I have a rescue cocker spaniel, 6 yrs old, who is a fear biter? I put the question mark there because I am not sure that's the issue. Louie will snap at you if he perceives you are going to harm him in any way, such as trimming his nails. He was taken to a groomer before I got him who really did a number on his nails, since then he's very sensitive about having them clipped and I have to muzzle him to do it. I've worked with playing with his feet when he's in my lap and he now allows that as long as I dont' get too carried away with it. I used to not even be able to so much as lift his foot, so it's progress I guess.
He will snap if you touch his ears in a wrong manner, yet he has no ear issues the vet can find.
He will tremble in fear if you so much as pick up a folded magazine or newspaper. I found this out the hard way swatting a fly one day, and gets very defensive after that until he settles down.
On leash he is fairly good, but if I correct him for pulling too hard he falls apart. By correct I mean giving a SOFT pop, not even a normal pop, on the leash. He immediately hits the deck and again becomes very defensive. I would not dare bend down to even reassure him because he then feels cornered and will snap.

How in the world do I effectively obedience train this dog? He goes along fine until you have a need to stop a particular behavior such as pulling your arm out of the socket on a walk. He will NOT down willingly, but will if coerced with a treat, but won't stay there and you can't even put your hand on his back or he will swing around.

Where to start? I need to work with him, he's obviously got some alpha mix up in here too as he insists on being the first through the door or down the steps and if I push too hard for him to wait he gets "that look" that says, go ahead make my day and challenge me to do it.

Am I being too soft on him and feeding my feelings about his past onto him? I know he had a bad start and I want him to know he's safe here, but I also want and expect him to listen to me and respect me. I'm just not sure how to work with such a soft dog and don't want him to relate me to his past.

Hi Melissa. How long have you had Louie? If it hasn't been that long I would not be concentrating on OB just yet. If you have bonded somewhat, when correcting him with a soft pop, I would not bend over to pet him and reassure him. Stand there, don't look at him and give him a few minutes to recover and learn that you are not going to do anything else to him. When he relaxes a little, say "Let's go" and proceed with your walk.
Doe's he enjoy being petted? IMO I would pet or gently scratch him often and keep my hands going gently all over him until he learns that your hands will not hurt him. Hand feeding him for a while may also help. Sounds like Louie has had a rough history with people but you can correct him gently, you may have a battle of wills just waiting for him to comply (like sitting before you go out the door), ignore "those looks" of his and eventually he will "look" at you as a leader he can trust.
Has Louie been neutered?
I use to have two cockers (until they both passed several years ago). Sheba and Soda won several state 4-H obedience titles with my son.
Good luck with Louie.
Sandy

Sandy, thanks for your comments. I've had Louie for 5 yrs now and he's quite bonded to me. To the point if I move, he's right there beside me. When he has a seizure he seeks me out and climbs in my lap to have his seizure believe it or not. He seems to seek me for comfort more than anyone in the house.

Louie was just neutered last Thursday actually. We had to get the seizures under control which took a very long time to do as I refused to pump him with phenobarbitol or potassium bromide and used a more holistic approach via diet. So right now he's cone head!

I will try what you said and just simply ignore his behavior after a correction and act as though it's nothing out of the ordinary and see if that helps once he's done healing from his surgery and we can begin our walks again. I guess I am just too quick to want to reassure him that everything is ok and am making my own problem worse.

One thing you can try on walks that I have had some success with a fearful dog. Maybe you have tried it, I don't know. (First make sure no one is around because you'll look silly).

Start off walking and talk continuously in a happy upbeat voice. When your dog hits the end of the leash and start pulling, you make a 180 degree turn and go the other direction, still talking in a happy voice. You do this repeatedly (at first you are pretty much only going 2-3 steps in each direction depending on how fast your dog is). And continue the happy voice.

The idea here is that the dog is hitting the end of the leash and getting a pop, but not because you corrected him - because you simply changed direction and he failed to notice. The leash correction is a consequence of the dog not of you. (If that makes sense). The happy voice assures the dog that he is not being "punished" per se, but that it is worth it to pay more attention to you because he will never know when you are going to turn around.

