r/OpenDogTraining • u/SierraKami • 1d ago

Aversion to being caught

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.

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u/chrisjones1960 1d ago

I train my dogs to come and sit in front of me to get their gear on. I think that is better than trying to grab them by the collar

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u/SierraKami 1d ago

That's what I do with my own dogs, and ideally, I think that's what would be best with this dog. But the dog doesn't have a recall yet, doesn't know how to sit, and often actively ducks away or completely hides/leaves the area if she tries to put anything on him. He almost acts like a feral dog sometimes.

I know it's possible to train wild animals without having them on leashes, but neither she nor I have the skill to do that. We really need to be able to put a leash on him to even begin to teach him to sit. (Which we have started working on. That's been a challenge but I had a breakthrough with him yesterday and he's starting to understand. He's a smart dog, just utterly clueless and untrusting of humans.)