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4 Tactics To Stop Your Dog's "Little Man On A Leash" Syndrome Towards Other Dogs and People
>>> Aggression Question from a Reader:
Chet,
I’m having a problem walking our 11 lb. terrier/chihuahua mix. I’ve just begun to do your exercises involving the clicker and treats. When we take her out, she’s fine and does not pull much, but when there is another dog around she goes bonkers. She will growl and pull very hard on the leash. This may be fear agression because she really likes some dogs and loves people. How do we handle this behavior? Please give us some tips.
Thanks,
Jo
>>> My Comments:
Jo, I’m glad to see that you’re already actively training your dog with the clicker training techniques we teach in our course for how to get your dog to stop aggressive pulling on his leash.
However, I don’t think your dog has a Leash Pulling problem…
I think your dog has something my old College baseball coach had, “Little Man Syndrome”!
Little man syndrome is typical of smaller males who feel that the only way to get others to notice and respect them, is by being scrappy, hard nosed, and aggressive.
They treat of everyone in their environment as a threat, and while they often get what they want, they tend to have a lot of people hate them.
We’ve all known people like this, and when we’re around them, we spend the entire time wishing they’d just stop trying to tell us how important they are. Don’t they realize if they’d stop boasting people would treat them nicer?
Sadly, they have no idea that being nicer to people is an option!
They have so little confidence in themselves and in their ability to get along with others, that they construct social defense mechanisms to make sure nobody can get close enough to hurt them.
And I think this is what’s going on in your chihuahua, Jo.
Your dog does not have confidence in his own social skills, and is easily feeling overwhelmed.
He’s responding to your Leash Training commands beautifully because he doesn’t feel threatened when others aren’t around. But when you try to take him into situations that make him uncomfortable he doesn’t have the confidence needed to continue obeying you.
So here are 5 tactics that can help your dog overcome his “Little Man Syndrome” and develop more confidence in his social skills and less aggression towards other dogs.
5 Tactics To Cure Your Dog’s
“Little Man On A Leash” Syndrome
Tactic #1: Applying the “Rough House” theory
The Rough House theory helps explain why dogs who are raised from a puppy around LOTS of other dogs, almost always have social skills.
In his book on child psychology, Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child, John Gottman shared the results of study that seems to show evidence of several parenting factors that determine the liklihood that a child will make friendships easily and often, or whether they’ll be more of a loaner in school.
Gottman did this by studying a group of children and as they grew up, and making observations of how their parents interacted with their children. He then took this data to try and construct an optimal way to raise a child.
And Gottman discovered something fascinating in his research.
He discovered one thing a parent does to their child that increases the likelihood that they’ll be social.
Guess what it was?
The children who’s father’s “Roughhoused” with them regularly were the most likely to grow up with excellent social skills and the ability to make friends!
Why Does Roughhousing Increase Social Skills?
Roughousing with littermates builds great social skills
The reason Roughhousing increases social skills is because it allows a child to experience a wider range of emotions, and facial cues, and to learn what they mean by receiving lots of instant feedback.
Children learn to read when they’ve hit their parent where they shouldn’t, what types of facial cues mean the other is having fun, and when it’s time to calm down.
And children who don’t get this type of Roughhousing play with their parents don’t develop the same ability to read the facial cues of their peers. This “Lack of Knowing” what others are thinking causes them to be slower socially, leaves them feeling awkward in social situations and results in them making less friends.
And it’s my belief that this is why it is so much smarter to buy a puppy from a breeder who allows the mother dog to raise a puppy herself, along with its litter mates.
If you’ve ever seen a litter of puppies playing together you know their’s one thing they do more then anything else, Roughhouse!
This Roughhousing is not just play, it is vital social skill developement that helps make sure your puppy will grow up with confidence in his social skills. So he’ll have the ability to look at another dog and KNOW the intentions of that other dog.
My own dog, Bauer has this ability.
