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  1. #1
    Real Retriever BogeyBaby's Avatar
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    Leash Aggression

    Now that we're back, help me with a problem.

    Bogey passed basic obedience.
    We then went to one-on-one training with an e-collar (with a professional dog trainer).
    He is so good...until he sees another dog. The noises that come out of him are not of this world. He's practically screaming as if I'm harming him (I'm not). He absolutely will not listen. He won't sit or down. He won't heel. He wants to meet the other dog.

    He is NOT aggressive to other dogs. Case in point: the neighbor's dogs got out and Bogey was in our backyard behind a gate. He was displaying this same aggression to the dogs who were just curious. They went up to the gate and stuck their heads through the slats. Bogey immediately quieted down, wagged his tail and sniffed their heads. When they took their heads out of the gate he went ballistic all over again. They stuck their heads back in and he quieted down.

    When the dog training place has a new class, I'm signing him up for the leash aggression class but they don't offer it often. Any suggestions to help until they start a new class? It's next to impossible to take him on walks.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Nancy0's Avatar
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    I don't know - wish I had the answer. Charllie acts like an idiot sometimes (barking and lunging), but not always. It depends on how the other dog is acting. If the other dog completely ignores him he shows no interest. If the other dog just looks at him he will act up. And it's only in our neighborhood and only with a new dog. If Charlie can go meet the other dog then they are buds from then on and Charlie won't be a jerk. From what I've read it's very common (not excusing the behavior - I hate it). I am thankful that Niner isn't a jerk even when Charlie is. LOL

    Nancy

  3. #3
    Senior Dog Maxx&Emma's Avatar
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    Why do you think this is leash aggression? It sounds like an over-excited puppy to me that needs work on paying attention to you, with distractions!

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  5. #4
    Real Retriever BogeyBaby's Avatar
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    Perhaps it isn't leash aggression.

    He's not really a puppy anymore. We estimate him to be close to 2 years old.

    I guess it's more of him just not wanting to listen to me.

  6. #5
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    The "Look at That" game in Leslie McDevitt's book, "Control Unleashed" helped us with that. It's for reactive, fearful and easily distracted dogs and I am really impressed with how some of the exercises have helped me to learn how to get Oban to focus on me.

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    BogeyBaby (05-22-2014), Maxx&Emma (05-22-2014)

  8. #6
    Puppy eewag's Avatar
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    I've got the same issue with Briggs. He is the same...if the dog shows no interest in him he's much better but if they look at him all hell breaks loose. He is especially bad with dogs behind a fence. Our neighbor dog (who he has never met as there is a privacy fence between us) drives him wild. I have to go over and pull him away from the fence. I have tried everything from a harsh reprimand, to the BAT training, to using an e-collar. The e-collar timing has to be perfect....you need to wait until they have launched towards the dog because if you do it when they are just beginning to show interest then it may send them into the launch. That seemed to help the most. I've only had to use it a couple of times and he seems to remember what not do do. I try and stay relaxed (as hard as that is) and just give the other dog a lot of room and keep moving and he does better. It's taken some time but I have noticed an improvement over the past year. This all started at about 9 months age. He was a daycare dog and dog park dog before that so I'm not quite sure what sparked his issues.

  9. #7
    Puppy
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    a second vote for the look at that game/Control unleashed. Sophie was massively leash reactive and with a lot of Look at That/clicker/cheese, she is a different dog. She still has her moments but overall she is much calmer on leash and around unknown dogs. She knows that seeing a dog, being calm and looking at me are a reward. Sometimes the reward is food and sometimes it is a tug game or just a good scratch behind the ears. At first it was always cheese until the response from her was a little more consistent.

    Swyatt is a work in progress. His threshold is much lower than Sophie's was to start, so the look at that game for now is still pretty far from the dog. Which does make walks a pain and usually we try to keep them to really early in the am. Cheese is also not always enough so we upped the ante and added hot dog for those really distracting moments. I saw some major progress this past wknd at a flyball event.

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  11. #8
    Senior Dog Nancy0's Avatar
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    Maybe I should try the clicker for Charlie. He knows it even though we haven't used it in years. He still knows it's associated with treats. Hmmm might have to try that one.

  12. #9
    Senior Dog shellbell's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Snowshoe View Post
    The "Look at That" game in Leslie McDevitt's book, "Control Unleashed" helped us with that. It's for reactive, fearful and easily distracted dogs and I am really impressed with how some of the exercises have helped me to learn how to get Oban to focus on me.
    Not familiar with the "Look at That" game, but this might be similar. In Cabo's reactive rover class, we were taught to treat heavily as soon as we see other dogs when out and about. This eventually turned into teaching them the command "find the dog", and when he looks at the other dog, and then looks back to me, he gets a reward. He is not 100% perfect but much better. Sometimes he sees the other dog before I even do, we'll be walking and all of a sudden he stops and looks at me expectantly.

  13. #10
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shellbell View Post
    Not familiar with the "Look at That" game, but this might be similar. In Cabo's reactive rover class, we were taught to treat heavily as soon as we see other dogs when out and about. This eventually turned into teaching them the command "find the dog", and when he looks at the other dog, and then looks back to me, he gets a reward. He is not 100% perfect but much better. Sometimes he sees the other dog before I even do, we'll be walking and all of a sudden he stops and looks at me expectantly.
    Sounds like it is probably the same thing. Based on Premack Principle? I actually say, "Who'zat dog?" or "Who'zat?" for people.

    Several dogs bark at us and more than one charges the fence when we go by. Oban ignores them all, Except one big black dog. I don't know what that dog says to him but he wants to go tell it off. If I get the Who'zats going before we reach that dog's corner we can go by with Oban prancing at heel and swivelling his head back and forth between it and us.

    In the McDevitt book it warns you, you'll get some funny looks. You'll walk into a training class where everybody else is begging their dog to WATCH Me, WATCH Me. And you'll be telling your dog to look at the other dog. I got some looks. One person told me Oban had trained me. But Oban is looking at me *voluntarily, isn't he? And your dog has to be persuaded or told to. I notice a lot more people using this now.

    * it's voluntary now, not when we started and it's still not voluntary with that big, black dog.

 



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