Really upset, would welcome advice

[Rosie M]

Hi there,
Nearly 4 months ago our dog Harry had cruciate ligament surgery. There’s been a few ups and downs but we’re getting there. He’s still on restricted lead walks, and there lies the problem as he’s become very bad tempered around other dogs, barking and growling. Almost any dogs. Curiously his tail is nearly always wagging. About 18 months before the surgery he started occasionally growling at large dogs, all of which were off lead and wouldn’t leave him alone. Harry had been cornered several times before that by several large dogs belonging to the same owner, off lead and badly controlled. Before this he had the sweetest friendliest temperament around all dogs. We intend to seek help for this, but next week we are off to the West Country for a week and would really appreciate some advice on how to cope while away. Sorry for the long post. Thanks

 

[JudyN]

Dogs can wag their tails as a sign of general arousal, as a challenge, or as appeasement, as well as a friendly greeting, so I wouldn't read too much into it.

He's probobably frustrated at being on lead, underexercised (out of necessity, of course), feeling vulnerable to other dogs as he's on lead, and uncomfortable because of his past experiences with other dogs, so it's not surprising this is affecting his behaviour. Avoidance of other dogs is key, here - choose places to walk where you can avoid them as much as possible, if one approaches, turn the other way and leave, and/or ask the owner to call their dog away. Introduce some on-lead sniffing games, which can be as simple as throwing treats or kibble into the grass and letting him search for them.

You caan also start working on his reactivity using the guidelines in this post: Dog Reactivity Hopefully, when his life is more back to normal, he'll be able to make good progress.

 

[Rosie M]

Thank you for replying. All good advice which I really appreciate . Thanks also for the link. Good times ahead I’m sure.

 

[Rehab Kennels]

I speak as qualified practicing behaviourist with 14yrs running a rehab kennel so I'm trusted in what I say and advise.

A wagging tail can mean a range of emotions such as happiness, nervousness, feeling threatened or anxious, submission and excitement and every individual reason has it's own distinct tail wag it speaks a language.
One of the most common misconceptions about dogs is that a wagging tail always means that they're happy, but in your case this is defiantly not the reason! Reading what you wrote he is almost defiantly feeling threatened but submissive at the same time, he wants them to stay away but needs to let them no that his growling is not a challenge, he doesn't want to fight. (I've attached some boy language diagrams below so you get a better understanding what your dog is trying to say).

The reason for the change in behaviour is going to be a combination of the painful injury, the cornering of the dogs which he would of expected and looked to you for help and if you didn't go and get the other dogs away or try and get him out the situation then he would of now lost trust in you outside and feels like he needs to protect himself and as in most cases the reaction and actions of the owner when a dog shows this behaviour is usually completely wrong and tells the dog the opposite to what we think were telling them which is the main escalator of the worsening behaviour ... We are nearly always the c

ause of every single unwanted behaviour a dog does!

 

[JoanneF]

feeling vulnerable to other dogs

My boy had a torn cruciate ligament and surgery just under a year ago. I noticed he also became visibly more tense when unknown dogs approached him, he undoubtedly felt more vulnerable. It has improved over the year though, although I've always been selective about his encounters with other dogs.

You have had good advice that I won't repeat but I just wanted to offer a bit of encouragement from our experience.

 

[Rosie M]

I speak as qualified practicing behaviourist with 14yrs running a rehab kennel so I'm trusted in what I say and advise.

A wagging tail can mean a range of emotions such as happiness, nervousness, feeling threatened or anxious, submission and excitement and every individual reason has it's own distinct tail wag it speaks a language.
One of the most common misconceptions about dogs is that a wagging tail always means that they're happy, but in your case this is defiantly not the reason! Reading what you wrote he is almost defiantly feeling threatened but submissive at the same time, he wants them to stay away but needs to let them no that his growling is not a challenge, he doesn't want to fight. (I've attached some boy language diagrams below so you get a better understanding what your dog is trying to say).

The reason for the change in behaviour is going to be a combination of the painful injury, the cornering of the dogs which he would of expected and looked to you for help and if you didn't go and get the other dogs away or try and get him out the situation then he would of now lost trust in you outside and feels like he needs to protect himself and as in most cases the reaction and actions of the owner when a dog shows this behaviour is usually completely wrong and tells the dog the opposite to what we think were telling them which is the main escalator of the worsening behaviour ... We are nearly always the cView attachment 111980662 View attachment 111980663 ause of every single unwanted behaviour a dog does!

Thank you for taking the time to reply. All of what you’ve said makes so much sense. I’ve always thought that his initial behaviour was down to something that we had done or not. Your explanation adds a lot of clarity. That also for the diagrams.

 

[Victoria Salter]

Hi there,
Nearly 4 months ago our dog Harry had cruciate ligament surgery. There’s been a few ups and downs but we’re getting there. He’s still on restricted lead walks, and there lies the problem as he’s become very bad tempered around other dogs, barking and growling. Almost any dogs. Curiously his tail is nearly always wagging. About 18 months before the surgery he started occasionally growling at large dogs, all of which were off lead and wouldn’t leave him alone. Harry had been cornered several times before that by several large dogs belonging to the same owner, off lead and badly controlled. Before this he had the sweetest friendliest temperament around all dogs. We intend to seek help for this, but next week we are off to the West Country for a week and would really appreciate some advice on how to cope while away. Sorry for the long post. Thanks

Will you be taking him with when you go away? If not, it would be a good idea to see if you can find a good dog-sitter or kennel person, or someone who could have him in their house, who also has knowledge on dog behaviour. That way, they may be able to help train him as well as looking after him whilst he’s away.
A good thing to do would be to introduce him to other people’s dogs whom you know are good with other dogs, with all of them on leads. When he is reactive, take him away and allow him to calm down. Keep doing this until he stops being reactive to them. When he is calm and good around him, reward him heavily with petting, praise and treats.

 

[JudyN]

When he is reactive, take him away and allow him to calm down. Keep doing this until he stops being reactive to them. When he is calm and good around him, reward him heavily with petting, praise and treats.

When a dog is reactive, it is the owner who has messed up, not the dog, by allowing the dog to get uncomfortably close. If the dog reacts at, say, 5 metres, the owner should withdraw to, say, 10 metres, and treat the dog from that distance. They then shouldn't approach to 5 metres again until the dog has been calm at 9.5, 9m, 8.5m... and they shouldn't reduce the distance until the dog has shown that they are completely happy, not suppressing a reaction.

 

[Hemlock]

I agree - when a dog (or we) are scared, REALLY SCARED, no amount of being told it's fine will convince us, because we know it isn't. Distance is the deciding factor for calmness.

 

[Rosie M]

Update.
Some time has passed since I started this thread and fortunately so has our our situation.
We followed the above advice and avoided all dogs when our dog was on a lead. Following a post op check up, vet then gave the go ahead for a short period off lead and, with supervision, and watching body language etc, interaction with other dogs followed with no barking or growling! From that moment all negative behaviour as good as stopped ( there has been only a couple times he’s barked).
We feel we have our friendly easy going dog back again.
Thanks again everyone for your thoughts and advice. Very appreciated

 

[JudyN]

That's good news - thanks for the update

 

[Hemlock]

Delighted for you both. Thanks for letting us know.