habakkukthreenineteen
New member
Adopted my 2 yo lurcher about 4 or 5 months ago. He was highly strung, coiled spring who didn't appear to have had any training as he pulled on the lead, had no recall and was generally stressed on his walks.
He's now got recall (70% ish, no off leash provilages), he knows all basic commands and now checks in with us and waits for us to catch up and is generally more relaxed on walks. He is reactive to other dogs, mostly out of frustration and excitement. If dog he meets is calm, no issues, if dog is high energy? Barking and lunging etc
My issue: he gets MAD zoomies when he's reached tipping point. Triggers include dogs, as mentioned above or just lots of new things like loud water, wind, ran etc. Too many things and he just flips... his ears and head go back, back legs are crouched and his front legs splayed out. He will run if given the chance, but he's on lead so he'll jump around and bite lead to get away. Hes jumped and bit our sleeves in the past, but weve learned to recognise when its about to happen. He WILL listen to commands like 'sit' 'lie down' etc so I can bring him back down before it gets too much and then scatter feed to calm him more.
Are there ways we can work through this more? Seems to be happening less, the more he's getting used to walking with us. Is it possible for him to become neutral to dogs over time? I don't let him greet dogs a lot because of reactivity but he seems to genuinely love playing with them - wagging tail, play bow all the things he does when we play with him, except he barks CONSTANTLY and snaps in thier face until they run and he can run with them/chase. So I'm scared he'll escalate to a fight, so thats something else i dont let him do unless there's a fence between other dog that they can run along or if there's muzzle between him and other dog (muzzle training is a wip).
Thanks!
He's now got recall (70% ish, no off leash provilages), he knows all basic commands and now checks in with us and waits for us to catch up and is generally more relaxed on walks. He is reactive to other dogs, mostly out of frustration and excitement. If dog he meets is calm, no issues, if dog is high energy? Barking and lunging etc
My issue: he gets MAD zoomies when he's reached tipping point. Triggers include dogs, as mentioned above or just lots of new things like loud water, wind, ran etc. Too many things and he just flips... his ears and head go back, back legs are crouched and his front legs splayed out. He will run if given the chance, but he's on lead so he'll jump around and bite lead to get away. Hes jumped and bit our sleeves in the past, but weve learned to recognise when its about to happen. He WILL listen to commands like 'sit' 'lie down' etc so I can bring him back down before it gets too much and then scatter feed to calm him more.
Are there ways we can work through this more? Seems to be happening less, the more he's getting used to walking with us. Is it possible for him to become neutral to dogs over time? I don't let him greet dogs a lot because of reactivity but he seems to genuinely love playing with them - wagging tail, play bow all the things he does when we play with him, except he barks CONSTANTLY and snaps in thier face until they run and he can run with them/chase. So I'm scared he'll escalate to a fight, so thats something else i dont let him do unless there's a fence between other dog that they can run along or if there's muzzle between him and other dog (muzzle training is a wip).
Thanks!