It does take many repetitions but I've had good success with my fearful dogs. They do try to catch up and don't shut down. I'll send you a PM with more info too.

i like angela's idea for walks. luc has issues w/fear of traffic as he was very underexposed. i've also brought in obed. commands as a way of distracting luc, either when i feel the tension of the leash change, or when something is approaching from behind to distract him before he has a chance to react to the vehicle. lots of praise to get him happy and confident before anything happens is also good.

edit: i know you're also asking about doing obed. with him given his issues....but if he does know even just some simple stuff, or is mid-way through learning it, an impromptu session working on a command i have found to really help w/nervous pulling or stopping.

something else that's worked really well but is probably personality-based and only works if you have another dog....hopefully this doesn't sound mean, i got the idea from not feeding into the dog's fear - if i'm walking luc and teagan, and luc stops walking due to traffic/nerves, i ignore him completely, keep walking, and start making a fuss over teagan and telling her what a big, beautiful, brave dog she is, isn't she smart, i pet her, etc, and act like i don't have another dog (aka luc) with me. suddenly luc will appear at my side, wagging his tail and sort of going 'i'm here too! ME! look at me, see, i'm not back there, i'm here! ME!' and then i say 'omygoodness luc, i didn't see you! what a great dog!' and make a fuss over him to mark/reward the correct behaviour of walking at my side.

Just a question. I have also used the change direction method with hard dogs, but with soft dogs, if they "hit the deck" like Melissa's, are you dragging them down the street? Or does the happy talk keep them going? It has worked for me to stop, they realize that the walk will not proceed until they walk nice.
I also use jealousy between my two big dogs. They are very competitive both at work and at being praised.

Sandy

I'll try that with him and see how it goes. I can also walk him with my female springer and see if walking together with another dog that does not pull but heels nicely will help at all when I have to correct for the pulling.
I'm sure we can work with this fear, it's just find that right method that works for him to help build his confidence in our relationship and in himself too.
I like the idea of switching directions on him and will work with that and see what response I get from him.
Louie hasn't been very well versed in walking in the neighborhood for a number of reasons until just recently. The top one being we had a pit bull down the street that ran at large quite frequently and was known for attacking other dogs. After a lot of threats and complaints the police have finally stepped in and had the dog removed from the owner who had absolutely no control over this dog. The dog was great with people, but highly dog aggressive and many of us were too fearful to walk our own dogs in the neighborhood. The other being of course his epilepsy and stress levels which often brought on a seizure in mid walk as he'd get too overwhelmed. We've been simply walking in the yard on leash and keeping it to places he's familiar with.
I've just began walking him about 2 doors down on the road and turning around, building him up slowly and watching close for signs of over stimulation in him. He's been doing very well with the stress factors starting this slowly.
I took him to a dog club meeting a few weeks ago and he did well, but was extremely excitable and stressed by the time we left. I wont be doing that again for a bit even though it was just humans there and a few puppies it was bit much for him yet.

 Quote: sandra vernlund

Just a question. I have also used the change direction method with hard dogs, but with soft dogs, if they "hit the deck" like Melissa's, are you dragging them down the street? Or does the happy talk keep them going?
Sandy

No, there isn't any dragging (from either dog or owner). It's kind of like, surprise, you're going the wrong way! Silly boy, we're going this way now! And they go, oh! I missed that! and run to catch up (often running past you and try to pull you in the new direction). My dogs, at least, do not "hit the deck" because they don't perceive a change of direction as a correction. The happy voice is encouraging them to keep up. Like praise kind of.

just a thought on the direction change: if louie brain-locks with a soft pop, then the direction change will result in at least a soft pop, therefore a "hit-the-deck" reaction. even if you're talking to him i would imagine.

i'm thinking that a combination of the happy-talk, direction-change with ignoring him (stop walking/talking)when (if) he does hit the deck may be worth a try. then continue the happy-talk walk when he relaxes enough to continue. could be pretty tedious and may not work at all given his medical/mental status....

what a challenge! wow! i for one, would appreciate updates; having had soft dogs in the past (and worked w/them as a vet tech), this deal could be really educational.

What about using food when you change direction or when he "hits the deck".

When he hits the deck, talk happily (not coddling him but rather a "come on now, let's go) to him as you move forward offering the treat. He ONLY gets the treat if he moves out and follows you.
He will start to realize that following you is a GOOD thing and that he gets rewarded for the proper behavior......


I am not sure waiting him out when he acts like that is the best thing. Especially to be standing right there while he does it.
You want to bring him up and build confidence and waiting him out is not what I would call confidence building, it is more towards allowing the behavior you don't want to happen.....

Just a suggestion, not sure if I am right or not.