Tethered LGDs- The Story of Auggie & Solero

This is Solero asking for my attention in the only language he knows - for now.

Auggie and Solero spent much of their eleven months of life at the end of a tether, attached to them by a metal choke-chain collar of all things. Solero’s chain collar was so tight that I had to cut it off of his neck. Auggie suffered obvious tracheal damage because of this treatment and makes a loud, strange squeak/screech when he attempts to bark.

Solero was purportedly the “dominant” male of the pair. Humm. Or, could it be that the amount of pain he was chronically in because of the severe entropion in his left eye contributed to his aggression? This condition exists when a portion of the eyelid (s) rolls inward. Imagine having hairs in your eye, or grains of sand, for many months. Might that influence your ability to manage every other stress in your life? Would you at least be grumpy? Just the day after I had surgery on his eye performed to correct this genetic insult, he was more comfortable than he was before the surgery, even with swelling in his tissue and a string of sutures.

This is what Solero's chronic eye condition looked like the day before his surgery.

These two gorgeous boys have been with me for almost a month and still, sometimes for hours, they will keen. That is absolutely heartbreaking to hear and know about. I am using anti-anxiety meds to help support them and am grateful that I am able to do this. I have experimented with every possible logistical change I can make in trying to learn how to comfort them best.

When they are together, they fight, when they are across a fence from each other they scramble and dig in efforts to get back together. They are only briefly interested in the mental diversions I have offered them; a bigger field, a smaller pen, dog friends next door, no dogs close by, livestock near, livestock far away, an area with many distractions, an area that is calm and quiet. All of these situations had elements the dogs found reinforcing, but they couldn’t settle for very long. Imagine a five-year-old child standing in a candy shop; so many delectable things to consider. How do you choose? How do you know which one you picked is the best? Where is your partner, will he try to steal it? Will anyone? Now having something of value, can you relax and enjoy it? For these boys so far, the answer is “no.”

When a dog tries to change his circumstance and is punished for it, meaning that it didn’t work, he may stop trying. This is what learned helplessness is about. When this is the response of the dog, even when he later has an opportunity to change his circumstance he may not try. This is a proven phenomenon shown with rats in lab experiments. So, even if a dog is “rescued” from a bad situation it may not reduce the stress the dog feels. The other common result of long-term frustration in dogs is learned aggression; this can be visited upon people, livestock, or each other. When a dog has learned this, when his situation is improved, he may use aggression to be sure it stays that way even when there is no actual threat. This happened here recently with a rescue dog. Jubilant in her new circumstance, as time went on, she became more and more invested in protecting it. Any person, other than me, any livestock, and sometimes any other dog, sent her into a ferocity that was staggering to watch. Here’s hoping she stays behind those fences....

When a dog is tethered and an owner shows up with a resource, such as food, water, or a social opportunity, the dog’s desperately high excitement is difficult to negotiate. When I am near Auggie and Solero, I am often in peril because their bodies are so big and fast, with feet and mouths everywhere. For many people, that isn’t a lot of fun to be around so physical contact with a dog behaving like this may happen less and less; this increases the desperation of the dog. And so it goes, day after day after day.

Consider too that these dogs were going through adolescence at the end of a tether. The advent of Testosterone can make even a dog with many choices struggle as he finds his way through that chemical soup of hormones. For these dogs, they had no opportunity to move at liberty and blow off some of that stress and energy, day after day after day.

What is NOT happening while the dog is tethered is equally important.

It is the task of all living organisms to learn how to get what we want and avoid things we fear or just don’t like. Dogs at the end of a chain don’t have the chance to learn how to be good at this, but the need is very much there. I watch Auggie and Solero careen their way through most of the situations I put them in. They have not learned to solve the puzzles of life, so instead of using their good brains to figure out how to get what they want they simply react, finding little serenity in their situations.

The previous owner of these dogs is of the school of thought that LGDs cannot be trusted to make good choices until they are two years old, believing that if the dogs are tethered to prevent mistakes until then, when they are “old enough” they will have become “trustworthy.” How??? They haven’t learned the skills necessary to be good at life, to be good at being dogs, at finding solace and comfort in the company of livestock. So now, when the dog is “mature” and still not trustworthy, the blame has to land somewhere. The dog is a bad dog, the dog’s genetic makeup is flawed (let's blame the breeder), the dog is stubborn or stupid or mean or independent; the list is long and it turns my stomach. Social media is rife with bad dogs, while owners looking to themselves and how their choices contributed to the situation are rare.

One of the great trainers of all time, Bob Bailey, states: “When faced with an animal’s problem behavior, the first behavior to change is your own.” I have been training LGDs full-time for many years and absolutely have experienced the truth of his statement, for myself and with the clients I work with. It is liberating, really, because when problems happen life can feel out of control. I am always in control of me, so I can always take this one first step. Very cool.

So, back to Auggie and Solero, what can become of them? Over time, and with purposeful management based on the science of behavior and all my ranch has to offer, will they be able to find their way back to realizing some of the promise their genetic makeup made possible? I don’t know, but that is my mission over the next few months. If I cannot make that possible for them, can I at least find some part of my ranch where they can feel safe and happy if I make their world small enough for them? Stay tuned.

But, let's think for a minute. Other than being born unhealthy or with some big genetic flaw, puppies are born perfect and life is a kaleidoscope of opportunities in front of them - until a human shows up and changes those possibilities. In no way is it fair and just that these two beautiful dogs, born perfect, had to suffer all these many months to then be given the opportunity to take a shot at it again. Also, consider that these two dogs are among the lucky ones because they do have this second chance. What becomes of the many dogs who have been tethered that, when the tether is removed, are not safe animals to be around? Do they go back on a tether for more of their life, maybe all of their life? Are they euthanized, or vilified, or both? Thirty percent of the LGDs in this country fail; you are looking at one of the very common reasons they do.

But Facebook LGD groups say it is OK! “Everyone” does it. People have been tethering LGDs as standard practice for a long, long time, particularly in the US. Doesn’t that make it right? Doesn’t that mean it is safe? What if you don’t care about the quality of life for the dog, is this treatment likely to get you to the well-trained LGD of your dreams? Humm.

Think about it. See management and training through the lens of behavioral science and check that out again, please.

Solero and the Slip Lead - Supporting a Very Fast Pup https://youtu.be/0UpD98vjjZ8

Working LGD Rescue & Sanctuary Facebook Group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/824901619597097

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