I know sometimes Victoria talks on her show about how the owner's nervousness can transfer to the dog. Do you feel as if you are very nervous when he is around others?

Perhaps getting him into an obedience class or an agility class (if you haven't already) would help boost his confidence around other dogs?

[bendog]

edited

[msmith90]

Either lots of gentle calling and persuasion, or a kind of "get a grip, look its fine, come on" approach?
Obviously I don't pull him, but I think making a big fuss with lots of reassurance might make it worse?

This one is tough, I'm not a trainer so I would doubt check this: but my thought would be that if you coo him too much into the situation, it may make him feel as if he is getting rewarded for nervous behavior. On the other hand, the "get a grip, it's fine" is not completely the route I'd take either. I guess I would suggest in these situations trying to get his focus before walking past something that makes him nervous (the brightly colored object) and keep his focus with treat and praise for ignoring the object while walking past it. I've seen it done for dogs who get nervous around other dogs, and it's a good technique in theory... it's getting the dog's attention before they go ballistic that I have trouble with :/ !! Good luck either way!!!

[emmabeth]

You cant really reward a dog for behaving nervously, so it isnt that.

You CAN behave nervously and anxiously yourself which your dog may pick up on and think 'ah ha, there IS a reason to be worried' but I don't think its that either particularly, its certainly not the cause.

Hes not well socialised around strange dogs, he doesnt know what to doa nd hes just entered the realms of mature terrier. He's bred never to back down, never give in, if someone worries or scares him, GET IT. Get them before they get you. That is how terriers think and we have bred them to be that way, becuase we intended them to go down holes and take on foe perfectly capable of killing htem, and either killing it themselves or holding it at bay until a person got there. A dog that says 'ok no you are too scary' and backs off in those situations is no good for the job!

Keep him on a long line and harness so you immediately remove the 'panic, theres another dog over there', whilst still allowing him some freedom. That means you will be more relaxed.

The next thing to do though it sounds counter intuitive is to avoid places with strange dogs for the time being. This is whilst you build up trust and confidence in you, you will still come across some dogs, but few and far between and when you DO, you will go the other way, body block them and send them away if loose, distract him and take action BEFORE he sees them etc etc. All this will teach him that YOU deal with it, he doesnt need to do so. It will also reduce his stress levels to the point where you can work with him and he can listen and learn - whilst hes half expecting a steeling himself for an encounter every walk, hes too stressed to be able to learn good things.

At home work on clicker training to get his brain going and bulid up confidence in himself and you, dosnt really matter wht it is you train, its the process itself that is so excellent for this.
Also work on self control/impulse control stuff - you can find information on both ofthese and loads more stuff in the Articles section of the forums.

[Nettle]

i would also suggest a full vet check - eyes, ears, prostate, bloods for organ function, teeth, skeleton, the lot. there are many illnesses that first manifest in the dog becomeing nervous/aggressive around other dogs - and most of these are easily treated.