I am in desperate need of some advice.  Our male whippet, Skippy, is nearly 2 years old.  We have had him since 12wks old and love him dearly.   We attended socialisation classes and training classes up until february.   He has always been highly strung and we visited a behaviouralist who prescribed some homeopathic pills to calm him slightly.    In the last six months he has shown aggression towards other dogs, particularly happy and friendly dogs who want to play + puppies.  He is scared of more serious dogs and whines and runs out of the way.  His recall is good, but when he decides to approach a dog, we cannot communicate with him and often put him on his lead for fear of what he might do.  He has never bitten a dog, but snarles very quickly at them.  If a dog barks or growls, he whimpers and runs away.    He used to play beatifully with other dogs and continues to do so with our other female whippet who is a few months younger.

Would a lemon spray collar help, or would this add to his fear (if you think this is what he has).  He now goes crazy if we drive passed a dog (and is crazy when he sees a cat too). 

We love him dearly but have constant fear when we walk him that he may do harm.

What should we do?
(the behaviourist has been no help unfortunately...)

Do you always take the two dogs out together because that could have some bearing on his behaviour towards other dogs?   Aggression is a very complex subject and it takes quite a lot of commitment and hard work to sort it out.  I wouldn't recommend a spray collar or any other kind of aversion technique for dealing with aggression.  It will inevitably make matters worse.  If a dog is feeling uncomfortable about something, punishment will increase his need to defend himself but the behaviour will be suppressed.   So he'll still be aggressive, just not showing it whilst being punished.

It hasn't even occurred to me to try walking him on his own!  Will give it a go tomorrow (will still keep him on a long lead though for now).  Thanks for the advice on the collar.  We obviously need some specific advice from a behaviourist/trainer who perhaps can come on the walk to see how he is.

Are either of your dogs spayed?

Yes, both have been done.

Hi nushing, sorry to hear about your problems.  Is the behaviourist you have gone to a reputable one that is an accredited member of a professional body such as the APBC and were you referred to them via the vet.  If so they should be able to give you good help and advice.  Unfortunately there are a lot of "behaviourists" who are not! and their advice can be either useless or even down right dangerous.

The reason for your dog's behaviour may be complex and cannot be diagnosed over the net because none of us can see what exactly is happening.  Does he exhibit the same behaviour when he is on his own as when he is with the bitch?  If not he could be "resource guarding" her.  But as Sally says, the spray collar is really a no no and I would strongly suggest you either go back to your behaviourist or, get in touch with another one for some proper help.

regards

The behaviourist is also a vet at our local practice.  She seemed nice but is extra busy and didn't observe him outside of the meeting room we were in.  We have phoned her and asked her to recommend a trainer to give us some hands on help.  Thanks for your help.  Much needed.

We had a similar problem with our beardii, we had two behaviourits in total and aprt from spending money we went nowhere, one belonged to both organisations I don't know about the other.
We went in detail into the spray collar and apparently citronella is an irritant used in anti mosquito sprays, it has long since been known to be hazardous to the eyes and is a skin irritant and all the collars do anyway is frighten the dogs.
Then we went into an electric collar by people who have used them, we were wary at first but everyone who had first hand lknowledge of them could not speak highly enough of them. We were put onto a responsible distributer who has accredited trainers and one is one of the UK's top trainers specializing in e-training collars, we only needed one lesson and that all our problems were over, I suggest you ask them about their course and I recomend their collars 100%, its Dogtra uk.

I can see no reason to use an electric collar on any dog except and unless the only alternative is euthanasia as in sheep worrying, especially on such a thin skinned breed as a whippet!

Anyone who is contemplating using one should use it on themselves first with someone else in charge of the controls and levels of shock!

appreciate that.  Have no intentions of using one.