He can spot a dog with bad intentions LONG before I know the dog has bad intentions… and simply stay away from that dog.
And he can also tell a dog who has GOOD intentions.
I believe that it is this ability, the ability to read subtle facial and body cues of other dogs that gives my dog the confidence to enter into social situations and not feel like he has to be on guard.
So if you’re reading this to prevent leash aggression in dogs, I recommend only buying puppies who are raised by their mother and litter mates.
Tactic #2: Only Allow Play with Well Socialized Dogs
This tactic might sound super simple, but don’t let your dog hang out with, or be around dogs who don’t have good dog to dog social etiquite.
You wouldn’t knowingly let your child hang out with thugs and drug dealers would you? They’re a bad influence right? And you know that letting children hang out with peopel of bad influence increases the liklihood that their bad behavior will rub off on your child… so good parents do their best to make sure their children associate with other good kids.
Well dogs are the same way!
If you want your dog to learn the social rules for how other dogs want to be treated, your dog has to learn that from other well socialized dogs.
This means you need to be ANAL about refusing to let your dog play with other bad dogs, and find a group of pre screened social dogs that your dog CAN hang out with and learn from.
I call this, increasing your dog’s social IQ, and have written about it in the past so I won’t go into it here. But the key to advancing your dog’s social skills is to get him around a LOT of other good dogs…. because it’s a skill YOU can’t teach him on your own.
You’ll need the help of a few fury, butt sniffing friends 
And don’t think just one other dog is enough. I exposed my dog to several hundred other dogs, both bigger and smaller as I was teaching him to interact with others. The more the merrier principle is definitely at play here.
Tactic #3: Don’t Let Your Dog Be Protective
Another common mistake I see people make with their dog’s who have dog to dog aggression issues is that they don’t realize the dozens and dozens of ways a human can accidentally communicate to their dogs that they are NOT in control of the situation.
Our dogs look to us to lead the way throughout their daily interactions, and they do so in ways we don’t realize as humans.
Things like where we allow our dogs to sleep, how we feed them, and how we look at them all determine what our dogs are thinking of us.
A great book to read up on that talks about these issue is The Culture Clash, by Jean Donaldson.
This is a complex topic, that can’t be done justice in a little bullet point on a blog post, so go get the book and become an expert and NOT violating the miscomunication that happens all the time between you and your dog that you never even realized was going on.
Many of my clients have followed this books advice and seen dramatic differences in their dogs.
Tactic #4: Re-Program Emotional Reactions
The 4th tactic for curing “Little Man on a Leash” syndrome is for dog owners who realize that their dog has missed out on the previous tactics, especially tactic #1 and tactic #2, and are wondering if those social skills can be relearned by older dogs.
Luckily they can!
But the only way to help your dog become less aggressive towards other dogs when he’s on his leash, is to first help him be less emotional at the mere sight of other dogs.
If your dog is extremely nervous, scared or territorial at the site of other dogs while on his leash, then his mind will be in survival mode, and NOT learning mode.
So I like to teach my clients a series of mind reprogramming techniques that you can use to change the emotional reaction your dog has to anything!
To help teach you these mental reprogramming techniques, I’ve written a free report on this topic that I’d recommend you read, called, Reprogramming the K9 Mind.
In this report you’ll discover how a dog’s mind works, and how simple it can be to reprogram negative emotions like growling at other dogs to emotions of excitement.
The report walks you through a series of exercises that allow you to practice changing emotions in a controlled setting with your dog in less then 15 minutes per day.
