[bomaht]

Hello. First off i'm new to the site and want to say hello.

Ok, here's the story. I have a 10 month old Golden retriever(maybe mix, we aren't sure). He came from an animal shelter. When we got him he was about 6 months old. He was out of control. He wouldn't walk on leash. He wouldn't focus. He just pulled and pulled and pulled. Well in 4 months I have gotten him to a point where he is decent on walks most of the time. However we just started training class and he is VERY reactive to other dogs. I mean VERY VERY reactive. He's not aggressive, he just gets extremely anxious and barks and carries on.
Well training class as you would think was very rough. We used the gentle leader yet he was constantly trying to get to other dogs. He did finally calm down some.
However, as soon as we started moving around and leaving to go outside he started back in with acting out. My question is, will he eventually break out of this? Will he eventually be calm around other dogs? Or was it too late when I got him at 6 months old?
Also, is it common for Golden retrievers to be difficult to train sometimes? My dog seems to lose focus fairly quick in training. I mean like 2-3 min. and he's done. But he seems to know his commands very well.
Anyways, i'll end here cause I could keep going on and on with questions. I'm sure i'll post more sometime, but for now I just really need to know, will he eventually learn to be calm around other dogs?(Do I need to show him more leadership?((Not the cesar kind))) Any advice from experienced dog owners/trainers please.

[Keechak]

it sounds like he wasn't socialized properly as a baby, I would just try and be consistent with him, even if it looks like your getting nowhere and he's not paying any attention to you just keep trying. the more he is around other dogs the more used to them he will become.

He looks like a mix, but Yes Goldens just like other dogs can be extremely hard to train if they haven't had the foundation work done when they were babies.

[Indy]

Hi and welcome!

I'm not an expert by any means, but I can tell you our experience with our dog is very similar. We adopted Indy from a shelter when she was around 7-8 months old. She does quite well playing with dogs in a controlled off-leash setting, but becomes VERY dog reactive on a leash (unless it's a dog she already knows from playing with off-leash). Indy is now about 10-11 months old.

We also took her to obedience class and the first several weeks were a complete disaster. The first night they put her in a gentle leader right away. We spent the majority of the time trying to calm her down and keep her quiet and then when she finally did calm down at the end of class she started going crazy on the way out to the parking lot again. The class was through the humane society so we were lucky to get a very patient, experienced and talented instructor. She tells us the reactivity is fear or anxious behavior... not uncommon for a shelter dog with an unknown history.

So like I said, our first 3-4 weeks of class were an absolute disaster and we were ready to give up. But the instructor kept working with us on techniques to help with the reactivity. There are a few threads on here that talk about dog-reactivity with some really good suggestions on techniques to use! We would come early to expose our dog to the dogs in the class before us and stay late to have her see the dogs in the class after us. About week 4 or 5 we saw a huge improvement. She would still bark and react, but we could call her attention away from the other dogs and get her to stop. Each week since then, it's taken less effort to calm her down. We're now going into week 8 and last night she barked about 4 times on the way in and despite other dogs barking, she never made a sound the rest of the class.

So I'll go out on a limb and say- It can be done! We're nowhere near 100% since we still have to work at catching her attention before she sees a new dog, but the fact that she settles down right away is huge. Maybe we'll have it licked by the end of our second 8 week session. I think practice is key though. We're in class at least once a week and are sure to expose her to as many new dogs as possible using the various reactivity techniques.

My suggestions that have worked well for us-
1. Work on getting a keeping attention. Try for 5 seconds, then 10 and so on.
2. Other dogs mean good things for you dog. Get attention on you and treat, treat, treat in the presence of other dogs.
3. Try to catch your dog before he/she reacts. This may mean starting the treating while the other dog is 5 blocks away... whatever you need to do to start.
4. A golden mix probably needs lots of mental stimulation as well. In class, try to keep him occupied. Teach tricks and things you can do that are fun that regain focus on you (and the treats) rather than other dogs.
5. Practice, practice, practice. You wouldn't expect your dog to learn a trick after the first time. Nor would you expect him to remember if you only did it once a week while introducing it. It's all about repetition. We try to get our dog exposed to as many new dogs as possible and practice staying calm.

The best part about this story- Indy's good behavior got her graduated out of Level 2 last night. The instructor announced that she passed and everyone clapped- and Indy took a bow unprompted. It was hilarious.

[TooneyDogs]

He's working on instinct...everything is changing around him. You're teaching him how to respond, where to look, where to walk, what to do. All very normal and the day will come when you'll look at him and ask when he became such a wonderful, obedient partner. Yes, that day will come.

[Elana55]

If he was a model of dog training it is unlikely he would have been IN rescue?

Training will take consistant handling. It also needs you to think what you want him to do "instead of" some other behavior. Then you train that.. and ask for it when he is reactive in class. There is a game you can do here called "impulse control" and it is very good to do. I would also do things like the Doggy Zen game (see the stickies for this stuff at the top of the traning forum).

I was in a dog class with someone once who had repeated the class 3 X's before her dog graduated.. so it will take time and effort.