My Sheltie is having aggression problems please help!

S

silly_sheltie

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I have a 1 year old bi black sheltie named Selena, I've had her since she was 10 weeks old. I got her from a breeder she was on the shy side when I got her but otherwise had no aggression problems in the beginning.

It all changed two weeks of getting her, when I had taken her out to potty after dark and a dachshund with major aggression problems was off leash and attacked her. I was able to able to keep the dog from hurting her but to this day she has not been the same.

Now whenever a dog or even a child passes by in our neighborhood she flips out big time, barking, getting up on her hind legs lunging clawing at the glass door or trying to get our of her harness if I'm walking her.

We spend 1-2 hours walking and playing at the dog park 5 x a week and she goes to doggy daycare once a week. She gets along great with everyone. She acts like an angel at the park always wanting to play with dogs of all ages and sizes and behaves well on the leash everywhere EXCEPT at home.

I'm very frustrated b/c I have taken her to two different obedience classes and she does perfect in class and when I try to tell the trainer of her problem they don't believe me or think I'm exaggerating how bad she acts at home. they just tell me to put a treat in front of her or 'avoid the situation' I can't predict or control when a dog passes by our house and she sees or hears them.

I have tried making her sit, distracting her with treats, a corrective swat on the nose, water spraying, she doesn't care and tunes everything out.

Any suggestions?
 
The good news is that she's a lovely dog with others usually so it shows us that it's just this ONE scenario, so you'll be able to handle this :D

ok,
first all, stop with the swats, water spraying or anything negative like that, it achieves the opposite as it just doubles her frustration threshold, and increases her association that bad things happen and Mom gets really upset when others are walking by. Soon she will obsess over the space and really pattern and it will get even worse, if she gets negative feedback while in that state.
It may even not have anything to do with dachshund attack, could be just coming into her own at that age, and Shelties are famous for fence fighting, hyper vigilance and barrier frustration...

Your trainer's recommendation is a good one, I keep high value treats closeby in a few locations of the house so I can redirect the dogs if they hear my neighbours come home or go etc etc... that sets mine off... So I have had a lot of success by saying THANK you for letting me know, wow, what good boys for hearing this sound... and I click and treat the heck out of them.. At first I even threw the treats in spatterings on the ground so they were literally weeee it's raining treats from the sky! So they associate good things with the sounds and things they see, and it has become increasingly easy to call them off completely and now they usually redirect to me as soon as they hear the sound instead of actually going ballistic at the door. The frustration is almost totally gone now, it's just an alarm bark if even that now, I moved here in January.

Also, first of all best thing would be to increase distance and visibility, can you block access to that 'glass wall' you mention? and cover it up...? So that she can have increased control and actually take treats instead of going over her threshold?

Good luck :D
 
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I second everything that Toffee's Mom posted...especially stopping all negative reaction (swats or spray) to her behavior....that only makes her reaction worse. She needs to feel that you are in full calm control of what she perceives as a potentially bad situation and swats and sprays to her equate to aggression on your part and only add to her anxiety.

Another thought is that if you can connect with someone who has a dog that Selena has met in class or at the dog park and who she interacts with happily...ask that person if possibly she/he would be willing to come with their friendly dog and work with having Selena greet and play with this dog in her own space. Her issue seems to be focused on guarding her space from what she perceives as threats/intrusions. Having a dog she already knows and likes come into her space may help her understand that not all intrusions are threatening. If her mindset can be flipped from "this is bad" to "this is OK" with one doggie visitor, then you have a basis from which to broaden that positive mindset.

Trini
 
I too am going to second Toffee's Mom. The swats and and the spraying is just reinforcing that whatever she sees at home- dog or child, is bad. Did her attack happened at home or out on a walk or somewhere else?

I think your trainers are on the right track with the treats and positive reinforcement. Like Trini, I too might consider asking one of her doggie daycare pals if they could swing by and help out. What I think this will do is give YOU a chance to know when they will be walking by and get her into a sit or a down or doing a "watch me" before they walk by. Then she is already doing a "good" behavior that you can reward as the dog walks by instead of giving her a treat to distract her while she is in the throes of a reaction. Treat the good.

If you have a good trainer who does any of the classes you have gone to, if you think they don't believe you, perhaps you are to the point, after nearly a year of this, where some in home private lessons might be really beneficial. This way the trainer can see exactly how she is reacting.

One more thing I have is for you. Try to keep calm. My Watson was attacked by a pit bull just under two months ago (you can search for his ordeal in the sheltie chat forum if you like). The first group class that we went back to after his wounds healed to start reintroducing him to the idea that dogs are OK, I was SOOOO nervous it wasn't even funny. I had no idea how he would react at all- would he bark, would he growl, would he snap, would he bite? But, even with all of that, I used a calm voice with him and got excited and used a happy voice when he did something good. And he is doing marvelously. Selena will pick up on you getting stressed and anxious on top of the swatting and spraying and that's just going to make her worse.

