25 Apr Understanding Aggression: Part 2
Let’s talk about the opposite of “leash reactivity”… It would be “leash security.”
Some dogs actually feel more secure on leash. My Zipper is one of those. His background was dog fighting. An excessive white with the tendency to protect himself, special needs full of caution, survival instincts, even stronger than other dogs might have. Dogs with hearing and vision deficit often compensate so well that it is hard to detect that they actually have a handicap. Zipper is one of those. He is a dog that truly goes into a survival mode when placed with other dogs, or in a tight situation with humans (he could though he has not to date.) Sometimes not at first but in time it will surface. And when it does and his survival mode kicks in he means business. Dogs like this often are picked on by other dogs or put to the test and they sense it is happening though humans don’t always recognize the signals passed between dogs. Special needs dogs often tense up and misread another dog’s signals or social skills. They can quickly feel insecure and unsafe and go into a mode that tells them the best defense is a good offense. That makes them appear aggressive when in fact it is defensive and reactive. Zipper seems fine for a long stretch and then it all falls apart so he cannot be trusted with other dogs. But on leash there are dogs he will play with because he trusts me, holding the leash. If we are a strong leader which is really what Alpha means, we will build trust and security into them and then on leash with the handler controlling the play, once they learn to trust both handler and the other dog in question, it can be very good for the dog that is not able to do this on their own.
We cannot force dogs to feel secure or like other dogs. Sometimes we need to just be sensitive to dogs that are sensitive and we need to set them up to succeed, and learn to read our dogs better. It is not about us having the attitude “it is our way or the highway.” It is not about us bossing, dominating and winning. It is about us understanding things that help our dogs become secure, trusting and willing to give above and beyond. And anything that we might tag as aggressive, it is most often not that at all.
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