We have just rehomed a female Labrador who is lovely around the house and with the children. She is people focused and gentle and friendly. She has been fine with 3 other female dogs (playing happily) who visited our house but shown aggression on the lead (barking, lunging at people and other dogs, hackles up). We don't know how she will be off the lead yet as she came into heat shortly after we rehomed her. I am wondering if anyone has experience of this as I am nervous of letting her off the lead incase she jumps at other people or is going to be aggressive to other dogs. Basically I'm terrified she is going to bite another dog. We think she was a breeding dog so may not have been walked much or let off a lead. Any experience of a similar problem much appreciated!
Re: Agression in our new rescue labrador Hi and welcome from me and Harley - 1 year old red fox lab what a fantastic thing you have done It might be worth buying a long line that trails on the ground when off lead. You can get 5-30metres long. If she goes to run off, you can always give the lead a slight tug or stand on it. Have you done any recall at home? How about from the dogs that have visited! Might be worth a try if you haven't. Some dogs are more reactive on lead as they can't go anywhere. What is her name? Where did you get her from?
Re: Agression in our new rescue labrador It is most probably fear aggression, she is trying to tell other dogs and people to go away. Some advice from a behaviourist would be very helpful.
Re: Agression in our new rescue labrador Hello! A very warm welcome to the forum. It might be helpful to have a couple of sessions with a trainer - it's helpful to know what you are dealing with, and an experienced trainer could help you assess that. There are loads of reasons a dog "reacts" on lead - my dog went through a period of lunging towards other dogs, which very may have looked alarming to the other dog, but he just wanted to play. This was solved (although is a work in progress to get really good) by just rather standard training, walking round other dogs provided by a trainers until we could do it. And when out and about, he got treats for walking nicely passed other dogs. If there is, as you suspect, some fear and aggression going on, you could explore some more detailed techniques to help you with that. Hopefully, Jen will be along soon to describe some but if you search for "BAT" you'll find some interesting threads that will help point you in the right direction in the meantime. Also this article might help: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/training-your-reactive-dog/
Re: Agression in our new rescue labrador Hi welcome to the forum. ;D I have two male Labradors, Scott and Scout, aged three who unfortunately have nervous aggression. They are big softies at home and with all members of the family. From what you've described about your dog I would say she could possibly have some degree of nervous aggression. I have had my dogs since they were seven weeks old. I have a very good idea what caused this behaviour and I know what their triggers are. How much background information do you have about your dog ? A lot of dogs react when on a lead due to fear. They can't get away even though they would much rather run than fight so the only option is to try and scare away the thing they are afraid of by barking, hackles up, lunging etc. My dogs react to people. Anybody they didn't meet before 6 months of age they don't trust. They bark if the person approaches head on and really panic if they try and touch them. They will also react to dogs who are reactive towards them. Dogs that remain calm they are fine with. As Julie has mentioned I've used BAT which I do bang on about a bit but it has helped a lot. BAT is Behavioural Adjustment Training. They have a website www.empoweredanimals.com BAT works best if you can setup and control situations but as my dogs' trigger is strangers it's difficult to setup so I've taken parts of BAT and fitted it into real life. For example I try and keep my dogs below threshold so I try not to put them in a situation where they feel the need to react. A dog that is barking and panicking can't learn so even if something bad doesn't happen it doesn't register. I also encourage a replacement behaviour and reward it. As a dog approaches it's trigger it will naturally give a calming behaviour. This might be yawning, licking lips, looking away, looking at the ground, looking at you. It's not always easy to spot. My dogs look at me. As we approach their trigger they will look at me at a certain distance from it. I reward with a very high value treat as I want that behaviour to replace the reactive behaviour. I continue to keep their attention with the treat as we pass the trigger. This is counter conditioning. You are reconditioning you dogs association with the trigger so instead of seeing another dog and thinking scary I must bark they think a dog that means I get a great treat. I started a thread in March on the behaviour board called BAT tips which shows where we started and some ups and downs. :. There is also lots of good advice I got from everyone on the forum. It hasn't been easy but, although at times it doesn't feel like it, my dogs have made lots of improvement. This morning for example they went and said hello to a lady they've barked at like nutters for nearly three years. She didn't touch them but a few months ago her coming within 6 foot would've set them off. They went upto her sniffed and nudged her. : Sorry I've waffled on but I just wanted you to know there is a way to deal with it and your not on your own.
Re: Agression in our new rescue labrador from a teeny tiny black 5 1/2 year old Lab known as The DivaDog and her pet human