If you’re serious about fixing your dog’s aggression while on his leash, it’s a definite must read report, and costs nothing to download 
what would we do without you DR Jon many thanks keep up the good work
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@ November 11th, 2009 at 01:24well my jack russell terrier does exactly the same but i tried using a halti and it has worked wonders. well it isnt exactly the same becasue she loves all dogs apart from german shepherds as she has been attacked by one
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@ November 11th, 2009 at 15:44This has spoken to my exact experience. Finn is a rescue Chi/somethin and he was labeled a barker at the shelter (my assumption was a little yapper at my front screen all day long) He was in two shelters for over 3 months. He is approx 2 years old. his little face spoke to me and he was so gentle and mellow, UNTIL….. DOG!!!!!!! He’s So sweet with people I take him to work with me every day, he’s our ‘WalMart greeter’, great with kids and old folks, young men, everyone. But let a dog walk by our salon window and he looses his ever-lovin mind. I mean crazy time. Tail waggin but barking incessantly, he makes himself hoarse! Cats? don’t get me started. I’ll try your techniques and let you know how it goes. We have used a spray bottle in the kisser a couple times, is that effective? thanks D
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@ November 11th, 2009 at 17:48I have recently gotten a 6 mo old pitt bull and he is a sweetie. He was neutered last week and all went well. I have, however, read that these dogs may get aggressive towards small animals around 8 months of age. That worries me because he is somewhat overly interested in my cats! He hasn’t hurt them, but Simba (neutered male cat) doesn’t put up w/ any of his crap and will smack him right on the nose! I don’t want this to escalate…anything special I should do to be proactive in this situation? thanks.
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@ December 11th, 2009 at 16:21Thanks for this great explaination. I used almost or vertially the same methods you provided and my dog is now very nice and not as whining and aggressive as before.
.-= Sumit @ Long Dog Leads´s last blog ..Comment Luv Keyword Luv, Do Follow =-.
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@ December 21st, 2009 at 02:18My little Chihuahua has been around Rottweilers all his life. He always got along very well with them. I now have a Pit Bull, female and he doesn’t care for her. She tolerates this quite well. But
I am working with him to stop jumping up and barking right in the face of another dog. She has
jumped up on the bed (looking for cookies) and stepped on him a time or so. She isn’t suppose to be up on the bed at all. Since he about 13 years old and his bones are so small I watch him pretty close. However I do stop his aggressive displays since I think that is asking for trouble.
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@ June 7th, 2010 at 01:22my dog always listens to me when we are inside the house or another building but whenever we go outside and i try to call him in he just runs away like i’m another dog trying to play with him. so one day i go outside to put him on his leash (because he knows how to jump the fence) and i thought i hooked him up but i didn’t so i let him go but the leash falls and i try to grab him in time but he already took off so im calling him and chasing him around the entire yard calling him over and over again but he wouldnt listen but i finally got him in help me
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Melanie Reply:
August 18th, 2011 at 11:44 am
This sounds crazy until you see it work successfully… when the dog will not come to you; move away in the opposite direction and call him with a high, happy, excited voice, “Hey, Spot! Look at this!” Pretend you see somtehing really interesting. In your dog’s mind, yours will be much more interesting than the direction he’s going in and he will want to join the fun and will come to you. When he arrives, you DO NOT scold him for taking off but PRAISE him for coming to you. For your sake, you can tell him (in a happy tone of voice)what a little bugger his is for attempting to escape but you are so much more fun that anything he could come up with.
You wouldn’t go to someone who is yelling at you, why would your smart dog do so? Be much more fun than anything he can come up with on his own, and your dog will always willingly come to you.
Your friends and neighbors will be dazzled at your smart dog’s recall! You and the pup will live happily afterever too
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Chet,
I agree with allowing your dog to play only with well socialized dogs. Poorly socialized dogs can be nervous and aggressive and literally teach your dog bad habits.
.-= Junior@rottweiler puppies´s last blog ..Pitbull Puppies =-.
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@ July 12th, 2010 at 12:43I own Rotts and have trained for several law enforcement agencies and my dogs would NEVER get away with the behavior these little yappers do. I often see people pick them up and stroke them after they have just charged my dogs – who would big the big bad devil for biting a snarling little dog lunging at him; thankfully, my dog has been trained not to behave that way. what’s wrong with giving a little dog the same leash correcton and a strong NO? Works for the big guys…..I’m just saying….