Good luck... I think she can be turned around.
 
I agree with what has been said. One other suggestion - find a trainer who give private lessons in the home. They are out there and can help. This way, they can see exactly what is happening and offer suggestions in training your dog. Block her line of sight at the doors - cover them with paper for now. Find a child you know who can start approaching her from a safe distance outside, stopping when your dog starts to react and for this child to remain still. It will take time but your dog has had a big scare. She is probably picking up on your stress level as well.
 
Unfortunately that attack happened during a fear imprint stage. Goal number 1 has to be a management one only. I would make a shaker jar that would be near me at all times. Just take some empty water bottles and put some dried beans in them and recap. Position them at doors, windows and in the kitchen.
Start by teaching her that when you gently shake the bottle, she gets a treat or a game of tug on a favourite toy, praise or a scratch in her favourite place. Do it in every room, outside, on walks when nothing is around that worries her. Increase the shaking to make it a stronger noise while continuing to reinforce that it is a good thing to hear. You want to get her to realize that whenever she hears that sound, something great is coming to her.
Once she is really into shaking equals good things, then start using it with distractions, working up to that which she most worried about. The noise of the rattle will help to distract her and won't sound like your voice - which believe it or not will sound as panicked as she feels - leaving you to talk in a calm voice. Even if you can only get her to take a breath at first, reward, reward, reward. She may always be worried but you should be able to get to were you are able to enjoy your outings because you are able to help her cope.
 
Tagg said:
Unfortunately that attack happened during a fear imprint stage. Goal number 1 has to be a management one only. I would make a shaker jar that would be near me at all times. Just take some empty water bottles and put some dried beans in them and recap. Position them at doors, windows and in the kitchen.
Start by teaching her that when you gently shake the bottle, she gets a treat or a game of tug on a favourite toy, praise or a scratch in her favourite place. Do it in every room, outside, on walks when nothing is around that worries her. Increase the shaking to make it a stronger noise while continuing to reinforce that it is a good thing to hear. You want to get her to realize that whenever she hears that sound, something great is coming to her.
Once she is really into shaking equals good things, then start using it with distractions, working up to that which she most worried about. The noise of the rattle will help to distract her and won't sound like your voice - which believe it or not will sound as panicked as she feels - leaving you to talk in a calm voice. Even if you can only get her to take a breath at first, reward, reward, reward. She may always be worried but you should be able to get to were you are able to enjoy your outings because you are able to help her cope.
Click to expand...

great idea, OR you could use a clicker and it does exactly the same thing :D
I do that with leash reactivity as well
 
We have a similar issue but it is with basketballs. When Shelby was a pup the kids across the street from us were playing basketball and were calling to her "Shelby the Sheltie". I know they were not trying to tease her but this totally set her off because that made her REALLY want to go play with them. Ever since then she will go over the top (not aggressive) barking like crazy whenever she sees or hears someone throwing or bouncing a ball. No matter what we do we can not control her, we have tried everything.

We ended up putting shutters on our front windows. They block the noise a lot and prevents her from being able to see what is going on outside. It has made a world of difference. We also will distract her by giving her a bully stick to chew on.. This is her very favorite treat that we reserve for when she needs to be distracted.

My neighbors next door to us know this issue and fortunately for me they don't mind when they are outside playing baseball or soccer and I bring Shelby outside to work on controlling her reaction. I make sure I have really good treats and we go outside. Shelby will run to the fence and bark like crazy, I immediately call her to me and she gets a treat if she comes and is quiet. And if she stays with me and stays quiet, more treats. It has been about 4 years and though far from perfect it is more easily controlled. I do not think we will ever be able to completely stop this reaction but it continues to be a work in progress in managing it.

I agree 100% with all previous suggestions and just thought I would share my experience in the hopes it may help.
 
I recommended the shaker bottle because animals, like humans, cannot focus on more than one thing at a time. Clicker, to me anyways, is to signal that the dog has done right. The shaker bottle, while used in a similar way, is to break the intense focus that is causing the reactive behaviour so that you can then reward the "turn away". Eventually, you might just need to say the name of the dog and click when it responds but right now this dog is too afraid to turn away and accept a reward.
 
Tagg said:
I recommended the shaker bottle because animals, like humans, cannot focus on more than one thing at a time. Clicker, to me anyways, is to signal that the dog has done right. The shaker bottle, while used in a similar way, is to break the intense focus that is causing the reactive behaviour so that you can then reward the "turn away". Eventually, you might just need to say the name of the dog and click when it responds but right now this dog is too afraid to turn away and accept a reward.
Click to expand...

I like your shaker bottle idea... something to break her attention but that will also do it without the anxious emotion likely in her voice.

I hadn't considered the fear stage part of this. I guess I assumed that would have made hear fearful of all dogs all of the time. I didn't realize she would differentiate between dogs at the park or day care, and dogs walking by her home.
 
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