We had a similar problem with our beardii, we had two behaviourits in total and aprt from spending money we went nowhere, one belonged to both organisations I don't know about the other.
We went in detail into the spray collar and apparently citronella is an irritant used in anti mosquito sprays, it has long since been known to be hazardous to the eyes and is a skin irritant and all the collars do anyway is frighten the dogs.
Then we went into an electric collar by people who have used them, we were wary at first but everyone who had first hand knowledge of them could not speak highly enough of them.
We were put onto a responsible distributer, DogtraUK, who has accreditation course, one of their trainers and one is one of the UK's top trainers and also specializes in e-training collars, we only needed one lesson and that all our problems were over, there is no stress on the dog whatsoever, thats just balony, I suggest you ask them about their courses and I recomend their collars 100%, its Dogtra uk.

Thanks for the suggestion, but having spoken to a trainer who walks her dogs in the same park, she has said that not even a little spray of water to Skippy is recommended in his circumstances.  Only found out her number today, but she has been fantastic (and has obviously seen skippy in action).  She says that he is not a threat to other dogs in any way and that he has pure fear when he approaches them. 

She has said that only encouragement of good behaviour and ignoring/walking away from bad behaviour will help him in the long run.  She has agreed with others advice of walking him on his own too.  She also says trust him and let him off the lead to have the opportunity to run away and decide his own actions.  Bit wary of trying this for fear more of what other owners might think (even though he is unlikely to bite, but just snarl).  What do others think?

I think, if she has seen him that she is probably right.  It isn't usually dogs that have a problem with each other so much as the owners.  HOWEVER, he doesn't need an encounter with an unsociable dog nor should you let him upset a puppy or sensitive dog.  Perhaps this trainer will know some dogs and owners who would be happy to help Skippy practice his social skills and give you more confidence with taking him out and trusting him to be good.  :)

Totally agree.  Thank you.  Certainly don't want to upset any puppies, just like Skippy was upset in the past! 

We generally know the nature of the dogs we see in the park, and the ones to avoid. 

I have also signed up to a new dog club which has smaller sized classes.  Will not take him to classes immediately, but just along to the waiting area.  Hope this works too.

Hi Nushing, I have whippets too and have had similar probs with one of my boys. We put it down to a couple of bad experiences with other dogs when he was a puppy. Strangely enough he didn't exhibit any adverse behaviour until he hit 2yrs. I would try and do what the others have suggested- walking him by himself sometimes, socialising with good natured dogs and taking him to classes. If he hasn't actually bitten another dog then there is a good chance that you can turn him around. The good thing about whippets is that they can get out of the way pretty sharpish if another dog decides to have a go. Unfortunately our boy didn't used to run away but used to stand his ground-not good when he's up against a Rottie. The Rottie took a bite out of him but he seemed to learn his lesson after that and now steers clear of trouble.

Our boy has calmed down in recent years (he's 6 now) we have got him to the point where he will ignore other dogs (we distract him with treats when other dogs are around and worked hard on his recall) but don't think he'll ever be happy being around dogs other than his brother. Don't think Skippy will end up like that though, especially if you are careful about which dogs he mixes with, he's still young enough to get back on track and this is a recent thing right?

We also found that different foods made him hyper so changing to a lower protein one may help. 
Also we used to treat both our boys equally but since observing them we decided that the brother was top dog so now we always greet him first, fuss first, give treats first etc. We started the NILIF with both of them about 18mths ago too, don't know if it was just coincidence but since doing these things his dog aggression has improved a lot, don't think he feels the need to protect anyone while out on a walk now.
Hope it all goes well and you get him sorted. :D

PS Skippy is a great name for a whippet! we often call ours skippy because they remind us of kangaroos especially when they go into fields of long grass, they jump about like Skippy then. LOL :D

I am afraid the post from Spoton sounds just like a post from our old friend Dennis Carthy.

I am a qualified aromatherapist so i think i know a little about essential oils. I don't approve of the citronella because of the smell ; it is not hazardous unless applied without dilution direct to the skin.

As for one of Dogtras trainers being a top trainer - you are trying to promote yourself again Dennis! :rolleyes:
Sorry Spoton but i dont think you are a genuine poster.

Lindsay