[keiras_mom]

Here is my situation.... because I got Keira in the dead of winter (Jan. 1) and she didn't have any of her puppy shots when I got her (I rescued her from a lady that didn't believe in giving animals shots), it was very hard to socialize her with other dogs. The 5 dogs/puppies that I know except 1 had either contacted Parvo or had been exposed to those puppies that had Parvo. So I had to keep those dogs away from Keira. She was only able to socialize with 1 dog until she got through with all her shots. Because it gets so cold here in Wisconsin not many people are out side with their dogs, so she was not socialized with any other dogs in the neighborhood. I did have people come over, and she has gotten used to them. However, now that we have finally been having nice weather I have been walking Keira.

She usually does fine until a dog barks at her (she will sometimes start the barking) then both the back and butt hackles go up and the bark-a-thon starts. Some of the people we come across has no effect on her, while others for no apparent reason sets her off to growling and barking. With both cases, I have been giving her a stern "enough" (I have been teaching her the "enough" command to stop barking) and giving her a slight tug on her leash to the side and just keep walking. This seems to help, but does not always get her to stop right away. I do think Keira is a natural born alpha dog. I practice NILIF with her and she knows that I am the alpha of the house. I know that she missed those very important months of socialization, but is there still hope?

Is there anything else I can try or is it just a case of "she'll get better over time with exposure to dogs and people"?

I welcome any advise given!

Thanks!!!!!

[French Ring]

What do you mean by people aggression? Or this is just a dog aggression right? I don't think your case with this dog is hopeless. How are you handling her when she gets aggressive with dogs on her walk? I'm uncomfortable to give you any advice on aggression over the internet for many good reasons. I prefer if you contact a professional behaviorist. Sometimes dog's aggression issues are caused by their owners for being so tense on the leash. If you panicked then your dog will jump in and try to protect you or itself from the danger. How does she behave around dogs that didn't bark at her? Is she very focused or does she look relax?

[keiras_mom]

What I mean by people aggression is the same as what I was saying with the dog aggression. Some people she comes across while out on walks she will bark and growl at, but not all of them. Dogs... she usually has no reaction to the dogs that do not bark at her first. But it's the times when it's the people and dogs that she growls and barks at that her hackles goes up and she goes into bark and growl mode.

When I 'm walking her, I try to stay focused with my shoulder back, head up, and loose leashed with her at my left side. She will walk fine until someone or another dog strikes her indifferent. I don't know if she is sensing sometime about them or what it is.

I guess I don't understand why she gets so upset and goes into a frenzy when a dog just barks at her even once as we are passing by or is just outside in the yard. Am I over reacting here?

As I mentioned before, how I handle her when she acts badly towards people and dogs is that I give her a firm "enough" command that I have been training her to stop barking, and give her a firm but gentle leash correction and keep on walking. Sometimes this works, other times it takes her awhile for her to stop the nonsense!

I know all dogs are different, but my other dog (beagle mix) that I had was so laid back and she didn't care if every dogs that we passed by barked at her, she'd just walk along. She was very friendly to people and never growled or barked at anyone unless she sensed something about them or they knocked on my door.

So I guess I'm just trying to figure out what to do with Keira since these behaviors are new to me.

Thanks!

[French Ring]

Are you reading any of Kiera's behavior before she reacts? I can't really help unless you bring in every details about her early triggers. Can you tell if a dog is very relax on her walk or a dog that is very tense on her walk? When dogs aren't barking at her, how does she act? Who is she looking or watching them? Where is her tail being held up, middle, or lower? Those are signs that you left out.

Many times I prefer to tell owners to see a behaviorist or a trainer who is experienced with aggression issues because owners tend to leave out important details about how their dogs behave/act. When you come here and hope to get advice on how to fix your problem. Those people haven't seen your dog and their advice might not be safe.

It could send somebody to the hospital and put you at big libality. They probably didn't care because they won't get in big lawsuit if something bad happens. I care about people and dogs' safety so I hope you are asking someone to come in and observe your dog.

They get a chance to meet your dog in person and observe how it behaves. They are able to show you important signs to watch out for and how to provide appropriates solution.

Those are signs where you need to watch out for because you can create a block or provide a different response when your dog is about to stress out. Such as teach her a cue to look at me or whatever. It is like you are trying to catch her off her guard and forget about whatever is stressing her out and keeping her focus on you.

There are stressful signs where she is about to get stressed such as showing a lot of yawning, licking on her lip, getting fixed at dogs, etc.

[keiras_mom]

Keira usually holds her tail in the middle to down position and seems relaxed as we walk. The tail goes up and becomes tense when dogs bark at her and when she is about to bark at a person. I have not figured out what triggers her with these people, with the dogs I'd have to say their barking at her. Nothing about the people that she barks and sometimes growls at seems out of the ordinary, it is not just men, women, or kids, on bikes or with strollers. It's a mix of all of them, but not everyone she comes across. It could be a man just walking past, a women walking with a stroller, a man and a women walking, kids outside their homes playing, kids riding by on bikes. But she could come across a person in every one of the situations I just mentioned right after barking at one person and they will have no effect on her at all. Triggers??? got me!

