Your canine
conundrumsanswered
“My lovely Parson terrier
used to love playing with
other dogs and puppies,
but has recently become
aggressive with dogs he
doesn’t know, and
sometimes when playing
with dogs he does know
he will suddenly attack
them. He doesn’t do any
damage, but he will pin
the other dog down and
there is a lot of squealing.
He has also become very
territorial in our house
and on the pavement
outside. Any advice?”Graeme says: The trigger
here may be excitement.
He plays, winds himself
up, but then hits a tipping
point: laughing turns to
crying. It’s worrying that
things are escalating —
even if he’s not yet biting
hard. We’re aiming for a
calmer start to walks, so
no “Walkies!” or anything
that revs him up. If getting
the lead sends him into
orbit, take a moment for
him to calm down before
moving on. Praise him
gently when he’s being
calm, so the message is
clear. The next step would
be to walk him on a lead
in a place where dogs are
playing at a distance, and
reward calmness there
too. It may not be easy, so
a good local dog trainer
could be your best ally.By Rupert Fawcett
feet of distance. If he had
wanted to hurt me, he would
already have hurt me. Instead
there were moments when he
retreated a few inches, still
barking, before rushing forward
again. The message was clear:
go away. And yet here was a dog
stuck between fight and flight.
He wasn’t so much scary as
scared, all Cowardly Lion
from The Wizard of Oz:
“Put ’em up, put ’em up!”
The fact is some dogs just are
nervous. It’s in their nature. It
was ever thus, but I am seeing
more and more dogs who
are overreacting to “stranger
danger” (and of course it’s
not restricted to vizslas).I’d say more than half the cases
I see these days include some
element of it, and that’s a huge
increase compared with a
couple of years ago. Given
that dogs have been slowly
evolving from wolves over
millennia, it seems unlikely
that nature — genetics — is
to blame for the sudden change.
Which leaves us with nurture.
This misplaced guarding
behaviour is most likely
learnt. To be more precise,
it’s because of something
Xander and thousands of
young dogs like him didn’t
learn: that our visitors are,
by and large, welcome.
Let’s look at this from
Xander’s point of view. He
was born in early 2020, just asadvice so many people seem to
have received). At best that’s a
funny dance. At worse it’ll make
your friends look like weirdos,
and dogs don’t like weirdos. It
makes them bark. And lunge.
So, with your willing victim
duly primed, invite them in. Put
yourself between your dog and
them. It’s not what usually
happens, because when a dog
rushes forward the owner
lags behind, shouting. Not
unreasonably, the dog’s
thinking, “I’m barking, the
human’s barking, everybody’s
barking. Cover me, partner, I’m
going in!” By standing between
him and his target, you’ll change
the dynamic. Calmly but firmly
let him know you don’t approve.
Say “no” but don’t scream it or
you risk fuelling the fire (or
worse still, making a nervous
dog more nervous). You’re
watching for the early signs that
he’ll back down so there’s
something to reward. Praise is
usually best in the early stages
(keep that calm too). The
message is clear: lunging and
barking aren’t acceptable but
backing down and being calm
are good. If your dog is food-
driven, by all means give your
visitor a few doggy treats to
drop by their feet — but save
them for when your dog is
calmer and happier. They’ll be
best of mates in no time.
Whatever you do, don’t let your
friend throw treats around
while the dog is creating havoc
“to distract him”. Do that and
you’ll be encouraging entirely
the wrong behaviour.
Xander cottoned on fast,
clever boy. Life changes, but
I’ve always found dogs adapt
more quickly than we give them
credit for when we give them
half a chance. Even if, as I found
later, Xander — Alexander
— means “defender of men”
(and no doubt people of other
genders too). Bless him. Perhaps
he’d taken it a bit too literally nGraeme Hall is on tour until
June; visit graemehalllive.
com. Perfectly Imperfect
Puppy: The Ultimate Life-
Changing Programme for
Training a Well-Behaved,
Happy Dog by Graeme Hall is
published by Ebury at £14.99the world was locking down:
unprecedented and unsettling
for us, but normal for him.
Lockdown life was all he and the
half million-plus puppies born
in the UK each year had known.
For the longest time outsiders
didn’t enter the house. No
wonder, when things opened
up, that Xander couldn’t
understand why these pesky
people were coming in and
making themselves at home. In
his home! Plus, his owners had
lots of deliveries when he was a
puppy. Drivers came to the
door, Xander learnt to bark and
was very pleased with himself
each time the would-be
intruders scurried back to theirvans. No matter that his barking
hadn’t actually caused them
to run away. “I bark, they go.
Simple,” he’d say if he could
talk. In doggy Hungarian, obvs.
There was an order to things
back then, see? Visitors knew
their place. But then things
changed. His people started
leaving him alone when they
returned to the office (we spoke
about separation anxiety last
time), and — worse still —
when they were home other
people started walking in the
door, unopposed by anyone
but loyal Xander. Humans, he
concluded, are just odd.
It’s a problem, clearly, and
one that I don’t think we’re
talking enough about. So let’s.
And let’s break down the
solution into what you might do
and what your visitors can do to
support you. I’m assuming here
that your dog is barking and
lunging but not truly aggressive,
so no one is in danger. Let’s
start with your willing victims/
volunteers. Essentially we want
them to do nothing when they
come in — as in, be normal.
Your dog, despite his antics,
doesn’t exist in those first
moments. It’s worth noting that
doing nothing doesn’t involve
folding arms and spinning
around with eyes skyward (theHere was a dog stuck between
fight and flight, like the Cowardly
Lion from The Wizard of `z
ILLUSTRATION ©OFF THE LEASH (RUPERT FAWCETT) ALAMY, GETTY IMAGES
The Sunday Times Magazine • 63