This afternoon I accepted custody of a 2-y-o male dog described as a Pekingese mix for foster care. Owner reports that he likes children, is not barky.  A year ago, he had saved the dog from an uncertain fate when this Peke had been dropped off in the man's yard!  The dog's estimated age then was one year. If so, he's two years old now.

The gentleman and his wife gave the dog to their daughter. Now she is no longer able to keep him because of a pending divorce and move. Her parents worry about him but cannot bring him into their home because their older house cat will not tolerate dogs. 

 When I went to the home to pick him up, I took my crutches along, as well as a leash, a clicker and a plastic Baggie of tiny sliced pieces of Swiss cheese. He was immensely reactive, barking/lunging on leash when I arrived, so much so that I did not approach the owner or the dog directly. I made a very wide arc which put me approximately 20  to 30 feet away from him. Then I crouched down low, my head averted to the side, my eyes lowered, all in an attempt to convey, "I'm no threat to you."  We took some slow minutes for treat, treat treat in the presence of the friendly stranger.

He's had no lead-training at all, apparently. I driove him home here and he became a little bit acclimated, totally separated from my other dogs. I moved him into a new small kennel-cab crate with treats, in my office. In a little bit, back outdoors again on lead to do his business, inside again to rest in his crate, then back outdoors again for a half hour with me in the fenced yard, meeting, only seeing,  the next door neighbor children at a distance. Then back inside into the crate to rest, while I dashed to the next town to buy some necessary pet supplies for this 8-lb. wonder.  He survived the crate experience while I was away from home. But I learned that I need to place the crate right next to the exterior door because the instant I open the crate door he has to "go." So I rushhhhhed him outdoors, click/treating him as he did his business outdoors again. Back inside, dog cookie treat. He didn't want to eat it, only to bury it. A little ball to chase didn't hold his interest. Maybe tomorrow. He's sound asleep beside me on the floor as I type. Again, that's a new experience because he had been totally a lap dog. The little guy is all tuckered out right now.

He's seen Meggie and Molly from a distance only. I'll try to think of a name for him. So far, it seems to be "Petey" the Peke. He's very barky/unging, snarly toward other people/other dogs. Whew, I'm back on topic.

Day 2 with Petey. Being that he's such a tiny dog, I've decided to administer his meals as training treats. The lessons must be rather short or he'd balloon from overfeeding!  Day 1 and 2, going out on lead to do his business; click/treat for that. Day 2 began with working on walking with a loose lead, c/t for looking at me, starting to walk with me. Yipes, does he scrape my fingers with his teeth when taking treats! Very difficult for this little dog to sit for treat. He wants to jump up for treat. Apparently he's been heavily reinforced for standing up on his hind legs. I continued the lesson indoors in my office, c/t for calmly lying down. What a good boy!  Back outdoors again to see youngsters next door playing at a distance. Grr, grr, RoarRRRRRRR. Children turned to look at dog, I stuffed food treats as fast as I could all the while the children were engaged in looking at the dog from some about 15 to 20 feet away. Dog stopped RRRRRRRRR. Wagged tail. Gave play bow. I  gave himclick/treat (C/T) for that. 

More attempts at loose-lead walking. This was nearly a disaster as dog constantly gets entangled in its lead. Only received c/t for staying at my left side, then c/t for sit, repeat five times.  Later venture into fenced yard. Strolling along not quite on a loose lead. Petey sees friends of mine strolling by on sidewalk. Gr, gr, RoarRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Oh what a loud noise from such a little beast. My friends stop to chat from a distance of about 20 feet. I start hand feeding him tiny Swiss cheese tidbits over and over again, all the while my friends are standing still at their distance, on the other side of the fence.

Dog stops RRRRRR, c/t for that. Dog walks to picket fence gate to see these friendly strangers who are talking to me. Yaaay Petey. C/t for courage! C/t for bravery!

Later, back indoors again, Petey chooses to lie down calmly on carpet in my office while I type.  C/t for that. Later Petey enters dog crate willingly, C/t for that. 

Day 3. What a remarkable accomplishment!  Petey is walking on a loose lead, c/t again and again. Petey stops when I stop, c/t for that. Peter is not getting entangled in the lead. Petey seems to understand now that the click-sound predicts a treat. Does Petey know that the click sound marks his behavior that earns the treat? He's starting to see the light. On the other hand, he may just see me right now as a treat-dispensing machine. 

Back indoors while I bake some dog food.  In an attempt to feed this dog some proper nutrition, I'm slicing canned dog food into thin slices and baking the pieces on a tin foil pie plate. Dog food is baked, removed from oven, turned over with a spatula, baked 15 minutes more, cooled and cut up into little training treats. 

Petey meets Molly, elderly female deaf collie. At first, its a huge racket, with Petey going into a frantic state RRRRRRRRRRRR. About 15 minutes later, Molly goes outdoors with Petey and me into the fenced yard, tags along to follow Petey on his walk. I maneuver Molly to keep her some little distance behind Petey. Petey tolerates Molly quite well. No gr, gr or RRRRRR. Well, after all, Molly clearly conveys that she's no threat to anyone.