Keira is a small-mid sized puppy. She is a 7 months old mini doxie mix. I'm not afraid of her biting anyone, because she's not a very big or strong dog. I can easily restrain her I am a very fit personal trainer, I will also walk across the road if I think there may be a problem and the person will be too close. I would never allow anyone to be hurt.

After thinking about it here and reading our replies back and forth, I see what your saying, I need to stop her behavior BEFORE she gets to level 10. I use a certain sound that shows her my displeasure of her behavior. I'll try that at the very moment I see her tense up along with the leash correction.

I find her behavior more annoying than anything. She is not vicious by any means, just has an issue with some people. Maybe just unsocialized? Needs to get used to lots of people and dogs??? I'll keep an eye on her tomorrow when we go out and see if I can come up with what seems to trigger her.

Thanks!

[keiras_mom]

I find it interesting with a forum of this size that no one else has any input on this. I don't know how much more clear I could have been with my posts, apparently no one else has ever had this problem with their dogs? Or is it that fact because I am "NEW" here and not in the tight knit click that is obvious on this board.

Only one person replied to my post and all they could come up with is for me to see a behaviorist or a trainer? Keira is not so far out of balance that I need to go that route as of this time.

It's no wonder so many people sign up on this forum post maybe once or twice and never come back. Not much of a welcome wagon here. Thank you to the very few people that did welcome me!

I have never been on a forum before that was so UNfriendly.

[poodleholic]

=keiras_mom;295054]I find it interesting with a forum of this size that no one else has any input on this. I don't know how much more clear I could have been with my posts, apparently no one else has ever had this problem with their dogs? Or is it that fact because I am "NEW" here and not in the tight knit click that is obvious on this board.

Actually, the forum is kind've slow right now.

Only one person replied to my post and all they could come up with is for me to see a behaviorist or a trainer? Keira is not so far out of balance that I need to go that route as of this time.

That person is a dog trainer, and is being responsible in that it's impossible to know what's going on with your dog without seeing the behavior. Just because you describe something does not mean that your interpretation is accurate.

It's no wonder so many people sign up on this forum post maybe once or twice and never come back. Not much of a welcome wagon here. Thank you to the very few people that did welcome me!

I have never been on a forum before that was so UNfriendly.:mad

I'm sorry you feel that way.

I do think Keira is a natural born alpha dog.

IMO, based on all of your posts on this thread, I feel your dog is reactive out've fear, and is not exhibiting alpha behavior at all.

I practice NILIF with her and she knows that I am the alpha of the house. I know that she missed those very important months of socialization, but is there still hope?

Is there anything else I can try or is it just a case of "she'll get better over time with exposure to dogs and people"?

NILIF is good. You also need to boost your dog's confidence through obedience work. A class would benefit you both at some point. For now, due to her lack of socialization, you would do better to work on desensitization and counterconditioning. What you are doing is only going to make the problem worse.

[sheltiemom]

I wouldn't take the lack of responses personally, it has been slow lately and the training forum is always slow anyway.

I have a similar problem with one of my shelties, imo it's leash reactivity and not aggression. My dog will bark and sometimes growl at people/dogs on leash, but off leash at the park or at home he's fine and once the people/dogs approach and he can say hi, he's fine. My dog had alot of early socialization, so I'm not sure how much of what's going on has to do with socialization....I have another dog the same age and they were raised together ans socailized the same way, one dog is reactive, the other not, so I would chalk at least some of it up to just personality.

Unfortunately I'm no expert, but I've been handling the issue similarly to you and it's improving. I give him the quiet command and after that we just keep walking calmly, basically ignoring what he's barking at. If I spot a person/dog first, I give the quiet command before he even starts and that seems to prevent him from having a reaction alot of the time.

[mlucas]

I am new here but i have a free report you can check out if you would like just send me a message and i will send it to you.

[rosemaryninja]

I wouldn't be offended by the lack of replies. This is a huge forum, yes, but it's not always that busy. There is no need to be so sensitive.

There is a trigger to Keira's behaviour, but it may not be so easily identifiable because of the minute things that dogs can pick up and we can't. Gaits, gestures, certain smells, etc. If you cannot identify the exact trigger then you need to keep an eye on her constantly during your walk because any dog/human approaching could be one. You need to watch out for her body language right before she launches into the 'crazy zone' where she is barking, lunging, growling etc and deaf to your physical/verbal commands. She will tense up - watch the corners of her mouth, her tail, her ears, the position of her head, the hair on her back. This is when you need to distract her (to break her concentration on the other dog), treat her (to show her that other dogs = good things) and then turn and walk in the opposite direction (to redirect her attention and prevent the situation from escalating).

If you are treating and redirecting when she has already started barking and so on, you are treating too late and you missed the earlier signals.

Seeing a behaviourist, or at least attending an obedience class, would also not be that out of line. Behaviourists are not only for dogs with severe aggression issues. Even mild cases of leash-reactivity (which it sounds like Keira has) are perfectly good reasons to seek professional help.

[MelissaCato]

.. if it makes ya feel any better, I know 3 Doxies owned by 3 different families, and they all have an aggressive side to them. If ya sit too close to them on the sofa, or if you try to pet them while the owner is holding them, if another dog invades the Doxies space they just get mad and snap. Maybe it's a breed thing. I dunno, but I wouldn't own one.