# New Whippet Owner Seeks Aggression Advice



## SoloMan (Apr 13, 2016)

Hello. I'm a 26 year old male who was previously the owner of a 12 year Italian Greyhound since 2004. This past February in 2016, my male Italian Greyhound passed away due to a ruptured tumor that was located near his kidneys. It was very sudden. One night he was fine, the following morning he was in terrible shape, and passed away later that night at the Veterinarian's office.

About two weeks ago I adopted a 2 year old (3 in June) male Whippet. I adopted him from a Whippet rescue group. He was surrendered by his previous owners who had owned him for more than 2 years.

The foster "mom" told me about what to watch out for. My Whippet is very aggressive with other dogs. As she told me, he will go crazy for people on bikes and for other dogs too.

He has a very deep bark and loves to make noises that sound like growling. Even when playing, when he is friendly. So it is hard to decipher if he is growling or not, because sometimes that's just how his bark sounds.

Regardless, I am looking for suggestions on how to calm him when he encounters other dogs and people when out and about. I am also trying to get him to be friendly with my Girlfriend's Golden Retriever.

My Whippet is the most friendly and snugly buddy. Very similar to my Italian Greyhound, except that my Whippet prefers to lie on top of the blankets, versus underneath.

I was just walking him this afternoon. He walks very nicely until he encounters bike riders, joggers, and other dogs. He will bark and spin around. He does not seem to be affected by people who are walking, though. From a distance, he was barking at an older woman walking a toddler. I stopped and didn't bring him close.

As far as I know, he has never attacked anyone. He plays just fine with my Girlfriend's children who are 10 and 13. He is very friendly to everyone that I have introduced him to here at my home.

I just can't be very "trusting" of him at this point, so whenever I see people walking, I normally squat down and hold him tightly, attempting to comfort him and ensure that he doesn't get as wild or crazy as he usually does when holding him solely with his leash.

As I already said, I am open for suggestions and methods for attempting to calm him down when he encounters other people and animals when out and about.

PS, the foster "mom" did have three other Whippets and a Jack Russel Terrier. My Whippet got along just fine with her Whippets. She did warn me that it would be a long process for getting him comfortable to other dogs, but that it was definitely possible. However, apparently he had a bit more difficulty when attempting to adjust to her Jack Russel Terrier.

As far as she knows (and she said she doesn't think that she was told everything by the surrendering family,) they had a mean Terrier. Apparently they decided to surrender my Whippet because he had "developed territorial habits." They also apparently had small children, but never mentioned them as being the reason they are getting rid of him. So really, I don't know the full story.

All in all, I am willing to work with my Whippet, because I really enjoy him. Nobody and no animal is perfect. I would just like to be able to walk him more easily without being anxious every time I see someone else jogging, riding a bike, or walking their dog.

As it is, he is the perfect NIGHT walker, when everyone else isn't out and about. A night owl's dream, I guess.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

http://www.dogforums.com/dog-training-forum/191506-links-books-blogs-etc.html

Tons of links to books, videos, blogs and more for working on reactivity or leash aggression

Some links may have gone bad over time but you can google the author or trainer's name to find out more


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## SoloMan (Apr 13, 2016)

I was told that he was leash reactive by the foster mom, but to be quite honest I don't think that it's the leash or collar. He loves going on walks, and is just as aggressive with other dogs indoors or outdoors, leash or no leash.

I was watching that TV show with Cesar Millan about dogs. I just don't understand how he does what he does, and says to give the dogs more room with the leash by not pulling them tighter when they get aggressive. That does not have any effect as the leash still gets tight due to the pulling regardless. Being that it is a reality show, I don't think that you can necessarily believe everything that you see happening on that show. There's reality TV, and then there's the real world.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

SoloMan said:


> I was told that he was leash reactive by the foster mom, but to be quite honest I don't think that it's the leash or collar. He loves going on walks, and is just as aggressive with other dogs indoors or outdoors, leash or no leash.
> 
> I was watching that TV show with Cesar Millan about dogs. I just don't understand how he does what he does, and says to give the dogs more room with the leash by not pulling them tighter when they get aggressive. That does not have any effect as the leash still gets tight due to the pulling regardless. Being that it is a reality show, I don't think that you can necessarily believe everything that you see happening on that show. There's reality TV, and then there's the real world.


PLEASE do not take Cesar's advice in any way in dealing with aggression/reactivity. I am glad you understand that it is a reality show - it is highly edited, lacks scientific based training methods and often suggests methods which can be dangerous to both dog and humans. While there are some bits here and there that are good, it takes a lot to wade through the bad to find them. Better to just go with sources that are good to begin with.

A lot of the training for "reactivity" can help in general for making walks smoother, even if he is simply dog-aggressive rather than leash reactive. Things like focus on you, distance from other dogs, etc. Barking at bikes for example is addressed in some of the training information.


