Dog Help

taceistagam

Hi,

In the past few months my dog has changed his behaviour towards other dogs he meets when out on the lead. Often people want to let their dog say hello but my boy has started to dive at them and bark aggressively. The thing is he isn't an aggressive dog.

He is so good natured & gets on great with dogs off the lead. His play buddies include german shepards, greyhounds and springers & he loves playing with other dogs & it's always boisterous play but not a hint of him being territorial or aggressive with them. I think his lunging towards other dogs has begun as a result of the neighbours dogs (only living in the current place just over a year)-three different terriers that lunged and snapped at him (them off the lead, him on the lead) when he tried to greet them in a friendly manner(my boy is 32kg)! These dogs do be out loose from time to time and bark and growl relentously at my dog:(.

So I was just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for him to either ignore or at least be civil to other dogs? Today I kept stopping him when another dog was passing and made him sit & tried to distract him to focus on me and not the passing dog. People who have their dogs off lead running up to my dog don't help the situation either. Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks in advance;)

suziwalsh

What do you use to walk him?

taceistagam

Well he started on a halti and was still very strong on it- absolutely hated it and used to rub his head along the ground with his front paws tucked under his chest!! So I eventually got a harness for him and I guess to an extent this probably gives him too much space to leap at other dogs but I'm not keen on putting him back in the halti full time (He wears it when he comes running with me), I just feel he is miserable in it and still pulls a bit so don't want him continually straining himself.

jessie5

hi. i am having exact same problem with my female labrador since a small dog moved in next door and is let out freely to snap and bark at my dog who used to play with all dogs but now will try attack any small dog we come accross. Would anybody have any advise on how i can solve this problem. I cant afford to bring her to a behavourist.

BohsCeltic

Quite a lot of dogs act in this way. It would be similar to a person going to fight someone but their friends are holding them back but when they let go they don't do anything. I see this type of dog behaviour every day when i am out on walk with my dogs.
After the terrier dogs attacked your dog it may perceive every other dog to act in this manner so he attacks first before they can . You definitely need to practice your dog meeting another dog on the lead, perhaps a with the help of a friend or family members dog. When your dog behaves good praise him.
Also try and stay calm, if you tense up and try to pull him away he will sense this and act more aggressive.

I have a male 2Yo Jack Russell and a female 10 month old Border Collie/ lab cross. Around 6/7 months ago the female startled a german shepard who snapped at her and she ran away howling.
Instead of fighting back she just avoided other dogs when off the lead and i am still training her to be more comfortable. It does take time but eventually they should come good. Mine sometimes jumps up to me as if to say save me. Right after that happened i took her straight back up to the german shepard to let her sniff him but she wouldn't go near it.

She seems a lot more comfortable around other dogs now but won't interact as much as the jack russell does.