Lead aggression

jrosen

Looking for some tips and help.

Our 3 year old dog has become aggressive towards dogs he doesnt know since an incident he had some months back. He wasnt hurt physically but did get an awful fright and was not himself for a few days after.

Prior to that he would roll over and willingly let any dog we met sniff him, play with him. Same with any people. He is the same now for the dogs he is friendly with and familiar with.
Its becoming a nightmare to walk him, i find myself turning back and coming home if the pathways are busy with others dogs.

deadlybuzzman

It's unfortunate that it happened but its fixable, 1 thing you can do is some of the old classical conditioning.
Have a pouch of whatever your dogs favorite treats are and go somewhere where dogs come into view but are at enough of a distance that your dog will not react.
Then everytime dogs comes into view give him some treats and put out some positive vibes say "oh look there's a dog!" whatever you like but the dog picks up on positive tones.
Now if you have someone that has a dog that you dog hasn't met then even better because they can help you do this 20 or 30 times in an hour.
You could for example stand with your dog on 1side of a football pitch and get the other person to hide behind the changing rooms on the opposite side of the pitch and come out for 5 seconds, then for 10 seconds and so on

jrosen

deadlybuzzman wrote: »

It's unfortunate that it happened but its fixable, 1 thing you can do is some of the old classical conditioning.
Have a pouch of whatever your dogs favorite treats are and go somewhere where dogs come into view but are at enough of a distance that your dog will not react.
Then everytime dogs comes into view give him some treats and put out some positive vibes say "oh look there's a dog!" whatever you like but the dog picks up on positive tones.
Now if you have someone that has a dog that you dog hasn't met then even better because they can help you do this 20 or 30 times in an hour.
You could for example stand with your dog on 1side of a football pitch and get the other person to hide behind the changing rooms on the opposite side of the pitch and come out for 5 seconds, then for 10 seconds and so on

Thanks for this

deadlybuzzman

Oh I meant to say try to keep a tiny bit of slack on the lead as much as possible as a relaxed leash helps relax the dog too.
For your own peace of mind get a muzzle too if it'll help you feel more relaxed and able to go out and about, you will be able to go wherever you like stress free and your dog won't miss out on its walk

jrosen

deadlybuzzman wrote: »

Oh I meant to say try to keep a tiny bit of slack on the lead as much as possible as a relaxed leash helps relax the dog too.
For your own peace of mind get a muzzle too if it'll help you feel more relaxed and able to go out and about, you will be able to go wherever you like stress free and your dog won't miss out on its walk

Funny thing, Im doing the opposite when I see a dog and reducing his lead and keeping him beside me which has probably been making him anxious. Thanks again