Question:

My adopted rescue dog, a Kangal a large powerful dog, is uncontrollable when he sees other dogs. I got him when he was about 9 months old and I believe while he was not overtly mistreated he was chained 24/7 and largely ignored. He is now nearly 3 and a lovable dog showing no aggression to humans. He has little concept of play with humans though and does not seem to understand treats. He is submissive to my other dog, a female around the same age but who I had from 12 weeks old and was here first. On a leash he will walk quite calmly with little pulling after the initial excitement but as soon as he sees a dog or cat he will bolt and I have to release him or he will pull me to the ground. Often he will just want to play but has attacked another dog which is allowed to roam free and is also very aggressive towards him. When free in the yard he is well behaved until another dog or cat comes into view when he goes berserk and if not restrained will destroy the fence in order to escape.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

ANSWER:

Hi,

The first thing to do is make sure that you have control of Kangal, in the sense that he can’t attack another dog or a cat. Right now, he’s pulling the leash out of your hand, so you need some kind of harness or head collar that makes it so that he doesn’t have so much momentum. Furthermore, you need to learn how to prepare for the jolt of the leash and to not let go.

That’s the Quick Fix side of things. We definitely also need training and behavior modification to teach Kangal not to pull on the leash or lunge toward other dogs and cats.

For the Quick Fix, I recommend either a head collar or a front-attachment harness. Or both. A head collar looks like the halter on a horse, and the leash either clips under the dog’s chin, to turn his head, or on the back of his head. Some brands I like: Comfort Trainer, NewTrix, and Canny Collar. The mainstream brands are also ok: Gentle Leader and Halti. With front-attachment harnesses, the leash clips at the dog’s chest, so that if he starts to pull, he gets thrown a little off-balance and pivots toward you, instead.

Given the amount of power your dog is pulling with when he lunges, I’d do both. Get a small coupler (a little leash with clips at both ends) and clip one to the head collar and the other to the harness. Clip your leash on the ring between them.

So, now you have enough control for regular walks, but how do you fix the lunging? I recommend you contact a behaviorist in your area who does Counter-conditioning and Desensitization or perhaps Constructional Aggression Treatment. Here’s a short version of CC/DS.

Start at a distance, and every time he sees a dog or a cat, he gets a super-tasty treat, like a piece of steak. The treat should be a special treat that he doesn’t usually get, a surprise that happens just AFTER he sees the other dog. Ideally, feed before any lunging, so you can reach his mouth easily. If your dog lunges, it means you’ve messed up and gotten way too close, so feed your dog anyway and try to do better next time. Don’t worry about rewarding your dog for the lunge. Dogs are lazy and will do the least amount of work necessary for that treat. So you may train a bark, but probably not a full-on lunge. Especially since your dog can just get the treats for free by just looking at the other dog or the cat.

That should last you a little while until you get to a trainer or behaviorist in person, but it’s easy to mess up your timing and other things. Save yourself a lot of time and effort and meet with a professional.

No behaviorist near you? Feisty Fido by Patricia McConnell is a great book. I also do dog training by Skype for people with no local resources, so you could contact me.

Grisha

Grisha Stewart, MA, CPDT, CTP

Voted as Seattle’s Top Dog Trainer by the readers of CityDog Magazine, Grisha Stewart is the owner and founder of Ahimsa Dog Training in Seattle, WA. Grisha is a Certified Training Partner from the Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Training & Behavior, a Certified Pet Dog Trainer and since 2002, an active member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers. She attends several training and behavior workshops each year and is a certified Pet First Aid attendant and evaluator for the Canine Good Citizen program.

For more information on Grisha and Ahimsa Dog Training in the Seattle, Washington area, visitwww.ahimsadogtraining.com.