Behaviour on lead

LJ82

Hi, looking for some advice here, have a 7 year old JRT, have had him for two years, got him from the ISPCA.
He is a great dog in the house however, it is a totally different story when he goes out for a walk. If he is on the lead and even sees another dog he barks aggressively at them and pulls strongly, the bigger the dog the angrier he gets. It can get embarrassing and I feel awful about it.
I don't know many other people in the area so can't socialise him with other dogs, I can't give him a treat when he is well behaved on walks because that never happens! Have taken to driving away from where I live and letting him lose along a quiet part of the canal, he doesn't react same way at all if he is loose.
At all other times he is very gentle and great with children and any visitors to the house. Any ideas?

DBB

Ah, gotta love terriers, huh? :P
There are two major reasons why dogs act the way he's acting when on lead OP.
One is that he's fearful of other dogs: terriers are hard-wired to put up a big aggressive display even if they're bricking it, and most dogs are fearful of others due to having been poorly socialised with lots of different dogs as young puppies. You probably have no way of knowing your dog's ancient history, but this is the most common cause.
Second is frustration, where the dog actually wants to go and interact with the other dog, but can't because he's on-lead, and over time a well-rehearsed behaviour of barking, pulling, and bouncing about is formed. If these dogs are punished for their behaviour, they can become fearful of other what other dogs mean. Also, because their owners tend to assume they're going to eat other dogs, they tend not to let them off-lead at all to continue fine-honing their social skills, and so the dog becomes a little bit socially inept.
Most dogs, whether fearful or frustrated, are fine with other dogs when off-lead, as they can call the shots a lot better when they don't have an owner trying to interfere with what they're trying to do at the other end of the lead!

How to deal with it? It's a bit complicated, but it involves first teaching your dog a new behaviour that is incompatible with barking and lunging: the "look" is a great one, and teaching it so well and so thoroughly that your dog cannot not respond to it.
Then, you go to a place where you can give your dog plenty of space from other dogs, and where you can get yourself out of there if another dog approaches you: he must not be forced into direct interactions with other dogs for some weeks to come, if ever, it depends on how strongly he feels about other dogs being near him.
Remaining at a distance where he is not too worried about another dog being x meters away (this might be hundreds of meters at this early stage... that's okay, work with whatever distance he's non-reactive at), you work and work at that "look" command, using treats, or if he's not into treats, a squeaky toy, or if he's not into that, then retreating to give him more distance from the other dog, which is rewarding in itself for fearful dogs especially. And more treats and praise. A squeaky toy is often very effective too to capture a terrier's attention. Once he takes his attention off the other dog, it's party time, every time.
With time, repetition, time and repetition, never ever putting your dog in a position where he has to confront other dogs, they eventually learn this alternative coping strategy which works consistently for them to control what used to be a fearful or frustrating situation for him.
You will probably find that you have much better control if you get yourself a front-connection harness for him: the Premier Easy-Walk Harness is hard to beat in this regard.
This all sounds very well writing it down, but there is no replacement for seeing it happen under the expert eye of a good behaviourist. If you would like to get some help, let us know where you are and hopefully someone here can recommend a good, qualified behaviourist... there are plenty of self-titled cowboys out there who will make this problem worse, so you need to tread with care!

LJ82

DBB, thank you very much for taking the time to explain all that, it makes a lot of sense. Will definitely try the toy with him and come back for guidance on a behaviourist if we have no joy. Really do appreciate your reply, love our little fella so much and want him to be happy on his walks (want a happy owner too!)

AMHennessy

We had the exact same problem with our rescue terrier, she was a nightmare to walk and we used to also drive her to quiet areas to avoid the issue. That was our biggest mistake, it Made her even worse when she had to have contact with dogs eg at the vets. We saw an excellent behaviourist who recommended the exact same as DBB, and it's Been a long road but now we can walk her without all the stress we used to have. We used to pull her away from other dogs when she kicked off, now we loosen the lead and walk up to the other dogs. I also second the advice of getting a harness as opposed to a lead, it gives you so much more control.
It will be a long road, but if you persevere, walking your dog it can become an enjoyable experience. Good luck!