Case Profile: The European Street Dog

In this case profile, we explore some of the most common behaviours that clients experience in European street dogs and European Rescue imports. An ever increasingly common scenario for many behaviourists, this very variable group of dogs have some surprisingly consistent problem behaviours!

BREED(S): European Street Dog, European livestock guardians, European Hunting Dogs

Owners most commonly see me for: Territorial Reactivity and Aggression to people, dogs, visitors to the home. Livestock worrying/prey drive related recall issues.

Most Common symptoms include: Barking, Lunging, biting people and dogs. High levels of territorial behaviour in and around the home.

Occasional symptoms include: High prey drive, nervous and fearful behaviour. Resource guarding behaviour. Fear of being contained, fear or travelling in the car and/or car sickness.

Case Breakdown: To state the obvious, European rescue dogs can be extremely variable as far as ‘breed’ is concerned. From the smallest to the very largest of dogs, dog owners in the UK are rescuing ever larger numbers of dogs from across continental europe - most commonly Romania, Spain & Greece. So why does such a huge variety of dogs from such a large area typically have very common symptomatic behaviours?

One of the first things to understand is that unlike in the UK, the majority of dogs in european rescue are dogs that are taken off the streets or found roaming in the countryside. The population of strays is much higher in continental Europe, and a large population of dogs exist and breed alongside, but independently of human beings. The other very common scenario when it comes to European rescue is abandoned litters of hunting dogs.

In the street dog population, the genetics of these dogs is highly variable, but consistently contains a mixture of Livestock guardians & shepherding breeds - regardless of the size of the dog. Many of my clients who take genetic tests are often surprised when their 10kg street rescue contains some of the genetics of a carpathian shepherd, but this is the reality of rehoming a dog that has been a mixed breed for many generations. This genetic cocktail is incredibly potent, and the territorial element of these dogs ancestry often only becomes obvious when they are brought home and given a territory to protect. The hunting dog populations are similar in the behaviours they present - many scent and sighthounds, as well as herding dogs find their ways into rescue shelters, with extremely high prey drive (a level that many dog owners have never experienced anything close to before).

In the nature vs nurture battle, nurture also plays a very powerful role in the behaviour that street dogs present. Its essential to appreciate that dogs that live on the streets survive by learning to compete in an environment where there is little to compete over. These dogs do not have territory, a regular supply of food, or human beings to fight over - nor are they in optimal health. But they still learn how to defend what they find, and they carry these skills with them. Shelter environments are ‘multi dog’ pens. Which means sometimes between 10 and 20 dogs are kept together in a pen, where they have to compete for very limited space and food. The key take away here - these dogs are raised by dogs to be really good at competing, with all the genetics to back it up.

When many of these these dogs arrive home, most new owners feel incredibly sorry for them, and focus on making their dogs as comfortable as possible. Unfortunately - these dogs have no idea that they are rescues. All they know is that they’ve been given a huge amount of space, high quality food, toys, treats, and human beings which are incredibly passive with their personal space. Its very common that these dogs within a matter or weeks turn from being highly social to highly possessive and territorial. They come into a home, take over - and do a really good job of keeping the competition away.

Remember as well that these dogs are not raised by people - which is psychologically much healthier for them in that they are normally very psychologically balanced dogs, but it can also be a real issue when coming into a society that has no respect for a dogs personal space, and expects every dog to tolerate over excited, invasive and what they perceive to be threatening behaviour.

Steps towards resolution:

The best way to transition these dogs into a home environment is very slowly, with very limited access to free resources initially. A single room, a safe crate, with managed feeding interactions, play interactions and clear boundaries around personal space is usually an absolute must for these dogs. So - if you want to break all of the rules of the natural world, be over excited, constantly invade your dogs space, have your dog climb all over you when you come home, sleep in your bed, and Instagram their toy box - this is NOT the dog for you! In the same way, if you want one of these street rescues because you feel sorry for them, and you believe that all they need is love and care and affection, these are NOT the dogs for you. These dogs don’t know they’re rescues, don’t want your sympathy or your misunderstanding. They want to be out and about in the world, living, exploring and thriving. They want a clear and consistent pattern to follow with you. They want you to advocate for them when other people don’t understand them and have mismatched expectations about what they can do with your dog. These dogs are genuine, proper, deeply soulful dogs raised by the natural world and they will teach you more about dogs as a species than any breed you can buy. But you have to do things in the natural way, otherwise you will find yourself at serious odds with your goals and reality.

Activities to Practice:

Place Work - an absolute must for managing territorial and possessive tendancies, and teaching your dog to relax in their own space around visitors.

Conflict Resolution System - learn to always follow through to a calm state (sitting down or lying down) whenever you have disagreement or whenever you are teaching through behaviours that are unacceptable.

Spacial Dynamics - learn to claim your personal and intimate space so that you can communicate in your dogs own language.

Exercise plan - make sure you have a solid exercise plan in place so that you can drain energy to help these dogs stay clam, particularly if you have adopted a hunting breed. They’ll need it!