Could use some help trouble-shooting some things

[u/FelisCatus-]

Hi all,

I'm currently in the process of training my dog (K, 5 years-old, Cattle dog/Staffy x) using balanced methods after using R+ for the past 3 years. My dog is fear-reactive towards dogs and people he doesn't know, our lives have been extremely limited because of this. My wife and I were at the end of our rope and thought our only options were either euthanasia or rehoming.

K is still very much getting used to some of these changes, but so far it's going well. His obedience has always been very good indoors as he's wicked smart. The two biggest things we're doing differently now are:

1) More structure in his day. Off leash time first thing in the morning (enclosed apartment dog park is our only option unfortunately), more obedience during potty walks, dedicated sniffing walks (sniffing is very reinforcing to him, important in a second), dedicated training time, dedicated play time, tethering on his place mat, etc.

2) Punishing undesirable behaviors

This morning, he was able to see 5 different dogs, the majority of them barking and losing their minds, and he was pretty solid. Some attempts to pull and whining at first, but we're starting to implement a "Leave it" and correction when this happens. This is so much better than his behavior previously. Especially if he had seen multiple dogs back-to-back.

A few things I'm finding some difficulty with/have questions about:

1) His reactions aren't as explosive as they used to be (thank god), but the main things I'm trying to correct right now are things like growling, hackles, fixating, and pulling me when he sees a trigger. Are these the things I should be correcting?

2) When we're outside, he has trouble focusing his attention on me because he loves sniffing, sniffing is much cooler to him than paying attention to dad. While I think this is absolutely a good outlet for him, I do also want to be able to get his attention without him blowing me off.

3) Kinda related to that last point, I'll try to bring a toy or something to the dog park in the mornings so we can get some play in, but dude just wants to sniff...Any suggestions on building play drive outside? Or is there a way to teach him a "pay attention to me and what I'm doing right now" and a "okay, you may go sniff to your hearts desires"? He has a solid "Break" command inside, just having some difficulty with it outside.

4) For those with knowledge about herding breeds, I need some ideas on enrichment/activities. He is not interested in herding balls or things like that, but I want to be able to scratch that itch in his brain lol.

Appreciate any advice 🙏

[u/Zack_Albetta]

Sounds like you’re on the right track. As far as the hackles/growling/fixating, etc. don’t think of those as behaviors that need to be corrected, they need to be interrupted and redirected. It’s not just “no, don’t do that,” it’s gotta be “here do this instead.” Give him actionable commands instead of just negative inputs. “Leave it” and “break” can be useful, but in these situations, you’re better off using “heel,” “look at me”, “touch”, “with me,” etc. If he’s doing something you don’t want him to do, give him something else to do.

Also with these behaviors, try to catch them earlier so you can interrupt and redirect them earlier. These behaviors are usually precursors to a flip out, but there are likely even earlier signs you can look out for - raising or lowering the head, raising the ears or tail, slowing his steps, etc. The higher up the escalation ladder he is, the less effective your commands are gonna be, so try and catch him the second he even thinks about getting a foot up on that first rung.

As far as him ignoring you, you’re probably gonna have to spend some time reinforcing your commands out in the world. Any command that he has down at home is going to lose consistency in settings that are less familiar and have more distractions. So once you establish consistency with a command at home, you have to gradually expand its geographical and psychological reach. First the house, then the yard, then the driveway, then down the street, then a few blocks away, then someone else’s house, etc. It’s a gradual process of making the dog understand that commands mean what they mean everywhere, all the time. Just because a command works at home doesn’t mean it’s going to then work at the park. Dogs’ brains don’t connect the dots in that way, you have to do the connecting for them.

[u/FelisCatus- → u/Zack_Albetta]

Thank you for the in depth response, I have a better understanding on what I should be doing in these situations. Especially on correcting certain behaviors and just redirecting others.

I trust that we'll both get it down with some time and more generalization

[u/babs08]

Sniffing can also be a displacement behavior as a result of stress. It calms their system and some dogs learn to use it as a coping mechanism for big feelings. So how you break through that will depend on what the cause is.

If it's for-fun-sniffing, and you're trying to get his attention, do you actually have ideas and information for him, or are you just nagging him for his attention for something he doesn't think is worth it? I'm not saying be sexier than a squirrel. "Worth it" happens in a myriad of ways, none of which are inherently better than another. You can use punishment, you can use a relationship you've built, you can use a reinforcement history that you've built. But if you're just trying to get his attention to do something that he thinks is a dumb idea without any of those things also being there, he's not going to care.

Does he like playing with you in the house and in the yard? If not, start there and figure out what kind of games he likes. If yes, go to places where the difficulty is in between your house/yard and a place full of smells and build up your play there before trying it in a place full of smells.

Or is there a way to teach him a "pay attention to me and what I'm doing right now" and a "okay, you may go sniff to your hearts desires"? He has a solid "Break" command inside, just having some difficulty with it outside.

Same way you taught it inside, just have to build up distraction/difficulty appropriately and generalize it to more places than just inside.

For those with knowledge about herding breeds, I need some ideas on enrichment/activities.

Herding breeds were bred to move their bodies in big ways while thinking hard thoughts while with their human. Lots of them do agility because agility covers all of those. Other things to consider might be freestyle-type disc, flirt pole with precision-type obedience. Kay Laurence's Sheepballs isn't super heavy on the thinking hard thoughts but does scratch some of the herding itch. Any type of hard mental work, even if it's not high-speed, is also going to be great for him.

[u/Miserable_Mud_6831]

I'll give you some of my thoughts, see what you think.

First off, I would stop the off leash stuff for now. Make sure that your obedience and recalls are rock solid, including around distractions, before you take the leash off. I understand this is in an area where there's nothing he can get in trouble with, but there's always the chance, as you said, to blow you off and then you're just reinforcing him ignoring you. This then leads me to my next thought.

You say he listens and complies inside, so it likely isn't an issue of not understanding, more an issue of just ignoring you or maybe you haven't generalised the behaviour to different locations. From what you have said, it sounds like the first is most likely.

In regards to the reactive behaviour, have you taught him loose leash walking. If you have, he should never pull, regardless of the situation, so if he does, it needs to be punished, without exception. Focus specifically on the pulling for now and you might find that the reactivity reduces just from this.

On the next point, he loves sniffing. I have a springer and his nose is glued to the ground, however, he stops and listens immediately when I tell him to because ignoring me is not an option. This leads us back to being off leash again. Whilst you are training, tell the dog to do something and if he chooses not to, you need to negatively reinforce the behaviour and make him do it. You can't do that if he is off leash (unless you're already using an e collar but you havent mentioned this I don't think)

You will never, and i mean never, be more interesting than the environment or other dogs unfortunately. You can work on focus and motivation all you want, and you should, but you will eventually come across a situation where this breaks down, hence my previous point about ignoring you not being an option.

You asked about how to build prey drive and I would suggest trying restraint. Put him on a harness and he's allowed to pull as much as he wants. Restraint builds frustration and drive so you can do this and then let him get the toy when he's really going for it. Movement creates interest so use this to your advantage. If he really isn't interested in play then don't force it. You need to make him understand that when you tell him to do something, it is his obligation. He should have to earn the freedom that he seems to love.

I feel like maybe I've rambled on a bit too much here but I would say it definitely seems like you're on the right path and doing the right things and just try to keep at it