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My 2 y.o. dog started sporadically getting into fights with dogs at the dog park. It took me a while to come around, but as the fights increased I stopped taking him to the dog park and started taking him to the beach instead. I've also been teaching him to fetch, since I think it'd help him to have a constructive thing to focus on, and I put him on leash whenever large male dogs approach. Doing this has improved the situation a lot. But...my boyfriend and I took him to the beach recently, took him off leash, and played the game where we call him back and forth and reward him with treats. A very playful and friendly dog ran up to him to say "hello," and my dog charges straight for him to attack. We took him to a dog training class for aggressive dogs, but the trainer felt that it wasn't the right class for him because he's fine on-leash, doesn't pull or bark at other dogs. She also said this was a phase of dog puberty or something, leading me to believe that if I keep him from getting into situations where his behavior is reinforced, eventually he'll outgrow it. In the meantime, he's started acting out at home because he isn't getting the exercise he used to at the park. Basically, my questions are: 1) Am I on the right track with my training? 2) What else do I need to know? 3) Is this something he'll outgrow, and how do I know? 4) What other ways can I tire him out so he stops eating my shoes?
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Dec 4, 2010 19:26
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a life less posted:Lots of helpful advice Is there a particular book from that list you recommend starting with? It used to be that Comet would be playing with a male dog at least his size, and the dog would put his paw on Comet's shoulder. Then..Comet goes straight for the neck. Eventually that turned into the initial greeting. They're both paused, sniffing each others necks. Comet's hackles raise, he might growl, then straight for the dog's neck. Now a dog just needs to get close and Comet will charge him away. If I can't get to him in time, he'll have the other dog on its back on the ground. He's never hurt another dog, and he'll respond to "leave it," but it frightens the other dog (and their owner obviously). It's almost always male dogs, at least his size. Sometimes it's male puppies. If I see a german shepard or bully breed coming, I have to immediately leash him, because I know it's just a matter of time before he meets a dog that doesn't want to be harassed. He was fixed before I got him. If we're walking on a trail or the beach, as long as I keep him moving and with treats, he will rarely approach another big dog. If the other dog approaches him, he'll attack. He does like playing with female and small dogs though. The reason this has been so hard for me to handle is that I've never experienced it in my other dogs, and until he turned 2 he was very playful and extremely submissive. I've also never had a dog before that wasn't a lab- even teaching him to fetch is a huge work in progress.
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Dec 4, 2010 22:07
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a life less posted:So, to reiterate, your goal should be for him to ignore other strange dogs. Work on off-leash control and recalls (which it sounds like you're doing... continue 'em). Ask for eye contact/focus when around other dogs. Hopefully one of those books will set you on your way. Once you've desensitized him you might be able to successfully reintroduce off leash greetings of strange dogs, but it might be a ways off. Thanks for your help! I'll get these books and add your suggestions to my plan.
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Dec 5, 2010 18:24
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While I'm waiting for the books to arrive, I might as well ask another question. This hasn't been a huge concern so far, but I'd also like to curb my dog's separation anxiety. He didn't have it when we got him, but now he'll bark if I go inside the store, or to the restroom in a public place. It's annoying, and I'm not sure how to stop reinforcing the behavior, since eventually I have to go get him. How do I fix this? I was thinking that eventually I could enroll him in a nosework class, but he's not crate trained, and will bark if he can see me but not be near me. Comet was so perfect when I got him, friendly and gentle and quiet. I think I ruined my dog. 
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Dec 9, 2010 21:59
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Oh my god, I am about to lose my mind. I bought The Cautious Canine, Fight, and Click to Calm, and while I've been wading my way through them (agh), I've stopped taking Comet off-leash around other dogs and just walking him around the block instead. In the last week he's started peeing in the house, which led to a vet visit where the vet says it's a behavioral issues, and even though he's always been great with kids before....yesterday he rushed and bit my 4 year old cousin. Luckily my cousin wasn't hurt, but now I am at my wit's end and don't know what to do. I'm still reading these books but both Comet and I are incredibly unhappy and frustrated. I feel like no matter what I do, I can't win. What do I do with him in the meantime, while I read these books and put together a plan?
