My Dog Is Afraid Of Ghosts

[Lauren Wallace]

Hi all.

My dog has been a huge challenge to raise since she about 9 months old to the present. We went through and conquered Seperation Anxiety and extreme stress when left alone! Woohoo. Unfortunately, I think my dog is getting very fear-aggressive. And this problem seems almost hopeless.

Anyway, my little pit bull/boxer mix seems to be getting more and more fearful as time passes. She's now 1.5 years old. Today, we were walking through my neighborhood, going along as normal. I had my clicker and treats and she was doing a really good job heeling with her GL on. We stopped for a rest, and suddenly, I could sense tension flow over her, and she started pulling and looking around frantically. She kept looking back in fear everytime the wind blew. She was watching the people go by, and acting very afraid of everything and everyone, suddenly. She was blowing out of her nostrils in little gusts. Her tail went way down and she was almost haunched over. When I tried to keep moving and ignoring her fearfulness, she pulled like mad and I had 0 control, so I stopped walking. This man crossed the street toward us, and she was watching him very intently, looking scared out of her wits that he was going to DO something, but then she'd see another person in the distance move and stare at them the same way. It was very strange and put me in a bad mind-set. We walk past people all the time every day without this reaction. It was unsettling how she reacted today. It's like she's seeing ghosts.

We hired a behaviorist, and she is teaching my dog to look to me when she's afraid, but I have a hard time getting through to my dog when she's scared. When we see another dog, or see something she's afraid of, she freezes. In the case of seeing other dogs, she will freeze, I can't block her view with my body (she tries to look around my legs), I can't make her move away, I can't distract her, and then she will lunge at the other dog as it passes. This is very disconcerting to me, not to mention it is dangerous! The behaviorist says I need to back up away from the trigger, but I can't make her budge when she's fixated. I'd have to drag her away by her headcollar using sheer strength. What if the leash busts? I only weigh 115#, by the way, and she's about 63#.

As a puppy, we (DH and I) socialized her like crazy. We took her everywhere with us. We went to parks, BBQ's, friends' houses, etc. We did puppy classes and Basic Obedience. We trained her using +R. She played with other dogs really well as a puppy. She has one dog friend left who she can still play with, share with, and romp around with. However, we had to stop going to the dog park because she was both being bullied and being a bully, and she bit me during a fight with another dog. I stupidly tried to pull her away from the fight by her collar. She also bit a friend of mine during a fight with HER dog. As my friend was reaching in to grab her dog's collar, though we were warning her not to during the scuffle, my dog apparently bit her. By the way, my friend still loves us. My dog now has a history of two bites the behaviorist says are "level 1 bites."

I don't think my dog is the safest dog to have around small kids, either. We have none of our own, but babies kind of freak her out. She used to bark at the sound of a baby crying, but I have baby noises saved on my computer and play them and I think she's finally used to the noise. With kids, she loves gentle, quiet, calm children, (know any kids like that? - HA) but even normal, noisy child activity can put her on edge. She's barked at three children under 5 while on a walk. On the other hand, she's really likes kids over 5. She let a whole camp group pet her a couple weeks ago, and did lots of tricks for them too. It freaks her out to be stared at by kids, and of course they want to look at her, she's really pretty :(

What are the chances that my dog's fears will ever get better? It is quite a life we are leading....she's afraid of ghosts and I'm afraid of her weird reactions to the world around her. I don't want her bite someone, harm a child, or get into nasty dog fights. I want to go on long hikes, bike with her, play silly games with her, and take her camping with us. I just wish she wasn't so afraid and so much to handle. It's becoming very unsafe to even socialize her at all with strange people anymore, as she ROO ROO ROOS at CERTAIN men and wags her tail at them at the same time. Her exercise is being compromised because of her fear, as walking her isn't very much fun anymore. We used to walk MILES together, but now I have to be on the lookout for other dogs.

My dog is on the NILIF program already, by the way. It helps some. She's really sweet and loveable with those she knows well. She's completely devoted to me and only very rarely "talks back" when i issue a command. Would YOU say it's hopeless for this dog's future? Would YOU continue giving her the chance to change her emotions? Would you put a dog like this to sleep? It breaks my heart to even mention that, but I want to know what people honestly think. Do YOU have a dog like mine?

Lauren :confused:

[Renee Premaza]

Hi Lauren!

You said: "We hired a behaviorist, and she is teaching my dog to look to me when she's afraid, but I have a hard time getting through to my dog when she's scared. When we see another dog, or see something she's afraid of, she freezes. In the case of seeing other dogs, she will freeze, I can't block her view with my body (she tries to look around my legs), I can't make her move away, I can't distract her, and then she will lunge at the other dog as it passes. This is very disconcerting to me, not to mention it is dangerous! The behaviorist says I need to back up away from the trigger, but I can't make her budge when she's fixated. I'd have to drag her away by her headcollar using sheer strength. What if the leash busts? I only weigh 115#, by the way, and she's about 63#. "

Kudos to your behaviorist when she's telling you to "back up" away from the trigger! You don't need to be a strong person to do this, especially if your dog is on the gentle leader. The way I get my clients to back up is to actually walk backwards away from "the scary thing or person" by holding your dog's leash firmly with both hands right at your belly level. Keep walking backwards and don't stop moving until your dog has to turn around and walk toward you. When you walk backwards the dog has no other choice other than to come around and face you. The gentle leader is perfect for this because you have control of the dog's head and the direction in which that head is pointing!

