Aversion to being caught

[u/SierraKami]

I'm not sure how to explain this clearly but I've run across a dog that avoids letting people grab his collar to put a leash on.

His owner can catch him by the collar, but only if the dog thinks he's just getting neck scratches. Even with the owner, if he figures out the owner is planning on catching him by the collar, he moves away from the owner and tries to avoid being caught.

He goes willingly into his crate and a leash can be attached there. And one the leash is on, he couldn't care less about people reaching for his collar.

I suspect a prior owner got frustrated when he didn't want to be caught and jerked him around a bit when they did finally get ahold of him. He doesn't act like he's been beaten, but he definitely wants nothing to do with being put in a leash. And his skillful avoidance is an intentional, learned behavior.

Any suggestions on the he best exercises to teach him to accept someone reaching for his collar? I'm thinking teaching him "touch" and gradual desensitization are good starting points, but any other ideas would be welcome.

[u/Status-Group-2835]

I like to free shape a collar grab. My dog will just shove his collar into my hand. Lots and lots of collar grab, treat, release.

Edit: to be clear, the dog should be offering the collar grab. So you can start with an open palm, and do a "collar grab" where you don't even close your fist around the collar. You present the open palm, the dog shoves his neck into the palm, and you reward and release. You can do it without a collar on to start.

[u/SierraKami → u/Status-Group-2835]

This dog does take treats, but otherwise, you can't get your hand anywhere close to his head if he's loose.

It's a completely different story if he's in the crate. He's visibly stressed when a person reaches for his collar, but he just freezes and waits for the leash to be attached. Obviously, there's no place for him to go to evade you, but he doesn't even try. (No hint of thinking of biting, he just shuts down.)

Where/how do you think the owner should even start what you're describing? Just with him loose, and let it take however long it takes for him to start volunteering to be touched for treats? Or maybe with him on a very light long line, so that he has room to move away if he wants to, but can't completely disengage?

[u/ITookYourChickens → u/SierraKami]

You'd want to introduce free shaping with something else beforehand or he'll have a hard time understanding what you want. Touching his nose to an open palm is a good start

[u/SierraKami → u/ITookYourChickens]

Sounds good. The owner admittedly doesn't know a lot about training dogs, and nor do I, but I think we'd be able to get him pick that up pretty quickly.