Too excited around other dogs, help?

Thank you for your suggestions Diana, and thank you for the quick, long and very detailed responses in PM, Caro and Pauline! All very insightful and clear responses, thank you for all your help! Glad we were able to talk :)
 
All I can say is I'm glad you're addressing this now. I am hiring a trainer to do private sessions to deal with the same thing with my dog, but he's 4 and this has been going on for awhile (bad me).

If I learn anything new and different, I'll be sure to pass it along. I know a lot of people swear by crate games, controlled unleashed, etc....but for myself, I need more than a 4 hour class, or things that deal mainly with crates. We have to move beyond that and somewhat fast (well, I need to learn one thing, apply it, etc so that's slow, but by fast, I mean, we need to fix this now).

Good luck. It seems like you've been doing a lot of great things. I will say this though....after watching a lot of herding breeds in agility, not all dogs can be cured of their reactivity, but you can teach them how to deal with it.

Oh...this one woman I know. Her dog always has a toy in her mouth. When she gets excited, she lies down and kills the toy. No barking, no running after anyone, etc. I am impressed. I'd love to have that. I'm not forcing my dog to be calm, I'm just teaching them to do something else when they're reactive.

ETA. I don't want to scare you into not using a head halter (gentle leader). But just be careful. Also, a lot of people (myself included) link the leash to the head halter and a regular collar. When I first started using a collar (not harness), Koji would run and get whipped around when he'd hit the end of the lead. The first time I put the gentle leader on (head halter), I was so scared he'd do that and break his neck. Well, for a bit, he didn't. I think he disliked it enough that he was calm. But, once he got used to it, yup, even when linked to a regular collar also, he whipped himself before I could stop him. I quit using it for a long time after. I have only begun to use it again, now that he responds to me better. Just be careful and keep an eagle eye on Precious (so that she doesn't take off like Koji did, trying to chase a car down and get whiplash from the lead). Koji is the type that catching the moving object is WAY more important than a lead, gentle leader, collar, harness, me, food, etc. So, in that, he becomes dangerous on a gentle leader. Sigh. HOpefully I'll get some great training soon.
 
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try putting your hand on your neck in the area where flat collar goes and push, then do it where GL will go, right under your jaw... where can you do more damage by applying pressure?
Everyone does what they feel comfortable doing. I find GL excellent training tool, but again it is a tool that helps you control environment, you goal is to remove it as soon as possible by building enough positive responses that dog does well with no GL around... It is all about balance.
the longer dog has time to rehearse the more behavior you will see. REINFORCEMENT BUILDS BEHAVIOR.
it is like that actor in theater, the longer they rehearse the better is performance:yes:
I would be careful around this dog that shakes and kills the toy when excited. It is misdirected aggression and this dog walking fine line between killing the toy and actually attacking other dog and I do not mean just usual blah blah trash talk, I mean the attack that you will not see coming and will end up badly. I would stay away from this dog but that just me...
I am very lucky to have trainers that will work with me and pups on our issues and give me feedback I need. If it difficult to find good behaviorists around you, you might want to try rental DVD. I just discovered Bowwowflix.com where you can get tons of rental DVD , including bunch on behavioral issues. Also check great blog Reactive Champion with lots of links to info.
 
k9kreationz said:
All I can say is I'm glad you're addressing this now. I am hiring a trainer to do private sessions to deal with the same thing with my dog, but he's 4 and this has been going on for awhile (bad me).

If I learn anything new and different, I'll be sure to pass it along. I know a lot of people swear by crate games, controlled unleashed, etc....but for myself, I need more than a 4 hour class, or things that deal mainly with crates. We have to move beyond that and somewhat fast (well, I need to learn one thing, apply it, etc so that's slow, but by fast, I mean, we need to fix this now).

Good luck. It seems like you've been doing a lot of great things. I will say this though....after watching a lot of herding breeds in agility, not all dogs can be cured of their reactivity, but you can teach them how to deal with it.

Oh...this one woman I know. Her dog always has a toy in her mouth. When she gets excited, she lies down and kills the toy. No barking, no running after anyone, etc. I am impressed. I'd love to have that. I'm not forcing my dog to be calm, I'm just teaching them to do something else when they're reactive.