Petey is far more interested in my clicker and the treats than in the other dog.  He does loose-lead walking like a charm and even manages to stay on my left side. Huge improvement over yesterday, and even an improvement over earlier this morning. Pretty darned good for a dog that had always pulled ahead on leash before.

Slowly, gradually, we begin work on sit-stay, c/t for that. Then we practice a short recall on lead, as I trot backward, c/t for that. Jackpot c/t reward for coming quickly.  Back indoors again, Petey enters his dog crate willingly, c/t for that!  That's the story of introducing the new foster dog. He has one more dog to meet, but I'll delay that introduction until he's far more secure here. Meanwhile, I'm pouring on the praise and attention for Molly and Meggie, reinforcing some of their training skills before I bring Petey into the family room with them. 

Special visit this day from the young lady who had owned Petey, daughter of theman whohad turned over Petey to me. She came to bring his vaccination records and to sign the  transfer of custody agreement form. As she sat on the couch in my family room, Petey cuddled very close to her, pawing at her arm while she attempted to converse with me. He just kept pestering her. She seemed to be a very calm, subdued person. Petey crawled behind her back so she was forced to switch her position to sit a bit forward, closer to the edge of the couch. Within just a moment or so, Petey had crawled up her back, then nuzzled his chin into her neck.  She continued to pay him no mind.

In another moment, he had raised himself further so that he placed each hind leg on a shoulder, and rested his belly on top of her head. From there, he could raise his head to see all around him. He lowered his forelegs to cover her forehead. And there he perched on her head like a hat. Truly,  I'd never before seen such a thing.  

Papers were duly signed, and the young lady departed. From then on, I was determined that Petey would learn to stay on the ground or the floor.  

By the next day,  I noticed that Petey exhibited extremely high arousal to the sight of Other People/Other Dogs, even when they were at a distance.  Then I observed something a bit peculiar. On our front lawn, while he was on leash, he reacted to a couple emerging from the Post Office down the street.  That's at least 500 feet from my house!!

A bit later, though, he seemed less concerned by people coming out of that building. Yet, when two ladies started to walk up the sidewalk, he watched them carefully, wouldn't take his eyes off them. When they started to converse with each other, that triggered his explosion into his reactive growling, lunging, rat-a-tat barking.   Well, people talking to each other is an usual provocative stimulus, and that's a long distance for a reaction. We'll have quite a good bit of behavior work to do.

A few days later.  On his first trip to the vet, Petey the reactive Peke was whirling/snapping, lashing out, resisting restraint so much that we couldn't even put a muzzle on him. Growl, snap, curl lips, try-to-bite-everyone-there kind of dog simply because his feet had touched the examination table. It took three of us to hold him! I imagine that stainless steel tables are very cold. Unless we condition the dog to such a surface, then all the sweet talk or tidbits passed out in the reception area won't help to modify the behavior at all. 

For this particular dog, I decided at home to use Mighty Dog Canned Dog Food delivered via a plastic spoon for the desensitization effort. He would sell his soul for Mighty Dog! Find out what appeals to your dog most. Use that.

I built up a strong, extremely-strong reward history for the Peke with the Mighty Dog Canned Dog Food, using it when I wished to click/treat reward the dog for the recall. Then I gradually began to use the same treat as reward in other contexts, such as for wait, before getting into the car, c/t, dog receives tiny bit of Mighty Dog on plastic spoon. He ate it with gusto. 

Second trip to the vet, 11 days later, I simply got out the can of Mighty Dog and the plastic spoon, then with the vet at one end of the examination table and me at the other end ot the table, I  fed, fed, fed Petey with the little plastic spoon. He received his vaccinations and he even had blood drawn for heartworm test, all with no protest whatsoever!!!   The vet commented, "That Mighty Dog is powerful stuff!!""

By the time we were ready to leave, he let the vet pat him on the chest, he wagged his tail, and he gave a little Peke kiss. 

After just demonstrating that he wasn't afraid at all on the stainless steel examination table, when we returned to the reception area, he spotted another lady with her dog. Then went into his big bad roar routine.  It's tough to figure out how  to give a dog a time-out in the vet's reception area.  I simply gave a NRM (no reward marker), "AAAK," and turned him away from the other dog so he couldn't see it, took him direct  to my car and placed him in his crate there. Then I left him and  returned to the reception area to pay my bill. His time-out was being crated and left briefly in the car. 

Nonetheless, I was very pleased that he got through the physical exam without aggressing. Back to the old drawing board for teaching Petey how to behave in the reception area. Ah well, one step at a time.  More later.

© 1/22/2000 Barbara D. Brill, North Chili, NY 14514. All rights reserved. No further reproduction permitted without express written consent from the  author.  Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Continued.  Help for Reactive Dogs, (part 2)