Oh dear things are much worse...

[GV9297]

Hiya

I have exactly the same problems with my dog and I have just posted a thread on it. He is a rescue dog and seems to be getting worse - great with me and my partner but now seems to be lunging at anything that moves! I now take him out with a basket muzzle (which he constanly tries to remove) but I have to make myself take him as I dread it! I am just going to continue with the trainer and perhaps get a behaviourist on board.

[Cruz's mama]

oh thats a shame, but at the same time at least i know I am not the only one. Good luck and hope you get some answers, keep us posted!

Yesterdy I took Cruz to the park down the road to play with his ball as I saw there were no other dogs there. Its a fenced off park with a small exit onto a road, but not a very busy road...
While we were in the park I let him go on a long line so I could stop him again and decided to play ball with him.
I threw the ball and when he was racing back to me at 100 miles per hour, a motorbike went past on said road and he raced straight past me towards the exit of this park, which is no small park either, I tried to catch the line but he was at such a speed that he pulled me over in a second and was out of the park and after the motorbike..By the time I had gotton to the exit I could see al the traffic on this road was at a halt and I thought he would be dead on the road but no, there he was runnig back and forth the road looking totally confused. There was a few passers by standing looking but obvioulsy no one had dared try to catch him.
I screamed at him to come and he came running at me like a racehorse. I shakily grabbed his collor and marched his straight back to the car, my heart pounding out of my chest, I am so lucky he wasnt killed by a car....
He has a chase instinct like I have never seen in my life. He doesnt know what he is chasing for but just knows he has to do it.
Hence the reason I am desperatly waiting on this trainer/behaviourist coming on the 30 March. until then, I am staying away from traffic of any kind!!

[GV9297]

Hello

I'm so glad Cruz and you are OK I would have been a mess afterwards! The good thing is he did come back to you and he didn't go for anyone else - but hey I'm no dog trainer! I was told today that my dog Diesel is beyond the trainer I had and she is referring him to a behaviourist! That made me feel good I can tell you - my partner was more upset as he has put in so much work with him over the last 6 weeks.

Anyway I have spoken with the behaviourist and she is coming on 24th March (I'm already dreading it!) to assess him and us. I hate to think I'm making him worse.

I too have to wait until there are no dogs around and avoid crowded areas. Diesel did start on motorbikes and push bikes but after repeatedly walking up and down a road where there were lots and holding on to him and just reassuring him he's not too bad with them now. One cyclist moves to the other side of the road when he sees us though!

I bought a kumfi stop pull harness which helped - gave me more control as Diesel is a really big GSD.

I'm sure things can only get better and although they can be a nightmare I wouldn't swop him for the world! Keep up the good work x x

[kita]

Glad Cruz is OK. Might be an idea to use a REALLY long line (something like a washing line/clothes line is good, but tie knots in it every few feet so when you stand on it the knots trap under your feet). Don't use it with a head collar though or you could break the dogs neck!.

As regards chasing this article might help you both:

How do I stop my dog chasing? – David Ryan CCAB


I had this problem with my dog chasing motorcycles - after one came round a blind corner on wasteland and nearly hit him, my boy had to jump out of the way and the bike missed him by inches, from then on (quite rightly) he hated motorcycles. Unfortunately he hated all motorcycles, especially on the dockland where we walked. A policeman on a motorcycle stopped one day and asked why I pinned my dog up against the fence every time he appeared!!! When I explained what had happened thankfully he understood!!

It took months of training to stop him trying to knock every motor cyclist of their bikes (not funny when he was the size of a Great Dane!).

If you are consistent with the training though it is possible.

Sue

[Diesels Mom]

I agree with Poly, a behaviorist. I think no matter where a dog is from he can be taught to do right. Its hard to whats wrong when one isn't right there to witness. I sure this new person can help you. Keep us updated.

[zaclucy]

I know where you are both coming from, I have all these problems with my boy. I will get there in the end, it may take me a very, very , very long time, but we will get there.

xx

[Cruz's mama]

I have just read a post on a nother dog forum. The policce and the sspca are looking for the woman who sold me my boy. After i read that I started doing some research and found another forum where people have named and shamed her, 2 of the people have had to have their dogs put down at 6 months old due to aggression problems. one I think may be from the same litter as Cruz.

someone else has posted stating she actually used to be friends with her and saw her breed brother and sisters just to get the colour that she wanted.
this is insane! I hope she is caught and brought to Justice!!

[Kira]

Well ive just read the whole contents of the posts..

good luck, I do hope theres a real positive ending for you all.

[mackico]

God, tell me about it. Archie was an absolute nightmare right up until he was about 19 months old, and from just 4 months old!

Now. I'm no expert and I'm certainly not a behavioural therapist. I've never owned dogs before, Archie is my first. But I'll see if I can help any.

Oncoming traffic and pushbikes are both things I have dealt with. If your boy being awful, what is he doing? Is he lunging, or pulling really hard on the leash? What sort of collar is he on?

I hate to sound awful about this, but have you tried a check-chain, and if you have, do you know how to use it correctly? As in, short, sharp corrections, not letting the dog consistently pull, etc? On some dogs they just don't work, but I found that it did on Archie. So you'd have to see.

Whenever Archie went for traffic I stopped moving, braced myself, let him have about a 1-3 feet of slack depending on how much room there was, and then stood firm. He ran straight to the end of the leash and corrected himself for me, all I had to do was stand still and hang on. Note that I let the slack out instantly, not gradually, so that before he came up short there was no pulling on his neck or choking. Just a sharp, surprising jerk to a stop.

Sometimes he yelped, but he never received permanent damage from it, and really, a little bit of pain in training is far, far better in the long run than a dog that has been killed or maimed in traffic.

Archie stopped lunging at traffic within a week. We still have the occasional bit of trouble with motorcycles, scooters and skateboards, for which I apply the command LEAVE IT! but he never goes for cars anymore. He doesn't even notice them.

Does your boy know the LEAVE IT command? It sounds like it could be applied to a number of the problems you're having.

[GV9297]

Hiya

Thanks for all the tips its good to know I'm not the only one who thinks they have the worst dog in the world! The behaviourist is coming on Wed and I'm dreading it and looking forward to it at the same time!

We have worked with the LEAVE it command and he does listen (sometimes!) He's not too bad with scooters now but off and on with pushbikes but has never gone for cars My partner has used a training lead on him which the trainer recommended which is sort of a rope check chain but I never really liked it and lots of people told me not to use it. I am going to start afresh with this behaviourist on Wed and see if we can get somewhere. I will let you know how he gets on.