Common in herders and hunters
I recently replied to an enquiry looking at how to train a twelve month old Australian Shepherd who was nervous in general around novel stimulus , who lives in a farm environment (riding stable) and didn’t have much experience of the wider world except for trips to the beach occasionally. He lunges forward when asked to meet and greet new people and also circles and barks when anyone tries to leave the premises or the group if they are out walking when off the lead.
Sound familiar ? It should be , it’s a common trait in sheep herding breeds and may also look quite similar (but is not the same thing) in flock guardians and hunting breeds (sighthounds and gundogs like spaniels for example) whilst each dog is an individual and some parts of my advice would be tailored depending on the age sex breed and learned history of an individual – here is my response for a young inexperienced shy/nervous collie. But the techniques and “foundation training” would be very similair for dogs exhibiting these sorts of behaviour. Also if your dog is over 2-3 years old you can gloss over the first section and go straight to the second paragraph. You may recognise some of the things I mention if you think back to when your dog was 12-18 months old. If you find yourself nodding your head and saying “ah yes Fido did used to do that a lot when he was X months old” then I’m here to tell you why that happens in the next paragraph. Still nodding? Maybe take a quick look at my previous post Help my teenage dog has forgotten everything 👈
Let’s get into it.
Firstly welcome to adolescence. Twelve months old is roughly around the time a secondary fear period can kick in coupled with a few other things you have the perfect storm. Take the fact that your pup is also quite an anxious dog by nature then you can see how any previous behaviours such as some form of overarousal around novelty (new people, new places ,too much going on at once) can make those “reactions” more amplified. It is important that any training during this period is done gently and at a level the dog can cope with. Distance is your friend. Start any training at a distance that he can cope with and work back up to meeting and greeting people and also watching or participating at the edge of classes.
Now you mention his ability to cope for an hour or two -that’s amazing for a teenage dog. I agree that these are traits shepherding dogs do naturally and without ample opportunity to meet his needs in regards to his pastoral behaviours then when he gets super frustrated tired excited or fearful he will resort back to behaviours he has been selectively bred for (micromanaging his environment or space seeking behaviours if he is very nervous) looking for the body language that his behaviour has tipped over the edge of his ability to cope is your first port of call, training for this scenario is done separately. This is where we start to build the scaffolding or foundations for any future behaviours we may need to chain together in the not so distant future.
Laying The Foundations First
I would put the “eye stalk” part of his behaviour on cue “look” mark and reward for eventually disengaging an actively reward for an alternative which is looking back at the handler and moving away.
The key is to mark and reward AFTER he’s disengaged. Obviously do this in a calmer environment to get the initial behaviour. With enough repetitions you will get a dog that fulfils the “eye stalk” part of the behaviour without the chase and grab part of the behaviour. You could also fulfil that bit of the behaviour too. Once you have a reliable return from the eye stalk what will the next behaviour be? This is dependent on what suits your dog I often teach a very simple nose touch to hand for nervous dogs as a little confidence booster or if we also wanted to fulfil the chase grab bite sensibly, when he returns perhaps wanting a “kryptonite” toy throw it past yourself so he has to chase the toy on returning to you this would also get him engaged in an alternative to going forward. Then we could add the last behaviour to the chain and play tug “grab bite part” this is how agility is trained for example the reward is at the end ususally an amazing fluffy tug toy of some description. And remember to let the dog actually win the toy and keep it.
Make sure this is done on lead to begin with to prevent unwanted rehearsal lungeing forward to start with. Keeping the lead relaxed (this is why distance is crucial to begin) So your behaviour chain looks like this (at a distance) Eye Stalk something in the environment anything moving- cue “Look”- wait for it (.you may need to find something that helps get his attention in the first few instances / squeaker his name / anything trained so it has become a reflex) Mark “Yes” for disengagement back to you – then throw the toy past you as you move away from the dog – dog orientates towards you- gets quicker or chases you- throw it slightly behind you (add distance to this throw as he gets the hang of it) play tug or allow him to play with the toy – ask for a drop or not – train this seperately/ repeat (at each stage proof the behaviour – so that generalising can take place).
But My Dog Doesn’t Take Food Or Toys When We Are Outside
If the dog isn’t taking food or toys rewards when they normally would in a calmer environment it’s a good indicator that your environment is too over stimulating or stressful – go back a step and further proof the step before moving on / your ability to time your marker cue when he disengages is key – quicker timing faster learning less repetitions needed😅
Does Your Dog Really Need To Say Hi To Everyone?
I’d argue not really, now that we know it could be adding to your dogs “busvket of stress” , too many unmanaged interactions in this way may result in a dog having to resort to the behaviour we’ve previously looked at as a result of too many triggering things happening in succession. So I’d give meeting and greeting a break for a month and just do this stuff mentioned instead after all the training and confidence boosting you could do the same when people approach because l can almost guarantee your dog doesn’t want to meet and greet when he’s shy about new people instead work of focus on the handler whilst people throw rewards away from themselves (giving treats from their hands can cause conflict in the dog so best avoided – think I really want that treat but I really don’t want to go near that person usually results in hand grabbing and increased arousal- so best voided) get visitors to calmly throw any reward past the dog so that he moves away from them instead of towards / a much safer option would be to do some antisocial training and by this I simply mean reward everything that looks like focusing on the handler in the presence of new people- not every dog is a social butterfly sometimes the best we can ask for is tolerance but we don’t get tolerance if we constantly force the dog to do stuff they are not yet equipped to deal with.
Things To Add To Your Foundation Work
Once You Have A Reliable Reinforcement History
I would also then be teaching your dog directions with a solid down (as he seems to be very good at this ie has a reliable reinforcement history) Utilise what your dog already knows well, this will save you a lot of time. Let’s say he can still eye stalk well , always returning to the handler for disengaging. I would now start to this progress this behaviour off lead. Eventually with enough repetitions you will get a dog that looks at his triggers and starts to reflexively return to you for “the grab game or a treat toss behind you” reward delivery is key to getting engagement up. And don’t be in a hurry – we are trying to build a new association for the one previously learned which takes time and patience 👍
For further guidance on how to train the foundations in this behaviour change take a look at Predation Substitute Training by Simone Mueller who has a wonderful book on Amazon on the subject- Whilst you are there also check out a book called Control Unleashed by Leslie McDevitt And for the engage disengage section look up Grisha Stewarts many free resources on Grisha Stewart’s Behavioural Adjustment Training she too has a very useful book on lead handling and creating behaviour change. I like to use a mixture of all of these techniques).
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