Help please! Is this excitement, fear, aggression.....?

Dexter adores people and almost always when we pass someone in the street he will want to greet them - when I first adopted him he had an awful habit of jumping up to greet anyone walking past. I've managed to stop this and now he's much better.

But:

Today we went out for an early walk. An elderly man carrying a newspaper under his arm was walking down the street towards us. I saw Dexter tense a bit and assumed it was his usual excitement.

However, when the man got a bit closer, Dex went ****mad****. Jumping, growling, lunging, barking. The poor man looked terrified - and I don't blame him!

I apologised and hauled Dex over to the side and put a headcollar on him. But it's left me feeling confused - it didn't look like excitement that Dex was feeling...

I'm assuming that maybe the man reminded him of someone who maybe wasn't nice to him in his previous home?

I guess my question is in two parts:

1 - how do you calm your dog when he goes beserk like this???

2 - does it sound like aggression?

I know the latter is possibly hard to answer without seeing but if anyone has any thoughts....


Thank you

Sounds as if whoever the person was it reminded him of something in his past. I think you just have to be vigilant when you see people men in particular with newspapers and if you can bring him beside you and treat him you could use the watch me command and hopefully he will soon realise he is safe and overcome his fear. It might be worth doing this with anybody carrying a newspaper.

People who are afraid of dogs tend to do the worst possible things - they raise their head, then fix the dog with an unblinking stare, then position their body facing straight at the dog. Occasionally they freeze.
Now think about the signals a dog gives if it`s going to start a fight...
the stare, the posture, the immobility.
What I have done is to teach a `watch me command` in which the dog turns to focus on me and is rewarded (you need to teach this away from any stimulus at first till it becomes automatic) . This breaks the tension, and then you simply walk round or away from the `threat`.
Next time, simply turn away from the trigger person, get your dog under control, in a sit and reward... then apologise from a distance, explaining he is being rehabilitated.
People are usually OK if they see you regain control.

Many thanks LYNN and CLAIREANDDAISY, much appreciated

I'll try the 'watch me' command, just worried because Dex seems to suffer from 'red mist' when he goes mad like this, nothing will distract him.

Many thanks for your help

The red mist I know it well. Ollie does this if he sees a particular breed of dog he has a problem with. If you can always be one step ahead and see things up ahead before he does it gives you a chance to distract or move away from the situation.

Some dogs seem to be more reactive towards people they view visually as being 'different' than the norm -- people with walking sticks, in high viz clothing, in hats, people walking with a certain posture...my Lab has been similarly reactive towards policemen in uniform before, embarrassingly!

I think it is a fear based behaviour more often than not. They can't run away from the 'threat' if on the lead, so go for the fear-defensive option.

C&D gave great advice. Turn the dog away from the subject of the reactivity immediately and gain the dogs focus.

Many thanks again LYNN

And also LABRADORK - yes, Dex does seem to be a very reactive dog, I'm thinking that in his previous home he was not treated very nicely, though happily he likes *most* people.....thus far...

Don't jump to the conclusion that the dog has been treated badly in the past, this may be far from the case.

It may well be that the dog has been insufficiently socialised to people holding/carrying things etc.

I make a point to go out of my way to go to places wherre people will be wearing helmets, hats, glasses, beards, walkers, wheelchairs, sticks etc and anything that I cannot find I manufacture myself eg peopel wearing masks, cloaks so the dog never overreacts to things.

Great suggestion SMOKEY BEAR. Thanks

Our trainer said she too suspects Dexter may not always have been treated nicely in the past, just based on his reactions. I hope she's wrong but I guess we will never know for sure either way.

Actually SMOKEY BEAR now you mention it.. Dex reacts to people holding umbrellas also....hmmmm.. me thinks you may be spot on!!

SB has a good point there. We have had Ollie since 8 weeks old he has never been abused by anyone or anything in his life. He was well socialised as a pup we use to take him away in the camper van but even at a young age he had a thing about people with walking sticks in fact he had a thing about people that were not in his immediate family from day one.

This eventually turned to particular breed of dogs. He hates the vets and has to be muzzled so you can imagine our worry when he had to be hospitilised. They were very good about it all and some even won is heart with time and patience they all said the same thing Ollie's seeming aggression is fear based.

I did mention that your dog has possibly been abused by a previous owner because he is a rescue but as SB pointed out that might not be the case he may be fearful of situations he has not come across before or he may just be a fearful dog like Ollie.

I would still do the trying to divert him exercise if you can before he sees the the problem that causes his problems. When Ollie realises I am taking charge not him he settles not always as I would like but I can get some sort of positive reaction. I may sometimes have to body block but if it works and makes him more comfortable then so be it.