# A dog who flips out on leash



## rosemaryninja (Sep 28, 2007)

I am a dog walker at my local SPCA, and we've been having some trouble with a dog named Toby. Toby is a young (we think about 9-11 months) Heinz 57 who is having trouble walking on leash. He was rescued as a little stray and spent most of his formative months in the sick bay due to a relentless series of skin infections. We've been working with him, and he's now able to play confidently with both human strangers and other dogs. 

One thing he hasn't been able to do though is walk on leash. He pulls, but we are training him and he's making excellent progress. Other than that, though, it seems like he just can't get used to the feeling of a leash. He'll walk happily for maybe ten seconds, and then he'll suddenly flip out, rearing up on his hind legs, trying to slip his collar, turning and pulling back in the direction we came from. At this point, what we normally do is be a tree. After awhile of this, he'll suddenly sit down or lie down in the grass and keep still, which is when we go crazy with treats and praise. (He's food-motivated as far as I can tell.)

We haven't figured out what triggers these episodes yet, but we think it's vehicles that drive past. 

The further we get from the shelter, the less time he can spend walking nicely before going nuts; and when walking back to the shelter, he doesn't flip out half as much. In fact, he pulls to get back to the shelter (we're working on this with the "be a tree" method and he's making superb progress.)

I think this is obviously a comfort zone problem. He spent so much of his socialisation period stuck in the sick bay of the shelter that he's quite anxious whenever he's outside. We are as calm and cheerful as possible when on walks, without sounding too excited, and we praise him for every little thing he does. We also try to keep him on our left, so that our bodies are between him and the road, but he doesn't like that much and continually tries to dart across to the right and then back, watching the road for signs of vehicles.

My basic question is: how can we desensitize him to the outdoors and lower the frequency of these little flip outs? He is a really great dog, but we all know that this is hugely hampering his adoptability.

Here's a picture of him:










Edit:
By the way, he has absolutely HUGE ears -- a decent rival to Webster's!


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

I agree, he is fearful of new places/things if he was in sick bay all that time. 

Maxwell didn't flip out but he had every other stress behavior in the book if he was walked outside. Vomit, tucked tail, high head, ears back, whale eyes, weaving, tense tongue and he even had a couple seizures I can blame on too much _outside_. To this day he will show stress if I walk him in a new to him place without his big sister. And he is eight years old. 

Oh, could you walk him with a calm buddy? Dogs do learn from and mirror other dog's behaviors. Little light bulb over the head moment there!

This really isn't good. This dog may need to go to a foster home to learn real life stuff before placing. What about all the stuff that isn't at the shelter? Stairs, carpet, inside cars, bikes, kids, playgrounds, sidewalks and streets, dog eating empty car trailers, enormous stuffed animals, giant boxes of pumpkins? Okay the last three were Maxwell moments. If I wasn't obsessed with dog training and read everything I could Maxwell would have never turned out to be a more or less normal dog.

I would walk Toby around his run, around the area he can see from his run and add larger circles to his walk as able. Sort of the reverse of how you can catch a rabbit by making an inward spiral, make an outward spiral. Try the calm dog buddy as well. Ignore the staring and worrying about scary things and reward the attention on you sort of things.


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## rosemaryninja (Sep 28, 2007)

Kathyy said:


> Oh, could you walk him with a calm buddy? Dogs do learn from and mirror other dog's behaviors. Little light bulb over the head moment there!


Not a hope. If we even pass another dog walking by, he goes nuts wanting to play. He lunges at the end of his leash trying to get to the dog, runs in circles around you and is even harder to control than he is when he's anxious. There ARE no calm dogs at my shelter. They all get walked for half an hour a day and playtime for another half hour, whether they're Silky Terriers or German Shepherds. Most of them are also untrained. The dogs that we get that are trained usually get adopted out very quickly.



> This really isn't good. This dog may need to go to a foster home to learn real life stuff before placing.


Although there is a dog rescue that fosters, the SPCA reserves foster homes for puppies only. 



> I would walk Toby around his run, around the area he can see from his run and add larger circles to his walk as able. Sort of the reverse of how you can catch a rabbit by making an inward spiral, make an outward spiral. Try the calm dog buddy as well. Ignore the staring and worrying about scary things and reward the attention on you sort of things.





JenHeil said:


> If it's a leash / collar issue, have you tried different kinds of collars? Harness or Halti collar? Or can he hang out in his usual places with the leash attached so he can be desensitized to the leash?


We've tried harnesses and Haltis, but he's even more freaked out by those. The only thing we can put on him without having a tragically aversive reaction is a regular flat nylon. We do put on the collar for short amounts of time when he's playing with other dogs or right before he gets his Kong. Progress is slow, though.



> As a last resort, would all-natural calming treats help? Drs Foster and Smith sell treats that help calm dogs - useful during thunderstorms or 4th of July fireworks. Of course, it should only be temporary.


I considered those, but he has really specific food allergies...



> What an adorable dog! I LOVE those ears! (no wonder sounds freak him out so much, though)


He is adorable, and if not for his temperamental problem, he would be in a forever home right now...that's what is bothering all of us. :/

Thanks for the advice, both of you


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## harrise (Jan 9, 2008)

I don't think 30 minutes is enough for him to give in and move on. It sounds like this is repetitive and predictable most days? Obviously I don't know the situation at the shelter, but I would walk this guy for over an hour if possible.


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## Annamarie (Oct 14, 2007)

i would take him outside, sit down outside the shelter, and feed him there. teach him that the leash and outside means good things. also i wouldnt treat him or stop when he throws fits, i'd just ignore it. keep walking and only treat him when he's walking at your side. i would also try laps around the shelter gradually getting bigger so that he stops pulling to go "home" and you don't have more flip outs the farther you go.


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