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Dec 20, 2010 22:24
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vstheworld posted:why does he only do this when I'm home? Dogs pee when they're scared or unsure how the situation will play out. He's nervous around you, and is peeing so you'll leave him alone.
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Jan 3, 2011 04:19
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Thanks for your help, a life less! I read the books you recommended, realized I was in way over my head, and found a trainer. Today was Comet's first session, and within an hour Comet was sitting comfortably next to a gigantic, unneutered male his age, which is easily his biggest trigger. I'm much more optimistic now.
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Jan 8, 2011 23:08
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I want to work on having my dog sit and watch me when another dog approaches. I was thinking of taking him to a local dog park/trail later today, when there won't be a lot of dogs. I plan on keeping him on leash, but I'm worried that another dog will get in his face, triggering his aggressive response. With the trainer, we've been using her dogs so far, and she calls them away from him after the initial approach. Since I won't have that guarantee with strange dogs, is there something else I could do? Or should I keep off taking him to the park until he's had more training? I don't want to jeopardize our efforts, but I thought if everything goes well it could be a really good thing for him.
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Jan 26, 2011 19:32
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MrFurious posted:I recommend starting off at a distance and only getting closer if the dog is doing what you're looking for. Other people and dogs are going to be your big obstacles because they won't cooperate with your lesson plan. For this, I am working on training my wife to be less friendly and polite and shooing them away when appropriate. You may want to start off actually outside the dog park and just looking in from the outside, that way you have a physical barrier between your dog and the distractions. Actually, this is exactly the kind of advice I was hoping for. Reading your post made me realize that I was rushing into things. I like your idea of going outside a dog park's fence. I'll give that a shot today instead. Thanks!
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Jan 26, 2011 21:35
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a life less posted:Odds are a dog won't get in his face and trigger him to react if you can keep him calm and focused on you. Most dogs are intuitive enough to not approach dogs who are not showing them any attention, or giving stress signals. For instance, when mine wants space she'll either stick close by my side, or pretend to be preoccupied sniffing until the other dog passes. Well, he was on leash in a busy street a few weeks ago, when a very friendly and energetic off-leash bully breed ran up to and got in his face several times. Even after Comet lunged at him, he came back for more abuse. This scared me a lot because there was nothing I could do, and its owners obviously weren't interested in keeping it away (or away from the cars, for that matter). I live in a very dog-friendly area, and Comet's favorite park is actually the largest enclosed dog park in the US. It has trails, a bridge, access to the bay, a coffee shop, and a groomer. So you have a lot of socialized dogs running around, many of whom are high energy and almost aggressively friendly, if that makes sense. I'm pretty impressed with the trainer. She brings a good 5 or so dogs with her to the lessons, including police dogs she's training. She seems to feel pretty confident while in control of Comet and her herd, although every time she unleashes a gigantic male Shepard I break out in a sweat from anxiety.
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Jan 27, 2011 03:28
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We've been working with a trainer to overcome my dog's fear based aggression to other large dogs. Tomorrow he has another training session, this time at a very large off-leash park with tons of dogs. He used to go there all the time, but we stopped taking him ~half a year ago when we started the training. I trust the trainer...but I am still very worried. Anyway, my question is if it would help to give him some calming supplements I saw at the store before taking him tomorrow.
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Apr 8, 2011 03:34
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Instant Jellyfish posted:Probably not. Most herbal supplements don't do a whole lot for dogs and at worst it could make him feel funny which could influence how he reacts to the other dogs. I would wear him out a bit beforehand and just try to not let your nervousness travel down the leash to your dog. Hmmmm. Maybe I should take some supplements.
