Mortifying problem with my terrier. Any ideas?

Red30563

Red30563

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My border terrier/lhasa apso cross Dougal has a problem that causes me real embarrassment - he doesn't like crutches or walking sticks. He will snap at them (this is when he on lead. We have not yet encountered the problem off lead). Consequently it appears he is snapping at anyone using them! You can imagine how awful this makes me feel (I suppose the disabled/injured people he is snapping at don't know he only snaps at walking stick/crutch users, but perhaps that is even worse if they think he is like that with everyone!)

He is 7 years old. He was a rescue that we got 3 and a half years ago. He had socialisation issues when we got him (with other dogs) and no training at all but we have worked really hard and he is now a happy, friendly dog who meets and greets other dogs and humans well, both on and off the lead. He does an advanced obedience class each week, and is one of the best in the class. We have very firm boundaries and rules for him, both in and out of the house. (Like a lot of terriers, if you give him an inch, he takes several miles, so we are careful that he knows his place!)

Both my OH and I are very good at staying calm in a situation, by the way. We got very good at this when we were working on socialising him on the lead, so as not to escalate the situation.

He is very good with his commands so I can use 'leave it' when he snaps and he will pay attention to me. If I see someone on crutches or using a stick coming towards us I will make sure Dougal is walking to heel and paying attention to me, and we can usually get past them with no problem. But if I don't spot it and keep his attention on me, he will lunge and snap. Obviously I would rather he was OK with sticks/crutches in the first place.

I wonder what it about them that bothers him. It is the only thing he reacts to in this way. Any suggestions? Should I try and de-sensitise him to walking sticks/crutches in some way? Associate them with food/treats? He is incredibly food-orientated, by the way, which has helped us enormously in our training with him up to now!
 
Could you get a crutch/stick yourself? Use it round the house/garden? just take it with you on walks?


PS: I'm not any sort of expert, neither do I have the eons of experience some on here have so Im sure someone will come up with a great solution :)
 
Get your hands on some walking aids/crutches/sticks etc etc and have them around the house at all times. Take them on walks so he gets used to them.
 
Well done you for taking on a rescue and putting in so much work, the thing is with rescues you never know all their history. It easy to imagine perhaps that he received bad treatment from someone who was on crutches and then progressed to awalking stick. God it seems funny reading it back but it isnt really and I think your idea of de-sensitising is the way to go. If you could get hold of a walking stick and treating him and members of the family to do the same thing Im sure he would catch on pretty quick. You might have a problem after with him after expecting everyone he meets on crutches or walking stick to treat him but I think you could live with that.

Just as an aside do you live near a OAPs home or hospital because I dont think Ive ever met one on my walks.
 
Dobiegirl said:
Just as an aside do you live near a OAPs home or hospital because I dont think Ive ever met one on my walks.
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Yes, an old people's sheltered housing development opened a few months ago near the route of one of our walks.

We also noticed the problem when we saw a guy on crutches in a cafe on a day out a while ago.

The first couple of years we had him, I don't think we did meet anyone on sticks/crutches.

I think getting a stick ourselves is the way to go.
 
Red30563 said:
My border terrier/lhasa apso cross Dougal has a problem that causes me real embarrassment - he doesn't like crutches or walking sticks. He will snap at them (this is when he on lead. We have not yet encountered the problem off lead). Consequently it appears he is snapping at anyone using them! You can imagine how awful this makes me feel (I suppose the disabled/injured people he is snapping at don't know he only snaps at walking stick/crutch users, but perhaps that is even worse if they think he is like that with everyone!)

He is 7 years old. He was a rescue that we got 3 and a half years ago. He had socialisation issues when we got him (with other dogs) and no training at all but we have worked really hard and he is now a happy, friendly dog who meets and greets other dogs and humans well, both on and off the lead. He does an advanced obedience class each week, and is one of the best in the class. We have very firm boundaries and rules for him, both in and out of the house. (Like a lot of terriers, if you give him an inch, he takes several miles, so we are careful that he knows his place!)

Both my OH and I are very good at staying calm in a situation, by the way. We got very good at this when we were working on socialising him on the lead, so as not to escalate the situation.

He is very good with his commands so I can use 'leave it' when he snaps and he will pay attention to me. If I see someone on crutches or using a stick coming towards us I will make sure Dougal is walking to heel and paying attention to me, and we can usually get past them with no problem. But if I don't spot it and keep his attention on me, he will lunge and snap. Obviously I would rather he was OK with sticks/crutches in the first place.

I wonder what it about them that bothers him. It is the only thing he reacts to in this way. Any suggestions? Should I try and de-sensitise him to walking sticks/crutches in some way? Associate them with food/treats? He is incredibly food-orientated, by the way, which has helped us enormously in our training with him up to now!
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I suggest his previous owners have used a stick as a weapon against him. Some dogs have hang-ups due to their previous owners idiocy. My advice, keep doing what you're doing - there are, though, some wounds that can never be healed.
 
