Can you encourage a dog to stand his ground?

VonVix

Sorry, this turned out longer than expected! I rambled a little bit.

I socialised my dogs really well with cats, perhaps too well. I believe in part this is one of the main culprits as to why he reacts so poorly to other dogs going near him, he seems to think if a dog tries to touch/approach him, they are going to try to hurt him much like a cat would. The only time I saw him play with a strange dog was when we came upon this stray Yorkie (that we spent an hour trying to catch and failed) this Yorkie was doing all the play positions and lifting his paws in the air, but he didn't for one second go near my dog to touch him so he seemed really comfortable with that interaction.

I unknowingly at the time neglected to socialise him with other dogs properly and thoroughly when he was a puppy. All I remember hearing was "he hasn't got his vaccinations yet so you can't take him out" he wouldn't walk on a collar (kept coming off his head and dog training was a total mystery to me back then, especially as this was my first dog ever), harnesses were something that were only 'realised' a couple of months later, and after then pretty much all he did for a long time was get a walk around a couple of blocks. It's safe to say his life is totally different now.

Today there was a Jack russell having a good play with a shih tzu off leash, the shih tzu came charging at my dog excitedly, leaving my boy to start running rings around me (I tried to keep the leash as loose as possible so he wouldn't feel trapped) trying to get away from him or avoid having the dog touch him. This had me thinking, I wish he could stand his ground instead of trying to run away, especially as the other dog thinks he's playing when in reality he's chosen flight instead of fight.

On two occasions we've had to look after another dog. First, an elderly Maltese, I then notice my dogs react really well to other strange small white dogs for a short period of time on walks.
Second, a Yorkie mix, once again my dogs react really well to other strange small brown dogs for a short period of time.
Both of these dogs we looked after did not really care for my own, they pretty much walked around the house with my two boys following them from behind curious to see what they were doing. My boys were really good with them, just very nosy!

Ultimately, I am wondering, is there any way I can safely discourage him from wanting to run away from dogs that try to play with him and have him stand his ground? His main bad experiences with dogs all have been because of him trying to run away. But if I try to discourage flight behaviour, will I be encouraging fight?

tk123

Stand his ground is possibly the wrong phrase to choose - it sounds like you want him to have a fight! You need to help him build his confidence. With my dog daycare helped a lot - after a few sessions he had confidence around some dogs but was still nervous of others. If you were going down that route you'd need to make sure they were working with your dog to help him - not just throw him in the room and flooding him while hoping for the best. IMO you're best to get professional help with this - if you push the dog beyond his limits it could end in disaster. Either go to a well established daycare/training centre with staff who are members of apdt and are experienced in helping shy dogs or contact a behaviourist for a one to one session.

Don't push your dogs beyond his limits though or it could end in disaster - I've had over friendly dogs approach Bailey and he's given out to them. Just this evening a dog who was imo out of her comfort zone being with the other dogs pinned Lucy down and then snapped at Bailey when he didn't like what was happening to Lucy and stepped in.

One_Of_Shanks

Yeah tk123 is spot on. It's not really "standing his ground", more a case of properly socialising him.
And best to do it gradually.

You can get some dog daycare sessions pretty cheaply these days. And they'll get him more confident and comfortable around other dogs more quickly without rushing things.

We had similar trouble with our one too. I tried to force the issue and made it worse.

Worth a few quid to get it done by somebody with experience and if the dog is young-ish then it wouldn't take too long

VonVix

tk123 wrote: »

Stand his ground is possibly the wrong phrase to choose - it sounds like you want him to have a fight! You need to help him build his confidence. With my dog daycare helped a lot - after a few sessions he had confidence around some dogs but was still nervous of others. If you were going down that route you'd need to make sure they were working with your dog to help him - not just throw him in the room and flooding him while hoping for the best. IMO you're best to get professional help with this - if you push the dog beyond his limits it could end in disaster. Either go to a well established daycare/training centre with staff who are members of apdt and are experienced in helping shy dogs or contact a behaviourist for a one to one session.

Don't push your dogs beyond his limits though or it could end in disaster - I've had over friendly dogs approach Bailey and he's given out to them. Just this evening a dog who was imo out of her comfort zone being with the other dogs pinned Lucy down and then snapped at Bailey when he didn't like what was happening to Lucy and stepped in.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I'd just like to figure out how to encourage him say "hey, not interested" in doggie language instead of "holy jeebus that thing is nearly touching me!" while other dogs view it as "yay he likes to play chase!" - a fight is the last thing I want him to do.

The thing about him is, is that he is REALLY interested in dogs, he wants to check out every dog he sees, especially sniff them when they're not looking at him. He's really friendly in that sense, he just gets overwhelmed easily.

I actually work in a doggie daycare. So if I was to take him to where I work, he'd essentially be with me the whole time and I would see everything that's going on.

One thing I know about my boy is that he is VERY impressionable, experiences last with him and he'd probably generalise about certain dog breeds if he has a particular experience he doesn't like.