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@ July 28th, 2010 at 04:04Obedience training is one of the most important aspects of raising a dog. In fact, a well trained dog is by far a happier dog! Why? Because a trained dog requires fewer restrictions. The more reliable the dog, the more freedom he is given
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@ August 23rd, 2010 at 05:43I love my Jack Russell Fox Terrier.Hes my best friend in the entire world.He is really cute sweet loyal smart and hes alot of fun.Hes stubborn and he is very hyper like most Jack Russells are.
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@ September 9th, 2010 at 20:19hii!! thanks for your help
but i really need to know how to stop my dog from pushing when i take him for a walk !! or how can i stop him from biting me when we re playing without hitting him or punishing him! :S
again thank for your help hope you answer me and take care!!
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@ December 9th, 2010 at 08:39This is not a leash problem. (Yet) We had a beautiful little dog come to our door and after a couple of days I let her in the house. After a couple of nights she tore up everything in sight. I mean the living room floor was covered. She plays very rough with our big dog, and they are ok for awhile. Then it gets too rough. She yips like a coyote looks exactly like a wold cub. We live on the plains in Texas so I suspect she may have some coyote in her background. I really love her, my family really hates her because she is so rough with them. She is only about 3-4 months old and I intend to have her spayed next month. I hope this will help calm her down. We have to keep her locked up in a room for now because she wants to tear everything up. My son is working on a fence in a small
enclosure. She can get out of anything so quickly it is unreal… Do you have any suggestions? I love her a lot but just don’t know what to do with her. Please help… Kathryn
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Allie Reply:
April 21st, 2011 at 12:51 pm
I think Kathryn has a wild animal in her house. After the spaying, she should let it go free. The home with children is no place for a wild thing. And if they don’t care for her all that much anyway, let her go. She should be free.
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Ruadha Reply:
July 2nd, 2011 at 1:37 am
I don’t think is a wild animal or even a true feral. Wolves and coyotes won’t abandon cubs and at 3-4 months if adults were killed, the cubs would have stayed where mom put them last and probably die there.
Feral would lurk around if hungry, but won’t come right up to the door. I think this dog has already been dumped once, or “set free”. I grew up on a farm and people were always letting family pets go free on our land, to get rid of them.
First==SPAY now.
Second– puppy classes. I’ve skated on taking my big dogs to classes, because they’re easy going and will learn at home. Little dogs are trickier and frequently need the formality. If you can’t or won’t train–find her another home. Take her to a shelter. Have the vet euthanize her if you must–DO NOT “LET HER GO”. I’m amazed the coyotes didn’t get her before she reached your land. I don’t think they’ll miss her if she’s dumped again.
Oh, and if she can get out of anything–have your son attach chicken wire over the top. I had one who could climb any fence, and was only thwarted when there was a “ceiling” over the run!
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I have a youg cross-bred that was rescued from a rubbish dump when he was about 5 weeks.Lucky is now 12 months and is neutered.He became very dominant towards us and the other dogs of ages 8yrs and 5 yrs, so I got him fixed.It helped alot.Whenever I want to take him for a walk he get so worked up when he notice the lead and collar that it is almost impossible to get his collar on.Once it is on it take alot to get it off.Lucky is a very active dog and look like a German Shep in a Fox terrier’s body….He was introduced to a collar from puppyhood.He is like a Jack-in-abox, growling in a playful manner and is running around, thinking it is a game.While we are walking and he notice other dogs he become aggressive- growling and barking like mad.He is also very protective when I am around.Do you have any suggestions?
