Re: aggressive terrier on a leash

In Reply to: aggressive terrier on a leash
Category:   Behavior Problems
Posted by:  Laurie
Posted on:  January 29, 2003 at 11:24:18

: Hello,
: First I would like to thank this forum for the very helpful advice posted. It has really helped both my husband, myself and our "puppy" survive our first few months together. Our JRT is 6months old and very recently neutered. Both my husband and I have been working with him to sit, stay, come, walk on a leash since getting him at 8 weeks of age. He typically listens when we are training him and is pretty well behaved. However, just recently (in the past week or so) "Ernie" has started lunging at people when we take him out for a walk. When he sees a person walking by he will growl and lunge at the person even if they are not paying attention to him, and when we try to correct him, or sometimes grab him out of the way he will snap at our hands. The first time this happened a woman had stopped to pet him and when she put out her hand he latched onto her coat sleeve and would not let go. Since that incident we have been very watchful of people approaching us on our walks, and don't let strangers pet our dog. We have also been using a training collar which seems to help a bit, but he is still "crazed" when another person walks by. We have been socializing him with a variety of people up to this point - so we are a bit suprised that this is happening. We live in an urban area - so this behavior has to stop asap! I would appreciate any advice that you may have. Thanks for your time.

Response:

Dear Laurie,

Since Ernie's behavior appears to have started around the time he was neutered, I suggest you have him examined by your vet to make sure his attitude isn't the result of discomfort. If he's okay, then you'll want to examine your behavior toward him since the surgery.

It is normal to "baby" our terriers after they've had surgery and I encourage every owner to do whatever it takes to help their terriers heal properly...within the confines of the house. Using a soothing voice when a dog acts up on a walk unfortunately only reinforces the behavior.

Attending training classes is an ideal way to socialize a dog; it is a controlled environment and you will be taught how to properly correct Ernie's behavior around other people/dogs. Get yourselves enrolled as soon as possible and until then, try to walk Ernie at times and in places where he will encounter the least number of people. I am not suggesting that you avoid contact all together; that is the worst thing you can do at this point. However, to keep Ernie (and the general public!) safe, you need to restrict contact until you know how to properly correct and re-train his behavior.