dog aggression

My small dog is really bad with other dogs when out for walks to the point where Ive started waiting until night time to walk him to avoid other dogs. I was unaware of his history when I got him several months ago from a pound. I contacted a local training center and was told that because of his age (2 years old) he can't really be socialised, we'd have to work on avoidance with other dogs and stress management. My dog is great with other dogs in the house.

I don't know if I want to pay money just to be told what I already know...to avoid other dogs

Has anyone dealt with this or have any tips? Is there anything I can do to help him or is seeing a behaviouralist a must for my dog? Can he really not be socialised now?

Whispered

Hi op, when you say socialised, what would you like to achieve? A dog who will ignore and walk by other dogs but not necessarily want to go be friends with them, or a dog who wants to be friends with every dog they meet?

VonVix

I recommend trying to do some behaviour adjustment training. Chances are your dog is not outright aggressive, but is more likely to be fearful and/or frustrated which is often translated in to behaviour that appears aggressive.

Here's some good information on how to do BAT, in your case the trigger here would be seeing other dogs: http://empoweredanimals.com/more/bat-steps-for-reactivity/

Don't completely cut yourself off from seeing other dogs, you just need a plan to help improve his reaction and it CAN be done. It just requires lots of patience and time. Be sure to bring treats with you whenever you're on a walk with him, I'd also recommend doing eye contact exercises (always start new training methods from the home as there is minimal distraction compared to walks, once your dog is more reliable in the home, begin progressing to outside in the garden, in front of the house, then park/public areas etc.), this is a good video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oo6tcSxWWg - I personally have found this quite valuable to teach a dog.

Another thing too, is make sure you don't get frustrated at your dog. No leash tugging, don't go telling him "no!" the moment he glances at a dog is your chance to give him a reward for making the right decision before he begins barking/growling/lunging etc., then walk away from the trigger. The moment your dog sees another dog something good has got to happen!

Whispered

Whispered wrote: »

Hi op, when you say socialised, what would you like to achieve? A dog who will ignore and walk by other dogs but not necessarily want to go be friends with them, or a dog who wants to be friends with every dog they meet?

Ideally I'd love for him to love every dog and get on with them when out, but I have been reading socialising after a certain age is much different than socialising a puppy. So, if loving other dogs when out isn't possible, if I could have him ignore other dogs when out for walks that would be great in itself

Right now he is a liability to other dogs and I don't want to put him in a situation where he will be blamed and get in trouble as it would be mostly my own fault for putting him in such a position.

VonVix, thank you for all of that really helpful information! Going to spend the night reading up on behaviour adjustment training I am guilty of getting frustrated and picking him up when he lunges for dogs on the lead and ending the walk early so I'm sure he associates other dogs with that negativity. Makes sense.

If I keep practicing this training do you think he will eventually be able to actually get along and interact with other dogs when out rather than just "deal" with them? Thanks again

VonVix

Ridgerun wrote: »

VonVix, thank you for all of that really helpful information! Going to spend the night reading up on behaviour adjustment training I am guilty of getting frustrated and picking him up when he lunges for dogs on the lead and ending the walk early so I'm sure he associates other dogs with that negativity. Makes sense.

If I keep practicing this training do you think he will eventually be able to actually get along and interact with other dogs when out rather than just "deal" with them? Thanks again

It really depends on the dog. I have a friend who has a dog who goes nuts when he's on leash and sees another dog, he appears really aggressive (teeth snapping, growling, barking, jumping, the lot) but off leash he is great with dogs. Some dogs react so badly because they get frustrated by the leash, they just wanna say hello.

I think at this stage you just need to get him more interested in you on walks, baby steps are key. For example my boys used to be fearful of other dogs on walks, they'd give dogs a wide berth if we were walking by and would keep their eyes on them all the time. They can now approach/sniff other dogs without too much worry, but I still have a lot of work to do, huge progress has been made however compared to how they used to be.

When you see progress/consistent changes happening when it comes to your dog's reaction, then I would think about how to take it to the next level with actual interaction/play, but once you feel like you're near that step I'd only suggest you try it with other dogs his size. When you're a small dog, bigs dogs can be quite scary, so often as a little dog you gotta make yourself known that you're in fact also a big dog but in a little dog's body. :P

Also, I have heard it said it's actually not really appropriate to have dogs meet/greet each other while on leash, because they introduce themselves head on which is quite unnatural for dogs. Make of it what you will. Perhaps it's something to note though with a dog who has fearful tendencies, as I have observed dogs that are fearful more inclined to be extremely sensitive to the body language of other dogs, even things such as a glance (eye contact) with another dog sets them off.