You could be right, blazingsaddles, but sadly we don't know his history. He was a stray, picked up by the dog warden. He doesn't show any signs of having been beaten though - he is happy to be touched all over and never flinches when you approach him.
 
I have the opposite problem, my mutt adores anybody with a stick/on crutches and wants to charge up to them and love them to death. I assume she got fuss and attention in her past life from somebody who used a stick. Maybe get a fake or tame stick user to be nice to your dog?
 
My fella is a bit wary of sticks/people with sticks (not good, lots of ramblers! and doesn't really like when I carry the tracking pole) but has no reason to that I know of apart from natural suspicion so I have now taken to picking up longer branches or anything that I find out on walks, don't make a big deal of it, drop it again, brush his sides with the tracking pole and that sort of thing, praise him when he is neutral.
 
Red30563 said:
You could be right, blazingsaddles, but sadly we don't know his history. He was a stray, picked up by the dog warden. He doesn't show any signs of having been beaten though - he is happy to be touched all over and never flinches when you approach him.
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Seems odd then that you know what crossbreed he is!
 
I think my approach to this would be to use the 'look/watch' command which is useful in many circumstances. Get that solid when you are well away from stick-like objects, then start gradually building on it, initially at a distance from the thing he dislikes, then work your way in. If he starts to react, about turn and walk away immediately. You need to teach him that ignoring the sticks and looking at you brings rewards, while reacting brings nothing but backtracking.
 
I would have thought if previous owners used walking aids as a weapon then he would react very differently, cower or show a certain amount of fear.

it could just be that he has never encountered these things and he is reacting badly to them. they make an odd noise and advance towards him quickly, hes a small dog and is probably saying 'oi-im bigger than you'

My terrier couldnt handle bin bags in public, she was fine with them in the house of on the drive, but whenever we came across them in the park she would go ballistic and act the way your dog did. I would suggest making them a normal occurance in his world for a while.
 
EAST KENT said:
Seems odd then that you know what crossbreed he is!
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Well, border terrier/lhasa apso was the RSPCA's best guess when he was in the rescue centre. Over the years we've had him, we have met two other known bt/la crosses who are identical looking, plus people familiar with both breeds agree he looks like a clear mix of the two. So we've concluded that's probably what he is.

Mind you he gets mistaken for all sorts of breeds - Norfolk Terrier, Cairn, Glen of Imaal terrier, Dandie Dinmont... you name it, he gets called it! :)

There are some pics of him here...
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=419653
 
Spudlet said:
I think my approach to this would be to use the 'look/watch' command which is useful in many circumstances. Get that solid when you are well away from stick-like objects, then start gradually building on it, initially at a distance from the thing he dislikes, then work your way in. If he starts to react, about turn and walk away immediately. You need to teach him that ignoring the sticks and looking at you brings rewards, while reacting brings nothing but backtracking.
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Absolutely with you on this one, maybe fork out on a one to one training session with a behaviourist and you will crack this in no time. You have to learn to be more interesting than anything else!
 
Red30563 said:
My border terrier/lhasa apso cross Dougal has a problem that causes me real embarrassment - he doesn't like crutches or walking sticks. He will snap at them (this is when he on lead. We have not yet encountered the problem off lead). Consequently it appears he is snapping at anyone using them! You can imagine how awful this makes me feel (I suppose the disabled/injured people he is snapping at don't know he only snaps at walking stick/crutch users, but perhaps that is even worse if they think he is like that with everyone!)

He is 7 years old. He was a rescue that we got 3 and a half years ago. He had socialisation issues when we got him (with other dogs) and no training at all but we have worked really hard and he is now a happy, friendly dog who meets and greets other dogs and humans well, both on and off the lead. He does an advanced obedience class each week, and is one of the best in the class. We have very firm boundaries and rules for him, both in and out of the house. (Like a lot of terriers, if you give him an inch, he takes several miles, so we are careful that he knows his place!)

Both my OH and I are very good at staying calm in a situation, by the way. We got very good at this when we were working on socialising him on the lead, so as not to escalate the situation.

He is very good with his commands so I can use 'leave it' when he snaps and he will pay attention to me. If I see someone on crutches or using a stick coming towards us I will make sure Dougal is walking to heel and paying attention to me, and we can usually get past them with no problem. But if I don't spot it and keep his attention on me, he will lunge and snap. Obviously I would rather he was OK with sticks/crutches in the first place.

I wonder what it about them that bothers him. It is the only thing he reacts to in this way. Any suggestions? Should I try and de-sensitise him to walking sticks/crutches in some way? Associate them with food/treats? He is incredibly food-orientated, by the way, which has helped us enormously in our training with him up to now!
Click to expand...

Maybe he's been belted with one, you need to have some around so he gets used to them and eventually gets to learn they won't hurt him anymore
 
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