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@ June 18th, 2011 at 00:18hello,
my dog is a bluenose pit,he is agresive but were working on the clicker nd treats he takes it really well ut when we go on walks and he sees another dog i know whats going to happen he is really strong nd he pulls on his leash and even though how hard i try not to let go i do its just so hard that the leash leaves marks on my hand he just goes and runs off nd i have to chase him all around the untill eventually he setteles gets tired and sits and waits for me like one afternoon around 3pm we were on our reguler schedule for his walk and we were great walking well but then he sees this little chihuahua and goes and i new how big the problem does nd he was pulling so hard and i just could hold him,i litterly had to tell the owner if he could pik up the dog because my dog was going towards him but my pit is a sweetheart so he didnt dare to hurt the man but i was kindof imberessed having to tell the owner to pick up his dog because my dog was going to attack i really need your help on this one
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@ July 13th, 2011 at 16:19to Juliana, I know exactly what you are going through, the same happened to me when I would walk my neighbors great pyrenees, she too loved people and kids would pull on her long hair she didnt care but when she saw a small dog I almost fell myself trying to hold on to her. Finally the owner of small dog turned the other way and it was over. but until you can get reliable help in oontrolling your dog I would suggest wear a pair of gloves while you walk her, I know looks dorky esp in warm weather but it helps you hold on to that leash regardless and everytime you drop the leash (even though you cant help it)it reinforces the pulling behavior in your dog and you do not need or want to be sued by other dog owner or even just have police called on your dog now that is embarrassing. I hope other more knowledgeable folks help Juliana with this one it is a very common problem, any suggestions? I think many of us could learn from this situation. Thanks
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@ July 21st, 2011 at 17:41hi i have a shit tuz we have had her sine she was 10 weeks old and nw is 1 years everytime we take her for a walk she shee another dog she pulling on the leash and barking and when i walk past pepole she trys to bit them but she is a loving dog and i have 4 children and she is brilleant with them but not pepole on her walks please can you help as i have been in tears alot of the time and would love nithing but a nice behaved dog and everytime i need to go out shopping she will bark the house down and poo and wee and dos this until i get back my neighbors are not happy and alway watching me with her
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@ July 23rd, 2011 at 11:01Although I agree with some nof what you say on this subject, I notice that early in this you say to “only buy” a pup that has been raised by it’s mother and litter mates, and “it’s my belief that this is why it is so much smarter to “buy” a puppy from a breeder who allows the mother dog to raise a puppy herself, along with its litter mates”. What about rescue pups? Don’t they deserve a chance? I am for adopt, don’t buy. My pup was a rescue, I socialized her as soon as I could, and she is now a well rounded pup, getting along with almost all dogs, big or small (even we can’t like everyone). I have found that the way that we react in a situation influences the way our dogs behave, they pick up on our feelings. Therefore a nervous person will have a nervous dog, etc.. Please don’t advocate “buying” a pup when there are so many sitting in shelters with so much love to give to the right person.
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@ August 21st, 2011 at 22:07How do you break your poodle of two avd one half years old from pottyingg peeing and pooping) on the floor? She knows better. Thank you…Sue
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@ August 22nd, 2011 at 22:17How do you stop your dog from barking, when riding in the car? She sees dogs and starts barking, not just dogs but squirrels also. She is a six year old Brittany Spaniel. It was my husbands hunting dog. I live in the country and have animals come into my property, she barks at the sight of seeing, foxes, deer, squirrel.
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@ August 24th, 2011 at 08:16We have just gotten a 5 month old puppy…was told he got along fine with cats although when we got him home and he saw our 4 yr old cat he went wild, barked & chased her…now she won’t even come into the house…does anyone know what we can do to get them to become friends ? we have tried acouple things that people suggested but nothing is working…please help..winter is coming and my poor cat needs to be able to feel safe enough to come in out of the cold…
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Minette Reply:
September 3rd, 2011 at 7:06 am
Penny check out this article and see if the ideas help. http://www.thedogtrainingsecret.com/blog/introduce-dog-kitten/
I know you are getting a new puppy and not a new kitten but the ideas are a lot the same. Give your cat a room where she is safe and the pup cannot get to and then embark on teaching your pup appropriate greeting techniques. Keep your puppy on a leash with you and allow your cat to get use to the puppy!
