[Friday]

So I have been to 3 basic obedience classes with my 17 month old Standard Poodle (Daisy) now. She is extremely reactive towards other dogs when on the leash, but can play well if introduced off leash.

She is doing somewhat okay in classes. For the first two classes, she was screened off from the others and that helped her calm down. The third class there was no screen and she was okay for about 50% of the time, but the second any noise or movement started she would go crazy. I have been working with her at home, mostly with toys as rewards. I know she knows my "marker" word, but unless we are doing a training session everything she knows just goes out the window.

For example, yesterday a leisurely family walk turned into doggy nightmare. We went hiking in the woods knowing there would be other dogs around (I thought she was getting better) and she went from lovely and sweet to a she-devil and would not focus no matter what.

In the obedience class, when she goes crazy they make me restrict her movement (without pulling on the leash/collar) until she calms down. Is there any better way? I have been walking here with a Halti, but should I maybe switch to a pinch collar so that she can self correct (yes, I know enough not to jerk on it).

I don't think her dog aggression is fear based. She will get stiff, lean forward, tail straight up. I've been making sure that she doesn't get anything for free. I've had her for 5 months now, and seeing some progress (I can tell her not to bark at all the things she sees going by outside for the most part). But it just seems that I am investing so much energy for so little gain.

Anyhow, sorry for the rant. I would definitely appreciate any tips on getting her to calm down when there are distractions.

[TooneyDogs]

Is she dog aggressive or does she play well when off leash?

[Friday]

So far, this has been her exposure to other dogs off leash:

1. Introduced her to two dogs owned by the owner of a doggy daycare. They played for an hour with no problems.

2. I took her to a school yard to play at 4:30 in the morning. Had her off leash since I didn't expect anyone to be up that early. Oops. She took off towards a big Rottweiler whose owner is apparently also an early bird. Lots of sniffing, no problems or barking until I grabbed her (had a pretty long line attached).

3. Someone didn't shut the door properly and it opened when she stood on her back legs to look out the window. Took off after the street after someone roller blading with his pit-mix. No problems, although she was a bit rude about engaging play (I think).

4. Constantly barks at yippy neighbors dog through the fence. Has stopped barking at old quiet dog that belongs to other neighbor, still a low throaty growl.

I would love to take her somewhere with lots of other dogs (off leash, like a park) so she could get used to them and play with them, but don't want anything to go wrong...

[TooneyDogs]

OK. The good news....she's not dog aggressive. The bad news...she finds other dogs more interesting than you. Did your instructors talk about how it's your dogs responsibility to watch you...to pay attention to you even in the face of distractions?. (it's not your job to keep reminding her..she should be doing her job).
Those are the two issues you need to work on...how to motivate her (toys aren't cutting it) and how to teach her to pay attention. Your instructors should give you some tips on motivation and some attention/distraction exercises that you can practice.
If you get those under control you could use a piece of string for a collar and leash...the halti and prong are poor substitutes for real motivation and attention that is learned properly. In the meantime, I'd continue with the halti.

[melgrj7]

You may want to get the book called control unleashed. I recently got an extremely leash reactive dog (which is what your dog is, reactive when on leash) and have been doing the exercises in this book. They have helped so much! I can walk her now without her freaking out over bikes, skate boarders, strollers and 90% of the time she is fine walking by other dogs now too. Small dogs are her biggest issue and we can walk by most of the time without her lunging and barking now.

Some of them seem odd, like the look at that game, but they do actually work. I was skeptical of several of them at first, but tried them and am glad I did.

[blackrose]

I don't think I would use any took like a halti or prong in your situation for fear of just frustrating the dog more. Chloe has some leash reactive problems and since I walk her with a prong I have to be very careful to NOT let her self correct (or me correct her) when she is in "frustrated" mode, as the correction will only escalate it. I will give a little tug while saying her name to redirect her attention towards me, but nothing more.
Since she's a ham for running, when I redirect her and she glances at me I say, "Wanna run?" and we take off. She'll forget all about the other dog, grab the leash in her mouth, and just bound away. LOL I just try to keep her interested and intertained while we are going by a trigger.

I plan to purchase the book "Control Unleashed", but until I do I'll just have to keep jogging.

[agility collie mom]

Sounds like you are making progress in class. She is getting better 50% of the time that is a plus. Ask your trainer to give you a plan and homework to do with her. Right now taking her on a family walk that turns into a nightmare will not help her to progress. She needs baby steps. I agree with tooney dogs as far as reward goes. I buy beef liver cook it and cut it up. Believe me I had all the puppies sitting at my feet!! Next week I think I will try cooked chicken breast. Remember Rome wasn't built in a day. Stick with it you are making progress or your trainer wouldn't have taken the screen down. Good luck. (I'm going to buy the book unleashed sounds great!!)

[Friday]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will try with the Control Unleashed book. I know she has the ability to learn, but it can be hard not to want "instant" results. For example, she knows she must look at me if I have a treat in my hand (not at the treat). But I realized that if I switch hands... well, different story. One small step at a time I guess. It is definitely nice to know that there are others out there who have had to deal with the same kinds of problems and that it is an issue that can be dealt with.

[MyCharlie]

Originally Posted by Friday

One small step at a time I guess.

I think that sums it up perfectly LOL. It does get frustrating because we all want that great family pet. In all the books I've read it talks about how we almost always go too far too soon, which obviously in real life is difficult to avoid. But maybe taking smaller steps with her will help?

Good luck!

[melgrj7]

Thats because dogs don't generalize behaviors. For example, a dog learns to sit in the living room, the owner and dog practice every day in the living room. Then one day the owner thinks the dog knows sit and tells the dog to sit outside . . . the dog has no clue what to do because to the dog sit means put your butt to the floor in the living room next to the couch while my owner is holding a hot dog.

Every time you go into a new situation or do something slightly different its best to pretend the dog knows nothing and relearn from scratch, they usually catch on a lot quicker once they already know the command or behavior in one scenario.

My dogs know they are not allowed to run around wildly inside our apartment, running is for outside (we live on the 2nd floor, trying to be courteous to downstairs neighbors, and it freaks the cats out when the dogs get wild). But when we go to other people's houses, they need to relearn that rule, but they usually get it within 10 or 15 minutes, rather than the weeks it took to teach them that at home.

Originally Posted by Friday

For example, she knows she must look at me if I have a treat in my hand (not at the treat). But I realized that if I switch hands... well, different story. One small step at a time I guess. It is definitely nice to know that there are others out there who have had to deal with the same kinds of problems and that it is an issue that can be dealt with.