One mistake you're making is letting her freeze at anytime. The longer your dog gets to stare at someone or something, the higher her arousal levels become. During this time she begins to process information from the Limbic Brain where the flight and fight response comes from. The Limbic Brain is in the back of the dog's head, which is not near the part of the brain where rational thinking comes from. Once a dog is functioning from the Limbic Brain, the brain is being washed with all sorts of chemicals and it then becomes virtually impossible for the dog to think clearly. It's doubtful she would even hear you speak to her at that point. Have you ever been so angry with someone and you felt you couldn't even think straight?? That's how your dog feels when she's at that point.

Here's a few tips on what to do with your dog when out walking in public. Make sure that the hand you hold the loop of the leash with is also holding MOST of the slack in the leash too. Hold this hand firmly at your belly at all times while walking. The other hand should be placed almost directly in front of the ring under her chin where the leash is connected with the snap. THAT hand should remain at your side and should not move around. Be careful to maintain a loose-leash and don't pull her up taut against you! A tight leash tells the dog, "there's danger up ahead and even I'm nervous about it."

While walking, YOU should scan the environment, and you also must pay close attention to your dog. Don't lose yourself in your own thoughts, which is all too easy to do. The very second you see your dog alert to something, you should tell her to "LOOK!" If she does look up at you, give her a HIGH-VALUE treat immediately! I know that you said it's hard to get that response from her, but if you train LOOK in your home everyday when there's no distraction, you will get a better response outside. There is an ATTENTION GAME in the articles section here. If you read that article, it tells how you can teach your dog to LOOK with mild distractions, which should also be trained in the house first. The treats you use during your walks should be special, and not used for anything else! Treats used should be cheese, cooked garlic chicken, rare roast beef or raw ground beef.

If either she or you notice that someone is approaching, immediately walk backwards and start treating her with these foods until the "scary person" is no longer in view - then stop feeding. Another method to desensitize her is to walk in an arc around that person. For example, if a person is walking toward you on the same side of the street, arc out into the street creating lots of distance and as you're doing this, keep your dog busy by feeding her the entire time. When the person passes, return to your original path and stop feeding.

I know it's hard to understand that even with good socialization, your dog has now become fearful. Unfortunately, you are probably dealing with hereditary behavior. I also think that a big part of the problem is YOUR own anxiety. When you're nervous, your dog will respond in kind, ESPECIALLY if you're attached to her leash. Think of her leash as a telegraph of emotions. You MUST keep calm; otherwise, your dog will feel like she has to take care of her own self. If you're calm, she'll feel more confident in YOUR ability to keep her safe.

Your behaviorist can work with the collar aggression by desensitizing her to it. My own dog was VERY collar aggressive and with clicker training, I was able to improve on that. She may not let everyone touch or grab her collar because that type of training won't generalize until A LOT OF PEOPLE work with her. Little collar grabs and then treats will help until she's able to accept being held by the collar. Again, use high-value treats for harder behaviors.

I would work with your behaviorist. You can get improvements, but there's NO QUICK FIX. You must be patient and do your homework. I worked with my fear aggressive dog for two years before I could honestly say he was greatly improved. However, aggression is NOT curable. You will help to raise your dog's bite threshold so she can tolerate more stress in her life before she reacts by biting. Your responsibility is never to put her in ANY situation that would be so stressful that her bite threshold would fall to the lowest level ever again.

Keep working with your behaviorist. It sounds like she's got a lot on the ball.

[Monique Shimm]

Good Luck Lauren! And I wish you ooodles of patience. I also have a fearful dog and I think we are in for the long-haul. But I am glad that you have someone to work with you on this! You will be so glad you did. Your story has given me strength to keep working with my dog. Thanks.

[Lauren Wallace]

Thank you so much for the wonderful responses! My pup has had a great week. We met with the behaviorist and discussed all the issues I wrote about. She has me working with my dog in the same way(s) Renee suggested. I really appreciate the support I got from everyone here. I was emotional when I wrote, but I think my girl just got spooked by something during our walk that day. We haven't had any more of her acting like she's "seeing ghosts" this week.

My sister also stopped by with her baby the other day, and my pup was SO GOOD with him. I had her on a leash, let her sniff his things, and she sniffed the baby;licked his face. She was really good with him, even when he reached out and touched her. She acted like it was no big deal, and I had her do tricks for him which made him laugh :) I'm so proud of her right now. I gave her lots of cookies and belly rubs while he was visiting. I'm very cautious with her around little kids, because the noise they make seems to scare her a bit, but I think with time and GOOD EXPERIENCES with nice kids, she'll be fine :)

Thanks so much everyone!

Lauren

[heathea]

I totally cheated with my fearful dog. He used to be really bad, then I got another dog. His fearfulness is much much better now. I am not suggesting this as a solution, just mentioning that it worked for me.
When he would freeze up off leash (he still does this, although rarely) all I have to do is walk up to him and touch his collar and he will follow me. My husband and I say, "someone go reboot Teak!" Then collar touch and everything is okay.
My dogs are wierd, but I love 'em!