# Reactive to certain dogs



## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

1) Do you do practice walking in your yard/house/quiet walking areas without the gentle leader? (ie: he might need more training hours without it, esp if it was inhibiting behavior).
2) Always use the GL if you think there might be trouble ( you are tired/sick, you have to go out at the time of day where there are lots of dogs, you know it's a Black Dog Walk Hour).
3) Develop a strong attention cue. We typically use the dog's name.
4) When you see an out of control dog, change direction. Go somewhere else. I don't try to pass them even with my calmest dog.
5) I would do keep walking in a different direction over a stay any day. You can later do the stay as a training exercise (initially do it while the dog is Super Far Away and release and move away from them after that dog is 10 steps closer then where you originally started the stay).
6) Use a higher rate of reinforcement without the GL.
7) If you are a smaller person, have health problems, or such...don't worry about getting rid of the GL. Your safety is just as important as his. We don't want you to fall and get hurt!
8) Some suspect that reactive dogs are more likely to have trouble with black dogs...the reasoning is that it might be harder to read their body language. When black dogs are around, feed more often, be further away, and do what is necessary to keep him engaged. 
9) Get and read _Control Unleashed_ if you have not. If you have it...reread and impliment the exercises. 
10) Your goal should always to be far enough from the other dogs that he's okay.

Thanks for the update and HORRAY for all the progress!


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## jimla (Oct 9, 2008)

Glad to hear you are making progress with Tucker. I just finished reading Control Unleashed and do "look at that" exercises with Roxy every day on our walks. When we walk past a fenced yard with dogs barking, I reward her when she glances at the dogs and looks back at me. She used to lunge and bark at the dogs. She still has problems with dogs in her face at agility class. I do a "back away" and try to maintain her space. We go to an off-leash supervised play class that helps with her dog-dog communications.


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

Phillyfisher said:


> Is it better to put him in a stay when we see a reactive dog coming, or is it better to keep moving? Does a stay make him feel more vulnerable? I will be speaking with our trainer about this, as tonight was the first time I saw this behavior in awhile with Tucker, but then I realized that he did not have his GL on, so that may be part of it. Thanks in advance for your help-


What helped me with Gunner was to actually *speed up* when we had to pass a reactive dog, or one that he was about to react _to_.

The second I'd see him start to perk up, I'd ask him for a formal heel and start walking _fast_. That really gave him no choice but to focus on what we were doing and gave us the chance to get past the situation. (If I slowed down or stopped and asked for a sit, forget it - his attention would be lazer-locked on the other dog and I had no hope of getting it back.)

Once we got past the other dog, and he hadn't reacted, he got tons of praise and either a treat or a toy to carry.
We never managed to perfect it, but I found that I had more success with this approach than any other.


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## jimla (Oct 9, 2008)

Keep walking past other dogs works best for us. Today our neighbor's dogs charged us while I was walking Roxy and Elliot on-leash. Roxy grumbled a little, but she kept her attention on me.


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

ETA : I should have added that a good, solid focus command, like you mentioned ("watch me" or whatever) is NEVER a bad thing! That, alone, wasn't enough to help me with Gun, but it's a sanity-saver with Riley. 
Even when I don't react quite quickly enough to distract him _before_ he starts to go, I can always redirect and get his attention back on me very quickly.


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

I agree that reactive dogs are more likely to react to black dogs since it is difficult to see what their eyes are doing, if they are staring (a challenge) or blinking (a calming signal). 

I would not put my dog on a down-stay when in the vicinity of a dog he is uncomfortable with. It is a vulnerable position for dogs and will increase anxiety.

Walking by (if possible) or going the other way are good suggestions, but if you have to move to the side and wait for the other dog to pass, I would train an incredibly strong sit stay, put your dog in a position where he see the dog passing in his peripheral vision, stand in front of him and ask for attention with a high rate of reinforcement.

That was how I worked with Duffy when we had scary things passing us (Bikes, skiers, growly dogs). He would not agree to sit with his back toward the scary thing and it makes senses if you think about it, if it was scary he wanted to be able to see it. Now he can be off-leash and have bikes and skiers go right past. He just comes up to me and asks for a treat when they are gone.