ETA. I don't want to scare you into not using a head halter (gentle leader). But just be careful. Also, a lot of people (myself included) link the leash to the head halter and a regular collar. When I first started using a collar (not harness), Koji would run and get whipped around when he'd hit the end of the lead. The first time I put the gentle leader on (head halter), I was so scared he'd do that and break his neck. Well, for a bit, he didn't. I think he disliked it enough that he was calm. But, once he got used to it, yup, even when linked to a regular collar also, he whipped himself before I could stop him. I quit using it for a long time after. I have only begun to use it again, now that he responds to me better. Just be careful and keep an eagle eye on Precious (so that she doesn't take off like Koji did, trying to chase a car down and get whiplash from the lead). Koji is the type that catching the moving object is WAY more important than a lead, gentle leader, collar, harness, me, food, etc. So, in that, he becomes dangerous on a gentle leader. Sigh. HOpefully I'll get some great training soon.
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Thank you for sharing all that information with me Cheryl!

I always go by the lines that there aren't bad dogs just owners that could be knowledged more. I guess in this call, it might have been me that thought "this shall pass, it's not that bad" not realizing I could have been more consistent. But after this thread, I've since kicked my self in the butt and got my self to order crate games AND control unleashed (should be here in 5-10 business days) and do a whole run of them at home. Perhaps it will help her gain better control over general lunging and barking over things like moving leaves, birds, bikes, children, etc. They're not all that bad cause I don't see them (because I avoid) but definitely dealing with her reactivity in the space of a crate may indeed help. THIS also means I'll need to buy a crate of course and go through getting her use to sitting in one. Luckily a whole lot of time opened up before September so I have a whole month I can re-focus on training again (I've been really busy this past month to do anything big and only taught Precious small tricks here and there). And will definitely start bringing her treats and clicker outside to do obedience runs outside again rather than going on walks for the sake of exercising her (like I've been doing due to lack of time, so haven't been able to reinforce or correct any unwanted behaviours on the spot like I would have liked to). Your last post definitely had a lot to do with wanting to make that difference I wanted to see in Precious. She's not a bad dog. I do want her under control though, for her future, for my benefit and hers.

I've always done alot of self control check ins for Precious already: around food, toys, etc (waiting till I say okay before eating, knowing how to play then how to "Out" (which asks her to sit quietly until I let release her to ex catch the ball again or continue tugging). OR on walks, though we don't practice heel as much she does walk on a loose leash and when we get to somewhere I'd like to give her some free time to sniff, I ask for a sit. Watch. Then after checking in again I give her the "GO PLAY Command that she's free to roam a bit on a extended leash. OR before we cross streets, by street lights I'd ask for a sit, watch. check in to make sure she's focused on me then continue walking. I knowingly miss lights and wait for the next time it comes around if I know Precious hasn't checked in with me yet. She's been good, she loves sitting by stops to wait for the lights calmly and hasn't broken one yet since I've enforced it (this way she learns to stop and sit when I stop walking, during walks and I end up talking to someone, etc). I've done a lot of things to prepare but I guess.... I still lacked in some places!... I hadn't thought of it in a WHOLER sense to continue these check ins outside primarily, especially around live distractions that are lot more tempting then food or toys. Hopefully the crates will help with that. Though not the same, I've tried to improvise a few times by having her sit on a mat, stay, while I ran whacko-y from one wall to one wall without her getting up and barking at me (thinking after a while, learning not to lunge, that she wouldn't do it to joggers). So yah......... hahahaha That's where we are right now. She's perfectly quiet and sweet at home, since there aren't ANY distractiosn so it's hard to notice these things all the time. I'm just glad I checked it now and finally decided to do something about it.

For now, I think I will pass on the head halter (just cause I myself have not expereinced in handling a dog in one ever before). Instead, I will keep the walking harness but do the walking and stepping back exercises where I can be in a large enough distance to practice self control outdoors without needing to resort to a halter around the head. Since I have the crate trainings, I will see if that will be enough :) I hope your trainings go well too! We only have, hopefully, 2 more years to live out this reactivity hahahaa jkjkj :P I still love Precious :biggrin2:
 
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