Addressing fear of in-tact males-positive training only

em_cat

So our rescue, Mr C, has blossomed into a really sweet, generally well behaved, obedient, confident, funny little man with one exception.... intense fear of in-tact males.

I understand it’s a polarised subject, however, I would really like to see if any boardsies can give me any tips to begin working on this, positive training methods only.

VonVix

Couple of things!

When you say intense fear, how does he show this? Hiding? Lunging?
When is he showing fear? Off lead? On lead?
When is he exposed to these intact males? On a walk? Dog park? Friend's dog?
What's the goal you are hoping to achieve through training?

em_cat

VonVix wrote: »

Couple of things!

When you say intense fear, how does he show this? Hiding? Lunging?
When is he showing fear? Off lead? On lead?
When is he exposed to these intact males? On a walk? Dog park? Friend's dog?
What's the goal you are hoping to achieve through training?

On lead, on walks, dogs live same area as us, no way to avoid them. It doesn’t matter how well behaved and trained the other dogs are, he just goes straight to panic stations.

Yellow to orange on the aggression ladder.

Mr C is very good & well behaved with dogs as long as they greet correctly, he couldn’t care less if they are on or off lead.

Ideally i would like to get can get the fear levels down to notice but avoid.

VonVix

em_cat wrote: »

On lead, on walks, dogs live same area as us, no way to avoid them. It doesn’t matter how well behaved and trained the other dogs are, he just goes straight to panic stations.

Yellow to orange on the aggression ladder.

Mr C is very good & well behaved with dogs as long as they greet correctly, he couldn’t care less if they are on or off lead.

Ideally i would like to get can get the fear levels down to notice but avoid.

I really like how Donna Hill teaches the Look At That method. It's done here using a clicker, but you don't *have* to use a clicker, you can use a consistent marker word such as "yes!" instead. I'll give you a video, easier than me typing it all out for you from start to finish.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdraNF2hcgA

The LAT method should help your dog learn that when he sees what scares him, it's not a problem.

It is key to ensure that you dog is under threshold when you build up to practicing this around a trigger. When your dog is under threshold, there should be no clear signs of fear or him feeling the need to glare at other dogs that frighten him, he should be able to comfortably glance at the trigger, and then look to you because he is comfortable enough to do so.

I'd be sure that you also practice it around all types of dogs, not just the triggering ones for him. And it's always super helpful if you have a friend with an intact dog to practice with, just be sure you fill them in first as to why you'll be far away and will most likely not speak to them for a whole session, you wouldn't want to undo all your hard work by going right up to them and their dog to say hi after a training session.

em_cat

VonVix wrote: »

I really like how Donna Hill teaches the Look At That method. It's done here using a clicker, but you don't *have* to use a clicker, you can use a consistent marker word such as "yes!" instead. I'll give you a video, easier than me typing it all out for you from start to finish.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdraNF2hcgA

The LAT method should help your dog learn that when he sees what scares him, it's not a problem.

It is key to ensure that you dog is under threshold when you build up to practicing this around a trigger. When your dog is under threshold, there should be no clear signs of fear or him feeling the need to glare at other dogs that frighten him, he should be able to comfortably glance at the trigger, and then look to you because he is comfortable enough to do so.

I'd be sure that you also practice it around all types of dogs, not just the triggering ones for him. And it's always super helpful if you have a friend with an intact dog to practice with, just be sure you fill them in first as to why you'll be far away and will most likely not speak to them for a whole session, you wouldn't want to undo all your hard work by going right up to them and their dog to say hi after a training session.

Thanks for the Donna Hill video, will watch later.

We’ve been working with a doggy place in glasenevin & I was given links to learn to read doggy body language, so started paying hyper attention to it and began noticing a pattern & use it to help me keep him under threshold.

Sometimes it can’t be helped, we’re in D8 with blind corners, cars parked everywhere & lots of off lead walkers. Mr C has been ambushed a couple of times & mounted as if he where in heat....

We literally keep to quieter roads, but have been exploring up cork street in preparation for attending a new grooming place (new to us) as our previous place is closing.

It seems that Mr C can smell an intact dog from miles away, but also when he scent marks over other dog wee he sometimes growls but when smelling a desexed scent mark he moves on a little way and then does his own, no growl, no scratching.

Although I’ve not used either methods but have heard of BAT I & BAT II, I figured out that he was clicker/marker trained so we trained leave it, drop, thank you, sit, stay, stand, settle, off, here & go to bed.