lease training

Question
I have a rescued, perhaps mistreated wolf hybrid that is deathly frightened of a lease, collar, etc.  His previous owners had him chained outside and could not take care of him.  He is now treated as a family member and lives inside with my 5 year old female boxer, although he is never mean he is extremely frightened of the least noise and especially a lease and collar, which makes it difficult to get him to his vet/doctor appointments or impossible to go for walks.  After being here 7 months, he finally stopped destroying the furniture and is housebroken but no luck with walking him on a lease or anything as simple as trimming his nails. He is very loving to me but stands off to my husband or any other person.  He runs away if you try to cut his nails and gets spooked very easily, resulting in "accidents" in the house.  He is well cared for and loved here but I must beable to eventually walk him and take him along with us on trips and therefore, I need him to get on a lease.  Can you help?  Thank you for your time.

Answer
Hi Terry,

That's a scary thought - a mistreated, possibly abused wolf hybrid! ( I consider chaining outside abuse - can you imagine how awful that must have been for that dog/wolf?)

You certainly have your work cut out for you! Thanks for taking this dog in and trying to give him a good home. It's going to take a lot of patience, TLC and intelligent handling to teach this animal that the world is a safe place.

Since I just came from a T-touch seminar, I am now thinking T-touch as something that would likely help your dog. You can learn how to do a simple body wrap that is very calming, and/or you can purchase an Anxiety Wrap. I have used the Anxiety Wrap on my own dog and she has come a long way with it as a treatment adjunct. I have seen consistently effective results with the Anxiety Wrap in my clients' dogs and am a big fan of the product. The Anxiety Wrap was developed by a certified professional dog trainer and T-touch practitioner, Susan Sharpe and works similarly to the body wrap used in T-touch.

For a video demonstration of the body wrap, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StKLh_lc93s
(Use a 3 inch wrap or wider for your dog)

For information about how the Anxiety Wrap compares to other similar products on the market, see this article I wrote on HubPages:
http://dubuquedogtrainer.hubpages.com/hub/dog_anxiety_wrap

There are other adjunctive therapies you can use with a nervous dog that I recommend to my clients, including:

1. Through a Dog's Ear music for canines: http://throughadogsear.com/
(There are other musicians who make CDs of harp music for animals but I am less familiar with their work.)

2. Dog Appeasing Pheromone or D.A.P. (I don't often recommend this because in my experience it is less effective than the Anxiety Wrap and the other things I recommend, but it is worth mentioning. D.A.P. is a naturally occurring chemical which can calm dogs. It mimics the natural chemicals in a mother's milk, and comes in a variety of forms - spray to apply to a bandana, diffuser and D.A.P. impregnated in a collar)

3. Composure - a non-pharmaceutical oral nutritional formula that is calming (not inexpensive but it works)

4. Clicker training: Clicker training works by building self-confidence and by re-focusing a dog when aroused. Clicker training is a type of force-free training that results in a confident, happy dog that loves learning. See my article for more information: http://animalinfo.com.au/fact_sheets/view/2/25/175/Clicker_Training_What_is_it

There are some other articles on the website that I wrote about positive reinforcement training and how to get started in clicker training with video instruction.

Here's an example of what clicker training - used in behavior modification - can do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxP6U2A6FFc&feature=plcp

If you want to pursue clicker training, look for a qualified instructor.  One good place to start to look would be the Karen Pryor Academy website: https://www.karenpryoracademy.com/find-a-trainer If you don't see a trainer listed for your area, call the 800 number (800-472-5425) since not all trainers pay the fee required to be listed on the site.

The T-touch body wrap can help with calming your dog for nail trims. You can also use clicker training to countercondition and desensitize your dog to nail trims:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEFrHZbw6tQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgEwiH8CeUE

To get him used to leash walking, I would start by using a similar method of counterconditioning and desensitization (http://www.aspcabehavior.org/articles/14/Desensitization-and-Counterconditioning) to the leash (versus the nail clippers).

You want to pair something your dog likes with the leash and collar.

Here is a video about how to desensitize your dog to a head collar, but you would use the same method basically for a regular collar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw3ovsOvTss

Here's another video tutorial on how to teach your dog to like a harness (which you may want to use instead of a neck collar). Regardless of which you use (neck collar or harness), the method of teaching your dog to not only tolerate it but like it is basically the same:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=k7edMjwEY1c

It's important to note that if you decide to go with clicker training you will need to first create an association between the click sound and food so that the click will mean something to your dog. This is called conditioning and is simple classical conditioning (Think Pavlov's dogs) You can see my article and accompanying video for help on how to do this: http://animalinfo.com.au/fact_sheets/view/2/25/172/Getting_Started_with_Clicker_

Here is a good video tutorial on loose leash walking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFgtqgiAKoQ To get your dog used to wearing a leash though I would recommend not only clicker training (or if he is sound sensitive, using another device to make a marker signal such as an i-click button clicker, the metal lid from a jar, a ball point pen or even saying "yes" with your voice) but letting him drag a string and then a light leash around in the house - but make sure you are constantly supervising so that he doesn't injure himself!

Make sure you never punish your dog by applying anything unpleasant to him, for example when he has accidents in the house. He is going to need to learn to be housebroken just like a puppy, so use gentle methods with him, just as you would a puppy. Take him out frequently and praise and treat him when he eliminates outside. Take him out after he wakes up, after he eats and after he plays.

Make sure you cleaned soiled areas with a cleaner like Nature's Miracle to prevent your dog from being attracted to the same place to eliminate again. These products are called enzymatic cleaners and break down the protein in the body secretions or urine responsible for causing odor that we may not be able to detect, but the dog's sensitive nose can detect.

To encourage him to think and help build his confidence you may also want to invest in some interactive toys - or make some of your own. For example, see these videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4DqzlwSOx8&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4MwI3GSdqo&feature=plcp

To get your dog used to other people, pair his experience with food. Give him treats (he likes - such as chicken - but find out what he really likes) in the presence of other people. Have people toss treats his way (without making eye contact) and at a distance he can tolerate and doesn't make him feel threatened and finally having people, including men feed him treats. Avoid hovering over him and making direct eye contact at first.

Hope these tips give you the help you need! Feel free to post additional questions if anything is unclear or you run into additional problems.

Thanks!

Cindy