I will also be shooting a video soon about this question so keep your eyes open in our video vault!
http://www.thedogtrainingsecret.com/blog/dog-training-secrets-video-vault/
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Great article. This is exactly why I do what I do. I organize the Rochester Canine Playgroups. I have groups for big and small dogs. We meet every week so our dogs can play off leash. I have been doing this for over 6 years and I swear by the importance of socialization.
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@ September 10th, 2011 at 18:37I didn’t quite understand the proper thing to do when my dog,(JACK RUSSELL &CHIHAHA pulls on his leash all the time when i take him for walks.And if you can please!! help me to understand why he urinates on the rug and he even did it on my bed!.When i go out i leave him the run of the house and have those pee-pads down.He does use them but then he goes elsewhere?Should i be locking him up in one room when i go out.Please help me with him cause I Love him Dearly but my friend is getting annoyed with him.Thank You Shelley Taylor.
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@ September 19th, 2011 at 06:59Listen y’all, so whenever a dog starts pulling on its leash walk the other way. Don’t let the dog control you, your the boss and you need to let them know. Now, on the other hand aggresion against another dog is serious. What i do is i bring along a clicker like the one’s Chet uses in his videos. Whenever my dog starts to growl and bark at another dog i click the clicker and my dog comes and sits beside me.
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Minette Reply:
November 11th, 2011 at 7:13 am
be careful that you are not rewarding your dog by clicking when he is showing aggression!
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my dog wont let go free because i dont want her going away how would i tain her to stop barking at friend and dont run away from me
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@ November 25th, 2011 at 20:40For the first time, Chet, I must say sorry, but I think you missed the point of your reader’s question. She states that her dog “really likes some dogs,” and that the problem only arises when the dog is on a leash. She seems to be talking about a dog that is slightly apprehensive about meeting strange dogs (exacerbated when restricted by a leash), rather than a problem dog that can’t socialize or whose owner allowed a little dog to develop the “little man complex”.
Off leash the dog can socialize unhindered: check out the other dog’s body language, and adapt its own body language to the cues it is getting. Getting to know a stranger, the dog approaches tentatively, because it doesn’t know if the other animal is aggressive or friendly. It is tensed up for “fight or flight”. If it gets the right messages it relaxes and starts to play. However, if the dog is on a leash, that deprives her of the “flight” option, leaving only aggression. Also, when either dog is on a leash, it interferes with the body language and confuses the signals.
I walk my neighbour’s small dog, who was kept in a small backyard for a year, since acquired as a puppy. The little dog went nearly insane and the other neighbours wanted her put down.
I’ve been walking her on the mountain once a week for six months and she has developed into a calm, obedient, happy little dog. She loves making friends and playing “chase” with other dogs. She socializes very happily whether the other dogs are bigger or smaller and even when outnumbered by a pack of dogs. She just mucks in happily.
The problem not only arises when she’s on a leash, but also when we’re walking along a narrow mountain path and people approach with a dog. This situation also limits her options. She can run back the way we came or stay and fight. Limiting her options in this way, makes her stiff and growly when other dogs approach.
I seek out paths that do not have precipices and when I see a dog approach, I step off the path and walk parallel to it. From a few feet away, and a little height, Leah can judge the other dog’s “attitude”. If she doesn’t like it, she pretends the other dog doesn’t exist. If she likes it, she scampers down to play.
In the last six months she has learned to walk on a loose leash, “come” “fetch” “sit” “lie down” “stay” (getting there slowly) and to play “chase” with other dogs. But on a leash, she still goes berserk when she sees other dogs.
Have a wonderful New Year and thanks for your mails, I always enjoy them.
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@ December 31st, 2011 at 22:46