My dog is almost 18 months old. He is usually very sociable, but lately his behaviour towards other males has become quite worrying. As soon as a dog approaches and tries to sniff his rear end, he hates it and snaps at them – even if the other dog is only a 2 or 3-month-old puppy. Why is he doing this? Could he have been traumatised as a puppy? Where we used to walk him, there was a dog that tried to hump every other dog, so maybe he was traumatised and it's all coming back to him now. What can I do to stop him from snapping at other dogs when they do this?
Thanks!
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Honestly, I’m really intrigued by this question.
What goes through a dog’s mind when they decide to ignore something incredibly exciting just to come back and be put on the lead? What’s their motivation? I feel like they’re often portrayed as… well, a bit like cats. A cat would never come back just to be put on a lead. Not if they’ve clocked what’s happening, and certainly not if they had a choice lol.
I believe dogs love us and do it because they want to, knowing exactly what’s going on. But I think what really inspires them is when they feel that we’re doing things for them too.
I did look into compulsion training a bit with my girl, especially for recall. It was an experience, let’s put it that way, but the results weren't exactly brilliant. It can be handy at times; I can force her to come back by raising my voice, and if I really shout, she’ll definitely come back. But what I want is to stop her from getting into a scrap with a badger. And I’m not sure that screaming at the top of my lungs is the best approach in that situation.
It’s tough—you’ve no idea how hard it is with a Shiba (huskies and malamutes are the same) to get them to come back when they’re ‘in the zone’. And a fox (which she probably thinks is just a weird-smelling cat, so a potential mate), that’s going to be near impossible. Just tonight she sniffed out a family of something or other under a big wooden plank on the ground. I could probably use that for training. Her urge to dig them out and have these creatures hissing in her face isn't quite at the same level as a fox or a badger, but it’s not far off.
With Elastic, whenever I see a dog it might kick off with, I crouch down and ask her to come over and put her lead on. Touch wood, she’s always come back to be put on the lead when asked since she was a puppy; even if she’s a bit reluctant at times in certain situations, spending a couple of minutes at my feet getting showered with praise for her good behaviour is something she just can't resist. Lucky me, really.
Fascinating. Encouraging a dog to do something other than what their instinct or will is telling them is quite the challenge. What’s also interesting is that you’re taking such care not to make being put on the lead feel like a punishment, as after all, Elastic hasn’t actually done anything wrong.
With Elastic, whenever I spot another dog and think things might kick off, I crouch down and ask her to come and put her lead on. Touch wood, ever since she was a puppy, she’s always come back on command – even if she’s a bit reluctant at times, she just can't resist spending a couple of minutes at my feet being made a huge fuss of for being such a good girl. Lucky me!
Yes, I wasn't very clear on that point, to be honest.
The lead—ideally with a pulling harness—serves to reinforce the verbal correction. Whether you use "no" or "stop" or whatever else, the little twitch of the lead provides physical feedback.
Actually, this approach has a few benefits. It acts as negative punishment (removing a privilege, which in this case is being off-lead). For example, if he’s misbehaved and caused a bit of a scene by getting over-excited around a puppy—leaving the poor thing to scurry off yelping with its tail between its legs—the context was his freedom. The other owner is likely to be a bit unimpressed. We’re all trying to socialise our puppies and give them as many positive experiences as possible, only for a badly behaved dog to snap at them.
By putting your dog back on the lead, you’re doing three things:
1. Sending a clear signal to the other owner, who will appreciate the gesture.
2. Enforcing a loss of privilege, i.e., P- (highly recommended as a form of punishment).
3. Giving yourself the ability to provide feedback via little tugs to back up your verbal "no".
In a situation like that (threatening, intimidating, or snapping at a puppy), I’d try to bring the puppy back close to the dog. If possible, let the puppy approach again while keeping your dog under firm control (which is why you need the lead). If it works, unclip him immediately (with P-, you remove the punishment as soon as the dog behaves). Then, continue to maintain control through verbal corrections without the physical link. And if he continues to behave perfectly, give him a huge fuss!
No no, you know your dog best! I love the ball dynamic!! It’s an incredibly powerful reward marker for my girl too. I use it all the time in Agility.
Anyway, it’s the whole package. Your "happy voice" (you’ve probably noticed mine), your smile, your toys, and your food should be enough to make him realise how happy and proud of him you are. At this rate, it'll all be sorted within two months max.
Then, the absolute gold standard is to also develop a strong negative marker. Now, that’s a whole other chapter. It explains my very first recommendation in this thread—putting him back on the lead. A negative marker is a concept. Put simply, it involves making the dog understand (at exactly the right moment, and ideally lightning-fast) that we don't approve of what he's about to do. We use it to interrupt whatever he’s starting to do. It’s another controversial topic. I don’t understand why; I couldn’t manage without it. In fact, for me, it’s one of the most important aspects of training. But hey, some people do without, and I think you can manage without it in this case too.
But in an ideal world, yes. If he lets himself be sniffed = party time! If he thinks about snapping = negative marker. If the marker works, well, that’s brilliant. No need for physical control, obviously. This way, the dog has two chances to learn: 1) Understanding that he’s doing the right thing when he lets himself be sniffed, and 2) Understanding that he’s doing the wrong thing when he wants to snap.