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## Moonstream (Apr 3, 2016)

I agree with the above- MILAN IS NOT A REPUTABLE SOURCE OF INFORMATION ABOUT DOGS OR DOG BEHAVIOR. Milan's practices are based in the dominance theory of dog behavior. Trainers who use this method believe that almost everything a dog does is related to it attempting to elevate it's hierarchy in a pack and that the lack of leadership from the human, or the human failing to be "pack leader" is the reason for a dog's constant conflict. The theory is based in a junk science study done in the 1940's on captive wolf packs that essentially surmised that wolves maintained "alpha" status through force. It has since been discovered that this is not how wild wolf packs act and dogs do not have the same social structure as wolves anyways. These methods consistently set the dog up for failure by "flooding" the dog with its triggers (example, if the dog is aggressive towards other dogs, bring in a bunch of other dogs) and then correcting them when they display the unwanted behavior (through leash checks, alpha rolls, rib kicks, mimicking another dog biting their neck, etc). There is a high risk of fallout (unintended consequences) with these techniques, often but not limited to: redirection of aggression to handler, escalation (either becoming more aggressive or more reactive or moving from just being reactive to being aggressive), as well as shutdown (essentially they have "left the building" and stopped reacting to stimulus because they are overwhelmed, not because they have somehow learned not to repeat the behavior), and learned helplessness (which, scientifically, means that an animal consistently exposed to an aversive- in this case the trainers "alpha dog corrections" has come to think that it's behaviors and the outcome- the aversive- are independent and it no longer does anything to escape the aversive because it sees it as inevitable).
An article by Ian Dunbar (a great behaviorist/trainer/resource) on the faulty research behind dominance theory and how dominance in dogs actually works: http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001/dominance.htm
An article that explains more about why dominance theory is not a great way to train: http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/14_12/features/
and an article that explains shutdown and learned helplessness a little bit: http://eileenanddogs.com/2013/08/23/shut-down-dogs/

What you have now is a reactive dog. 'Reactive' means that an animal is over reacting to mild external stimuli (bikes, joggers gong past, the sight of another dog, the sight of a stroller). Reactivity may be specific to being on-leash, or a dog might be reactive both on and off leash- from what you say it sounds like he displays reactivity both on and off leash.

In my opinion you have a few different ways you can handle the situation. 

#1: *Management*
This is going to be important no matter how you choose to go- this is just making sure that he isn't in a situation where his reactivity/aggression can escalate or lead to a bite to another dog or person. Do not let him off leash (with a whippet I doubt you're doing a lot of off leash stuff anyways outside of your own yard) and be aware of your surroundings. Keep an eye out for things that you know he will react to (dogs, bikes, joggers, baby strollers) and continue doing what you've been doing- find a way to distance him from the trigger, preferably at a distance that he doesn't react to it but if you cannot bring him far enough away then just cross streets, move to the side of the sidewalk, and be sure to deter other dog owners and people from coming up to him. I would recommend using a front clip harness if he's doing a lot of lunging to keep him from hurting his neck while still retaining ability to control him. The Freedom Harness is a good one; I usually recommend the Easy Walk ones because they're very easy to find these days, but they also tend to be easy to get out of, especially for leggy dogs like whippets. The Freedom ones also have a clip at the back so you can use a double sided leash clipped front and back for extra control if you want. If you are set on a collar, use a martingale type that he cannot back out of and I'd recommend using a wide one meant for slender sighthoud necks. I wouldn't use a headcollar or back clip harness and I definitely would not put him in a choke chain or a prong.

In terms of how to move him off the sidewalk, I would recommend practicing leash/attention skills at home and working towards putting them to work in the presence of his triggers. Here's an example of what I mean by "leash/attention skills":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWU7wl_wp2A
You're turning looking at you and listening to you vs looking at other things into a fun game. Try not to do too much physical restraining when you're moving away. Don't tug on the leash, that may serve to escalate the reaction. If you need to, just gently, constantly pull against him in the way you want to go. Just stand to the side, with a short leash, try to cross a street if possible, give room to the passing dog. I would definitely suggest trying to walk him during "off hours" when less things are around to trouble him. The more he gets to perform this behavior (reacting to other dogs/joggers/etc) the more ingrained it will become and the harder it will be to train out as well as the more likely it will be to escalate, and more importantly, it's not nice for a dog to be living in fear (note: reactivity is most often linked to fear or anxiety, another reason why I am so against dominance methods and correction in dealing with it. You're reinforcing the dog's belief that they should be afraid or anxious of the trigger).

#2 *Create a conditioned emotional response through counter conditioning*
Essentially, you're working to change his response to another dog from "OMG what is that no I don't like it" to "oh hey, awesome!" by teaching him that another dog = a yummy treat. All work is done with the dog below threshold, meaning that your goal is to never have him start snapping/growling/whatever at the other dog. You find the distance he is comfortable at and make note of it. Then, you have someone hold the other dog at the distance (in your case you girlfriend and her golden) and keep it calm/not focused on the Whippet, usually this can be done by distracting the other dog with food. You then hold your Whippet on a loose leash and feed him for looking calmly at the other dog. Every so often, the other dog is moved out of sight and the feeding stops. If the whippet starts reacting to the other dog, pause the session, remove him, let him calm down, and then start again. Here are a few video examples of counter conditioning sessions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9e4fcRJ6Eo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l4Jd1bu3pY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zyjiA9bD3E

Here's an example of this kind of training being put into effect during a walk and with the kind of leash/attention skills I was talking about before:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUCl6ndLN7Q
You'll notice she is doing some tugging, but it's not with the intent to correct any behavior, it is being done in order to position the dog so that it is looking at her and she can reward it. She is not expecting the dog to learn in some way from the tugging like you would when giving a physical correction. She is continuously feeding the dog even though it is over threshold because there is no way to get the dog below threshold- this is an example of what it might look like when you encounter another dog on a walk. As she says, he's not really ready for this kind of a situation yet. That said, real life happens and there are dogs everywhere.

Option #3 *Teach a different behavior using operant conditioning methods like BAT (Behavioral Adjustment Treatment)* 
I'm not super familiar with BAT so don't feel comfortable giving pointers on it, but you can see here for more information:
http://grishastewart.com/bat-overview/
Also, a video that shows both BAT and counter-conditioning (also includes a "calm cap" which I personally would not recommend:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpHGAk1933I


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