Help any advice from any experience dog owners

Hi All i would really appreciate any help on my situation as i am at my wits end.
Sorry this is abit long winded but want it too be clear, firstly i am a very experienced stafford owner, trainer helped with rescue cases etc.
My 6yr old Skye is a great dog well trained but the most nervous staffy i,ve ever had, she has never had a bad experience in fact she is the only dog i have been able too be home full time with as i do not work now, saying that she Does not have any seperation anxiety as always left her for afew hours in the begining,
She is scared of alot of things anything on wheels, kids anything out of the usual, her tail goes between her legs and she wants too rush past,
All of this i can handle with calm energy and slowly getting her use too things, but from a very young age if she was really anxious she use too jump up and bite my clothes trying too pull me away, this is usually if i,m standing talking too a group of people with dogs, afew times she nipped me accidently so i took her too a dog behaviourist too get a 2nd opnion, as all my training tips weren,t working i tried staying calm getting her too sit telling her no, which she would do for afew seconds then she would jump up again, she only ever does this too me, and never shows any aggression, people that see it think its funny and liken it too a child pulling your arm when they,re bored, but if she catches me she is very powerful and has hurt me, the animal behaviourist said she was almost having a panic attack and we worked with it for 6mnths we finally found the only thing that worked was a control spray just air, i had nearly 2yrs where she didn,t do this at all
but she was attacked three times by different dogs in the last 10mnths and its all started again yesterday she did it and i had my pup so couldn,t reach the control spray and again in trying too grab my coat sleeve she caught my arm, she knew what she had done and was very upset, but i truly am at my wits end any help would be welcome,
thanks x sorry will just add she does not do this if i am wearing short sleeves she is clearly only aiming at my clothes.

Sorry to hear you're having problems.

Trouble with using aversives or 'positive punishment' (positive in the scientific sense of adding something as opposed to negative which is taking something away) is it can make dogs nervous and I would never use aversives with an already nervous dog so if I were you, I'd forget the corrector spray.

Instead I'd be using something that smells strongly (like mature cheese) to distract her with (don't show the treat, just let her smell it, then when she's focused on you and not displaying nervous body language give the treat).

If she's not interested in the treat then she's too close to whatever is making her feel threatened.

What triggered it yesterday?

Nervousness is the hardest problem to work on IMO as it takes a long time, gradually and slowly introducing things that cause the fearful behaviour. You have to work at the dogs pace.

I think you have almost answered your own question. She is an anxious dog and you have worked hard to address this. She has been fine but has has several setbacks in the past 10 months. You are aware of your energy and you dont reward her anxious behaviour. You know it is possible that this behaviour can be corrected from past experience. A return to the basics will help. She needs to egain her confidence. Perhaps consider replacing the spray with some other tool like a can of stones or something else that you have readily at hand that will distract her at these times.

Hi guys thanks for both you advise Skye is not a food dog i could have steak in my hand and it wouldn,t distract her and i do use the stones in a bottle sound aversion but it doesn,t work when she gets this anxious, yesterday i bumped into afew people and three other dogs all friendly but my 5mnth old and a year old pup were going abit crazy, and skye didn,t like all the noise i did move away slightly too make her feel more comfortable and didn,t use the control spray, just a firm no and made her sit but after afew mins she did it again, its so frustrating as she is an amazing girl in every other way x

OK, if she won't respond to a smell in that situation but will listen when you say no and ask her to sit, do you reward her when she sits and stops? (If she won't take food then maybe a quick game of tug or similar?)

Or, even better maybe in this situation, if it happens again, as soon as she sits reward her by excusing yourself from the group and leaving. That way you're using a life reward (like NILIF) - she wants to leave the situation so she gets what she wants but only after she's done what you want her to do. It will teach her that she can control the situation by being calm and listening to you.

Thanks Galadriel thats really great advice it sometimes really good too get other trainers advice as with your own dogs it can all get abit blurred, i do reward her when she is good, but in the years that i tried too deal with this, with other trainers animal behaviourists etc, we have all gone down the rule of trying too slowly get her use too the situation thats making her nervous so not moving away straight away and it has worked with her other fears, but this only happens in a high level of anxiety so maybe trying you way is a good idea as i can get her too sit and focus on me but never tried leaving then as always thought it may make her see her bad behaviour as winning but understand what you are saying about NILIF i use that method in feeding play and attention they know that good behaviour gets rewards not demanding attention i,ll see how it goes thanks again.

No problem, hope it helps

I'm a firm believer in not rewarding anxious or excited or any other undesirable behaviour but for a dog to associate the reward with an action they've carried out, it has to come within a seccond or two so he shouldn't associate the walking away with the jumping up and biting, just the sitting and following your command

ETA: Sorry, she not he!

ETA round 2!! Just noticed I can't spell second!

Just wanted to say I totally agree with what has been said above I had a very nervy/anxious bitch a few years back, with her a Thundershirt really helped, along with patience and training, but she did seem a lot more relaxed when she had it on. Hope it all calms down for her.

Galadriel wrote:No problem, hope it helps

I'm a firm believer in not rewarding anxious or excited or any other undesirable behaviour but for a dog to associate the reward with an action they've carried out, it has to come within a seccond or two so he shouldn't associate the walking away with the jumping up and biting, just the sitting and following your command

ETA: Sorry, she not he!

ETA round 2!! Just noticed I can't spell second!

LOL i didn,t notice the spelling just appreciate the great advice so how long would you have her sit for before you walked away from the situation?
Its such a tough situation she is so well trained in other aspects and this is her one bad trait .

kelpie wrote:Just wanted to say I totally agree with what has been said above I had a very nervy/anxious bitch a few years back, with her a Thundershirt really helped, along with patience and training, but she did seem a lot more relaxed when she had it on. Hope it all calms down for her.

thanks i did look at a thundershirt for her, but we managed all of her other nervousness its only this last bit and it doesn,t happen very often but when it does its a nightmare

Galadriel wrote:Or, even better maybe in this situation, if it happens again, as soon as she sits reward her by excusing yourself from the group and leaving. That way you're using a life reward (like NILIF) - she wants to leave the situation so she gets what she wants but only after she's done what you want her to do. It will teach her that she can control the situation by being calm and listening to you.

That's good advice.

I would also seriously consider a thundershirt. They really do seem to work.

Just a few seconds would do it, it's just important she's sitting and focusing on you before you go; don't risk waiting for too long to start with as you want to mark the sitting behaviour straight away. You can gradually add in a stay/wait and build up the amount she sits for over time

ETA: I've heard good things about thundershirts too or maybe you could try a ttouch body wrap first before forking out for a thundershirt. If you google 'ttouch body wrap' there are lots of guides on how to apply one

Here's one for starters:

http://www.crvetcenter.com/ttouch.php