My Dog is Aggressive On Leash

Doberman barking on leash

Somewhere in the top ten reasons that people contact me for training help is on-leash aggression. Often when they do contact me people are bewildered — their otherwise friendly dog simply goes crazy when they encounter another dog while out on a walk! This is a very common problem. Why does it happen? Frustration – [...]

On-Leash Aggression: What is Over Threshold?

Chewed Red Leash

This morning I was running late. It was one of those things that, if you show up late, you run a good chance of being told by a bureaucrat you’ll have to start over from scratch and wait another four months for chance to be on time. I was stuck in traffic and not pleased. [...]

On-Leash Aggression: There’s Always a Warning

Dog on tight leash, growling and lunging

Earlier I wrote about being “over threshold” — an emotional state that is intense and overwhelming enough that learning is almost impossible. Dogs that display aggressive behavior on leash often enter this state, and a key part of modifying this behavior is not letting them get there. (Or at least not letting them get there [...]

On-Leash Aggression: No Greetings!

Meet and Greet

I have a rule at my classes: on-leash greetings between dogs are not allowed. I learned this rule at St. Hubert’s Dog Training School, and have found it to be pretty common among dog trainers. Owners, however, often find it surprising. There are three big reasons why you shouldn’t let your dog greet other dogs [...]

On-Leash Aggression: Where Does It Come From?

Apropos of Nothing

On the comments for last week’s post about on-leash aggression and on-leash greetings, Melinda asked where on-leash aggression comes from. I promised a response here in the blog, since it’s not a short topic. Before we can really discuss where on-leash aggression comes from, we need to understand what a Conditioned Emotional Response (CER) is. [...]

On-Leash Aggression: Don’t Watch That. Watch This!

Aggressive looking dog on leash

Solutions for on-leash aggression are not 500, or even 1000 word blog posts. I’m going to go over a few things you can do in a series of entries while also dipping, ever so slightly, into the theory behind them. While working on this issue, keep safety at the very forefront of your mind. Also, [...]

On-Leash Aggression: Power Brakes and Power Steering

Dog displaying aggressive behavior on leash.

“The better part of valor is discretion, in the which better part I have saved my life.” – Falstaff, in Henry the Fourth. Last time I started to talk about various steps you can take to address on-leash aggression. A big of part of dealing with and eventually alleviating the problem is avoiding over-threshold outbursts [...]

How to Stop Leash Aggression

It may be the oldest story in dog training: a dog that is an otherwise perfectly-behaved, downright sweet, and beloved member of the family, will growl, bark, lunge, and may even bite another dogs he encounters on leash. Take the leash off and he is a model citizen at the dog park or day care. [...]