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Apr 8, 2011 04:25
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Kiri koli posted:That seems like a strange training session. Has your dog gotten pretty good about being around one or two other dogs? Have you worked with smallish group of 3-4 or more? I can't imagine going to a dog park until you were VERY confident that your dog was over most of his issues. The dog park dogs will be running and playing and barking, all of which are higher triggers for my dog than just standing or laying around. It's a very out of control situation. Yeah, the trainer uses a bunch of her dogs during the sessions (dogs she's boarding, showing, or her own) and rotates them out so he has ~5 around to work with. Last week he went on a hike with 4 other dogs, including 2 large male unneutered german shepards, which are his #1 triggers, and he only had 1 altercation when he was playing far away and the shepard started chasing him. Since he was able to be called off and continue behaving, the trainer suggested we move on to Pt. Isabel. I'm just a helicopter dog-owner, and I worry about the dogs he'll run into. I have another question, actually. There's a nosework class starting in just under 3 weeks, but "Dogs in this class must be able to stay in a crate or on a tie down out of sight of their owners for short periods of time." Is 3 weeks enough time to teach this to my dog? Does a "tie down" just mean tying his leash to something and telling him to stay? Emasculatrix fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Apr 8, 2011 |
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Apr 8, 2011 15:30
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My dog and I did really well at the park today. There were a few times when he started to get nervous around big dogs, but with the trainer's help I was able to call him away for some pets way before the situation escalated. I think we'll be okay.
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Apr 9, 2011 04:59
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Speaking of mouthing, my 8 month pregnant friend and her husband just "rescued" a 6 week Australian Shepard/lab puppy that (here's a surprise) is very mouthy.  Right now they're leaving it in the garage with some pee pads. Since the damage has already been done, what should they do now? I'd like to recommend a book or video to them.
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Apr 18, 2011 18:14
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Lixer posted:I think a better solution would be to see the situation and cross the street yourself rather than hoping others, who don't know your situation, go out of their way. While that's certainly true, the simple fact is that it's a lot easier to guide a calm dog away from the situation than to drag away an agitated one.
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Apr 23, 2011 08:20
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I want to train my dog to hold things in his mouth, but I've run into some difficulty because he's not very "mouthy." If I hold out a toy, he won't take it from me. If I try to put something in his mouth he acts like I'm about to murder him. I tried going slowly and saying "hold" right as he picked up a treat to eat, but at least one of us isn't getting it. What should I do?
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May 11, 2011 04:12
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How do I handle it when I take my dog out to train at the park and OTHER dogs jump on me to get to my treats? It's hard to work on "watch me" when there's a gigantic lab trying to rip a bag of treats out of my hand.
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May 31, 2011 01:52
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Sharks Below posted:Kick the owner directly in the face. A vest like that may be a good idea for Comet, although in my area you get lots of idiots that say things like "it's your fault for bringing treats!" My dog may have issues, but at least he doesn't jump on people for food. Speaking of Comet's issues, I'd like to report that he had his final day of training this weekend. We took him on an off-leash walk around tons of other dogs, including lots of large energetic males (some of whom jumped on me for treats, and he would have lost his poo poo over this a year ago). All of our work on desensitization and increased control really paid off- he look to me for guidance every time he was getting nervous, and I kept him moving and focused. He didn't even come close to attacking a single dog, and he had a really good and relaxed time. We did so great on a Saturday afternoon at a huge park filled with dogs, that our trainer pronounced him rehabilitated!
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May 31, 2011 03:24
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Flesh Forge posted:It's really not very safe to bring food to a dog park, just for that reason. Your dog might be the best trained dog in the world, but you don't know if one (or five, or twenty) other dogs who will guard food are going to decide that food needs to be fought over. Even if they don't jump on you, they might fight among themselves or with your dog. This gigantic park has a cafe, so I think in this case it's up to the owners to decide whether or not to bring their dogs. In the meantime, what's the right way to stop a strange dog from jumping on you? Do I just put up my knee or what?
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May 31, 2011 04:20
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 13:31 |
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How do I train my dog to show us where the cat is hiding?
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Jul 19, 2011 17:40
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