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## Phillyfisher (Jan 9, 2008)

Selli-Belle said:


> Now he can be off-leash and have bikes and skiers go right past. He just comes up to me and asks for a treat when they are gone.


This is where I would like to get Tucker to with reactive dogs! He is better with the GL on, so we will just keep working with him. 

Everyone, thanks for the advice. Sometimes I need to check if my expectations for Tucker are realistic. The info on black dogs is really helpful, as our trainer thinks that Tucker is a little unsure reading other dogs, and I suspect black dogs make it even harder for him. You guys have really been helped give me a better idea what Tucker is going thru. I will definitely look into getting the Control Unleashed book. Just what I need- another dog book!


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Just wanted to say that Penny has a problem with all German Shepherds. She's never had a bad experience but will low growl and stand with her tail up. She's a shy dog so charging them isn't a problem. It started when she was 2 and saw a GSD on tv. I thought she was going to take the tv out trying to look behind it.

Funny how they decide which ones they like and which ones they don't.


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## The_Artful_Dodger (Mar 26, 2009)

I've noticed that Dodger seems to react to certain dogs. He gets really focused on them and sometimes makes a growly noise in his throat. He did it once at waiting area of his obedience school but by the time the instructor came into the room he was happily greeting the same dog. I came to the realization a few days ago that all the dogs he seemed to react this way to were big black dogs. I think he is unsure about them as they approach. I'll have to talk with his trainer again, but the info about not being able to read black dogs as well is helpful.


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

That's really interesting about black dogs. There are two dogs in our neighborhood that Riley NEVER reacts to -- a huge black Lab and a little black Pug. (Leave it to Riley to be the oddball! lol.) He's actually been nose-to-nose with the Lab and handled it very well. They're both older, extremely calm dogs though, so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Penny doesn't mind black labs, it's just German Shepherds. And funny that I've never met a GSD that wasn't friendly. My favorite neighborhood dog was a GSD. They'd leave it in the yard when they left and it would sit at the gate and cry. I spent hours petting it through the fence. Her name was Lady.


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Weird, I'd never heard the thing about black dogs...very interesting. Ranger will react to dogs that react to him. Case in point, yesterday we were at the pet store and an adorable little duck toller puppy came in. Ranger and him were sniffing each other and I was petting the puppy - absolutely no problems between the dogs. Ranger was getting a little too "happy" about having a new friend and the puppy was super calm (calmer than Ranger!). Great experience for both dogs. 

Not 2 minutes later, we walked out of the pet store and on our way out, Ranger froze. I look behind us and there's a lady 10 ft away with 2 little black fuzzball dogs (schipperkes?). Sure enough, one of her little dogs EXPLODED with barking and yapping and trying to reach Ranger. Ranger completely lost his focus and tried to get to the other dog. I just kept walking away from the lady and Ranger followed me, but occasionally looking back over his shoulder - he was super excited after that, but calmed down once we turned the corner and the dogs were out of view and had stopped barking. 

It's why I'm reluctant to bring Ranger to places where there are lots of dogs since he picks up on their energy and reacts to it. If they're calm, he's calm. If they're playful, he's playful. If they're calm and tell him to back off, he will. If they go nuts, he tries to get to them. I'm trying to work on getting him to ignore dogs with negative energy and he's getting a little better. It's been a long road though. At least he's not aggressive.


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

Penny's Mom said:


> Just wanted to say that Penny has a problem with all German Shepherds. She's never had a bad experience but will low growl and stand with her tail up. She's a shy dog so charging them isn't a problem. It started when she was 2 and saw a GSD on tv. I thought she was going to take the tv out trying to look behind it.
> 
> Funny how they decide which ones they like and which ones they don't.


It is funny, isn't it? I'd love to know what goes through their mind and how they decide which dogs they like and which they don't, when there isn't a reason that's obvious to us.

I can almost see it with GSDs, though. They do have a certain body language about them. I've seen SO many that look like they're tense and 'on alert' even when they really aren't. They just carry themselves a certain way. I know an awful lot of _people_ have a hard time reading them, so I wonder if maybe some dogs find it difficult, too??


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