With a Border Collie (I wouldn’t have the time to do this with a Shiba, as they aren't even in the same league intelligence-wise), you could even teach him a command like "Freeze", where the expectation is that he doesn't move a muscle when he hears that cue. You can then use it to make him stay still to be sniffed without having to touch him. "Freeze" could also act as a negative marker when he shows an intention to snap. STOP = negative marker. No = negative marker. Tschht = negative marker. The world of negative markers is quite vast.
Here’s the negative marker in action during one of the biggest challenges with my girl: stopping her from jumping up at a 6 or 7-year-old child. My dog definitely prefers humans to other dogs (even though she loves dogs). And for her, the absolute pinnacle is a child. She gets right in their space. Around 1:30, you'll see the first negative marker to stop her from heading towards the balcony of the property on the left. She’d spotted a family of kittens there that very morning (which caused quite a stir). On top of that, the child appeared on our radar, so I took the opportunity to work on the negative marker again right then. The child appears around 2:15 and passes right by us around 2:40:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTjan5r1Cwg]
Great, I think your advice is going to be really helpful. I started a bit earlier today—a puppy gave his bum a sniff and I just said "good boy", called him over and gave him a piece of dry food. I think the trickiest bit will be catching that window between the sniffing starting and him lunging, so he actually listens to my praise instead of snapping. I’ll need to be pretty quick, I reckon. I’m also going to work on the "down" and "stay" commands, as he's starting to master those now.
Speaking of being creative, if I see him getting sniffed and I distract him with a ball or something else, does that work just as well? Is that enough of a reward, or should I be giving him a treat on top of that? I suppose the full works would be best, wouldn't it?
Yes, flooding can work. Flooding is the technique where you expose the dog really intensely to the stimulus that’s bothering them. It’s a controversial method. Personally, I reckon it works, as I’ve seen plenty of proof (Cesar Millan, for example). But it is controversial. And you’re nowhere near the stage where this technique should be your go-to option. So, to be clear, pinning a dog to the ground to force them to let themselves be sniffed = flooding. It’s a pretty harsh technique. Whereas taking it step-by-step and rewarding them for good behaviour every time = conditioning/desensitisation. It takes longer, but the impact on your bond is amazing. It’ll be nothing but a positive result.
Another good analogy to help understand these two concepts is learning to swim. Here’s my girl when she first started last year:
Cesar Millan has shown dozens of times over the years that you can force a dog to like water. It works. I could have done the same. However, I preferred to stick with gradual desensitisation and operant conditioning. Here’s the result as of June this year:
Believe it or not, that’s a massive amount of progress. The next step is asking her to jump into a body of water where she’ll be forced to swim. I’ll be ready to get wet myself if needed. And if I ask her, she’ll go. All of that without flooding. To get to this point, I’ve always kept her insecurity in mind and regularly set her challenges, like crossing a small stream. For example (when she was about 7 months old):
So if he’s quite insecure, there must be a solution to make him feel better, right?
YESsssss, that is a brilliant question!!!
Yes, absolutely. And this is where you’ll see the nuance. This is a great opportunity to establish your leadership in a constructive way. I truly and deeply believe that one of our most fundamental roles is to help our dogs get over their insecurities, whatever they may be! For me and my dog, it’s quite limited; her biggest hang-up is walking over drain covers. So, I’m working on that. Other than that, certain objects she’s never seen before can make her feel insecure. If we come across one and I notice she’s a bit unsure, you can be certain I take the time to desensitise her. I’ll ask her to touch the object or jump on it (she jumps on command).
Your dog is probably no exception. Always take the time to help him overcome his insecurities. And that one—the fear of meeting other dogs—is a fantastic one to work on.
Your "salary", your reward as a human, is the progress and the "mini-wins". A mini-win is every time he lets himself be sniffed without grumbling. But it’s IMPORTANT that you notice when it happens and that you reward him. Make the biggest fuss of him possible! I’ll say it again: we tend to focus too much on unwanted behaviours while forgetting the desirable ones. The basis of R+ is timing and synchronicity. We must mark/reward every single occurrence of good behaviour.
I don't know your lifestyle, and I’d love to give you more ideas, but it’s not easy without knowing more. Get creative! Personally, I’d play with those other males. Even just a little bit. Here’s an example of being creative: at lunchtime today, my dog refused to come back during a "routine" recall at the park. Well, there was another dog right next to me, so I rewarded and made a huge fuss of *that* dog instead! My dog came over, and I ignored her! Too late, darling. I tried the same recall five minutes later, and she came back like a rocket. Creativity.
When I want her to play with a new dog, I usually play with that dog myself first. That encourages my dog to join in, and as soon as the play gets going, I step back. Creativity. You work with what you've got.
Another example of being creative: if you’re working on "down/stay". Well, if your "stay" is solid enough (and it certainly can be with a BC), you can ask him to stay while he’s being sniffed by others. And so on... But keep in mind (I think it’s already clear by now) that it’s not a question of dominance, and dominating your dog won't make him any more submissive in these kinds of encounters. He just needs your leadership to overcome this insecurity, nothing more.
