FIGHT OR FLIGHT (Leash Aggression)
Part 1

So there you are walking along with your wonderful dog, enjoying the walk, loving the beautiful scenery, and thinking about summer and out of the blue that lovely dog you were just admiring turns into Cujo.  What the heck!  You quickly scan the horizon to see what’s brought on that behavior and sure enough there comes a dog.  You knew it would be a dog because this has happened several times before.  So what’s happening?     

It is commonly thought that most organisms have 5 primary responses to external stimuli:  fight, flight, freeze, fool around and faint.  For most predatory animals fight and flight are their two most commonly used responses.  Quite often these dogs are great in an off leash situation but when on a leash turn into a mindless, growling, lunging, tooth baring animal.  Oh yea, that’s right they are animals, and as such are governed by behavior an animal understands, but wait, we are animals, too. 

Think about how you feel when you enter a very small room with lots of people verses entering a very large room with lots of space and just a few people.  Which are you more comfortable in?   In a lot of respects that’s what’s happening to your dog when on leash; he is limited to what his response can be, if he wanted to leave the area he can’t because of the leash, if he wants to go forward and greet he may not be able to because of the leash. 

This scenario is called “leash aggression” and it is very common.  So how does one deal with this behavior?  As mentioned in several previous articles socialization is so very important.   When dogs meet they don’t want some other dog they just met to jump on them or mount them; that’s just RUDE.  But if that keeps happening they begin to question your leadership skills and they then need to be sure another dog doesn’t overwhelm them so they begin to take charge of the situation.  The way he sees it is the best way to take charge is to prevent the situation.  And so it begins….more on how to handle this all too common problem, check out part 2 in the next newsletter.

Link to Part 2 of this article.

Please visit our Dog Behavior & Training page for a list of behavior and training resources. Visit our Upcoming Events page for info about Barb DeGroodt’s dog behavior question and answer sessions held monthly in Pacific Grove or Salinas.

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