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I have a 2.5 year old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. When she was a puppy I took her to puppy playtime at Petco and she did fine, until she was 6 months old. Then she suddenly stopped wanting to play and growled if another dog came at her. After a few times, we were asked not to come; which is understandable. She still liked trading sniffs with other dogs, unless they were aggressive, and then she got hostile. It got worse; after a while the other dog didn't have to do anything. Needless to say, we stayed away from other dogs, even though she acted like she wanted to go to them. Eventually a dog 10' away in a store would set her off. I have no idea what might have started this behavior; it is like another dog hurt her, but I am reasonably sure that didn't happen.
Oh, she loves people, does a lot of tricks, and will reliably obey "come" or "stay" when she is 100' away from me on a walk in the woods. Other then interacting poorly with dogs, she is doing pretty good. She had her first heat at about 11 months and was spayed a few months later.
I took her to the behaviorist our vet recommended. She suggested enrolling in a good citizen class; being in a room with other dogs under closely controlled conditions should help. Chloe already does everything on the list of required behaviors except getting along with other dogs. So we signed up. At first it was horrible; Chloe was extremely agitated and couldn't concentrate on anything. The instructor gave us a prong collar, and that worked wonders. She calmed down immediately and started following orders. We have had three classes and she can now sit/stay 2' away from another dog, even without the prong collar. Some of the people don't have great control over their dogs and occasionally one will go at Chloe. When that happens she will responds badly. (admittedly I would respond badly if a man 3 times my size suddenly came at me, but still...) The instructor suggested that we go to a dog park and have her watch (from outside of course) the other dogs running and playing. We did that yesterday and had her sit/stay 5' from the fence; after explaining to the people there what we were doing. It was difficult because she really wanted to get in there and play. We gradually moved closer until she was at the fence. Then a dog put it's muzzle through the fence and Chloe growled and lunged. We moved back a foot and all was well.
We have 3 classes left. It is helping a bit; she can now see a dog 10' away without losing it; but I don't have much hope she will improve beyond that. I know it is not vital that she like dogs as long as she likes people; but I really need to be able to pass another dog on a trail without having a monster on my hands. It would be wonderful if she could actually play with another dog, as she seems to want to do that.
Any suggestions?
Oh, she loves people, does a lot of tricks, and will reliably obey "come" or "stay" when she is 100' away from me on a walk in the woods. Other then interacting poorly with dogs, she is doing pretty good. She had her first heat at about 11 months and was spayed a few months later.
I took her to the behaviorist our vet recommended. She suggested enrolling in a good citizen class; being in a room with other dogs under closely controlled conditions should help. Chloe already does everything on the list of required behaviors except getting along with other dogs. So we signed up. At first it was horrible; Chloe was extremely agitated and couldn't concentrate on anything. The instructor gave us a prong collar, and that worked wonders. She calmed down immediately and started following orders. We have had three classes and she can now sit/stay 2' away from another dog, even without the prong collar. Some of the people don't have great control over their dogs and occasionally one will go at Chloe. When that happens she will responds badly. (admittedly I would respond badly if a man 3 times my size suddenly came at me, but still...) The instructor suggested that we go to a dog park and have her watch (from outside of course) the other dogs running and playing. We did that yesterday and had her sit/stay 5' from the fence; after explaining to the people there what we were doing. It was difficult because she really wanted to get in there and play. We gradually moved closer until she was at the fence. Then a dog put it's muzzle through the fence and Chloe growled and lunged. We moved back a foot and all was well.
We have 3 classes left. It is helping a bit; she can now see a dog 10' away without losing it; but I don't have much hope she will improve beyond that. I know it is not vital that she like dogs as long as she likes people; but I really need to be able to pass another dog on a trail without having a monster on my hands. It would be wonderful if she could actually play with another dog, as she seems to want to do that.
Any suggestions?