Some progress with on leash re activeness towards other dogs

[jacksdad]

With all the on leash “aggression” thread lately I though I would share my first really good day with my on leash “aggressive” dog around other dogs. This has been almost 3 months in the making.

I have been spending the better part of the last 3 months trying to avoiding other dogs (not always successful). Working on Watch Me, rewarding auto watches, learning to love rainy weather (most other dog owners wuss out and do not take their dogs out in the rain), perfecting our U turn etc. Trying to remain calm when a unavoidable dog/dog encounter is about to happen and when it dose, resist the urge to try and "train" while my dog is in full freak out.

Two weekends ago I was staring to see things in Jack that lead me to believe, to hope we were making progress. Then last Tuesday we got surprised by 2 dogs on his last potty break of the night. Complete freak out. It was like we had never done any work at all. And for the last several days he has been very, very jumpy. The littlest noise would set him off. If he even thought a dog was near, instant tense up and on alert.

Well today, I got the proof of progress I had hoped/thought I saw. Jack had half a dozen dog / dog encounters and not 1 freak out. No dog / dog greeting, these were just Jack on leash, near or seeing dog and not freaking out.

The first really solid success was we started down a foot path at the park, about 20 yards ahead a man and his German Shepard came around the bend walking towards us. We snapped a U turn. He only barked once. We walked about 10 feet I asked for a sit, got it, treat. He looked at on coming dog still in a sit, I gave him a yes, he look right back to me, treat. I gave the lets go…he got up, looked over his shoulder, single bark…walked on with me. We did this about 3 times every 10 or so feet. Then got the heck out of there

The second encounter was, we had just got into the car. He was sitting on my lap, a lady with a dog walked by. Jack locked on, got tense, low growls and that was it no barks, not freak out…. Then he looked at me…treat, treat, treat, treat.

The final was driving home. We past one of the neighborhood dogs, as we were about a block from home. Normally that is enough for him to start barking up a storm in the car. Not tonight, windows down, him sniffing out the window, not a peep. He didn’t even look at the dog.

The rest of his “encounters” were dogs in the distance (50 yards or more away), which again doesn’t seem to make a difference he still freaks out. But tonight he chose to look away/ignore continue to play and walk with me.

Here is hoping for more days like this.

[emmabeth]

Fantastic stuff... ive moved this into the Success Stories area..... because that is what this is! Well done to you both!!!!

Keep this up the way you are going and the sky is the limit!

[Mattie]

Well done, it is a lovely feeling when you see all your hard work start to work.

Keep it up and you will get there but make sure that you are between Jack and the other dog, this seems to help.

[luvmydogs]

Congrats for all your hard work...I know what it's like to have a reactive dog...I would love to get to a point where I can go for a walk and not have to scout the area for anything that will set her off..but until then the training will continue...Keep up the good work..

[Noobs]

Great stuff! Well done. And well done Jack!

[jacksdad]

Luvmydogs.... I am not out of the woods yet, and I am still scouting for other dogs when we are out. I suspect it will quite sometime before that isn't something I need to do. I am learning to read Jack better so I am watching him a bit more everyday for signs of trouble rather then me looking around 100% of the time. this has allowed me to reward the auto watches and other little things I need to reinforce with Jack to make forward progress.

But it was nice to see things come together for once. while over the last month I had seen small brief signs of progress, pass one dog on other side of road ok, but freak out 10 minutes later over dog 50 yards away. or a excellent U turn and things fall apart because a dog showed up around the corner etc. this is the first time everything came together not once but 3 times plus the dogs at a distance. And absolutely the first time he could look at a dog with in 10 feet at a sit and then back to me. first time I tried it too, though we have been building up to it.

Not long after I posted this, we went for his final potty break. ran into 2 small dogs, he was ok until they started reacting, pulling, growling, barking. which set him off, and unfortunately he was already a bit hyped up over a cat that ran under a parked car...at least I hope it was a cat and not a skunk. we have those and I saw a white flash. But I was able to U turn (not as nicely as earlier in the day) and get some distance. he even gave me a response to "watch me" while this was all going on. again a first. and the first I have tried that in a long time. At which point, treat and move on quickly.

Mattie, I am between him and "whatever" (mostly dogs) every chance I get. It does seem to make a difference. it doesn't appear to a first, but more I do it the more he seems to focus less on the greater world around him and more on his immediate surroundings.

[Noobs]

Yay, more progress for Jack and Dad!



(I've been waiting to use that.)