Stuck!

[raffaella]

Hi all..in the last few months things have improved a lot with Maya,her recall is excellent and she is really more focused on me and interested more in playing with her ball then the other dogs..fortunately I'm still stuck on something
the problem is when I'm out with my 9year old son she behave aggressivley if a dog come near us as she feels the need to protect him,..my trainer said that my son needs to be more in charge(like feed her,training)so she wont feel the need to protect him,we did that for a wile but at the same time I sort of stopped going for walks with my son as he is not really interested in Maya so I sort of given up and the problem is still there,the trainer said that if he can't be bothered that there is nothing she can do really and eventually Maya will grow out of it(I hope)..unfortunately in the past few weeks Maya strated to show the same behaviour when I go for walks with my boyfriend NOT GOOD!
does maya think my boyfriend is weak and needs to be protective? when we were out she was good but a couple of dogs came running towards us and she had a pop at them..i told her NO and started walking the other way and called her back and she came straight away,so it wasn't to bad...
The good thing is happy to walk with us and play with us,she's not too bother about other dogs untill they get near us..totally different dog if it just me and her,she will play nicely or just sniff and carry on..

[nickmcmechan]

Sounds a bit like the agression is only there when someone else is on a walk with you?

When you say 'behaves agressivley' what level is it? I.e. is it growling, barking, lunging, snapping, how bad is it?

My first reaction would be to ensure safety so that a bite does not happen. The Baskerville muzzle is good for this.

What I would do would be to ensure your Dog is leashed when other Dogs are around. Then when the other dog approaches with its owner stand to the side and have the dog facing the oncoming dog (give yourself and your dog plenty of room) and treat your dog using a high value treat (liver?) but hold the treat in the eyeline between your dogs and your eyes. You will be conditioning your dog to pay attention to you than the other dogs.

If it appears that the other dog is not in good control, walk away. Every time your dog is agressive it reinforces the behaviour. If your dog is agressive when you try the above tecnique, about turn and quickly walk away with no treat.

Hope that helps!?

[raffaella]

Originally Posted by nickmcmechan

Sounds a bit like the agression is only there when someone else is on a walk with you?

When you say 'behaves agressivley' what level is it? I.e. is it growling, barking, lunging, snapping, how bad is it?

My first reaction would be to ensure safety so that a bite does not happen. The Baskerville muzzle is good for this.

What I would do would be to ensure your Dog is leashed when other Dogs are around. Then when the other dog approaches with its owner stand to the side and have the dog facing the oncoming dog (give yourself and your dog plenty of room) and treat your dog using a high value treat (liver?) but hold the treat in the eyeline between your dogs and your eyes. You will be conditioning your dog to pay attention to you than the other dogs.

If it appears that the other dog is not in good control, walk away. Every time your dog is agressive it reinforces the behaviour. If your dog is agressive when you try the above tecnique, about turn and quickly walk away with no treat.

Hope that helps!?

Hi ,Thanks for the reply. Yes Maya does this only if I am with my son and lately she started to behave like this also when with my BF.
Her type of aggression varies,sometime she barks but if a dog come to close to her she'll snap as well..the other day a dog came running towards us and jumped on BF luckily maya was on leash as she went mad
Is strange because when she is with me we even go for group walks and she is fine..I'll try your suggestions anyway ,thanks!

[nickmcmechan]

I hope it does help

Another suggestion would be to arrange walk-by's.

What you need is a dog and handler that are unfamiliar to your dog. Then, in a nice open field walk by each other at a distance, say 20 yards. Your dog will be getting lots of treats for ignoring the other dog.

(you do need the other dog and handler to be calm around excitable dogs)

Gradually close the distance down. If, at any point during the exercise your dog reacts then increase the distance. Don't let the distance get too close, because if your dog is successful in reacting with agression your back to square one again.

It might be good for this exercise for the person handling your dog to be your BF, not you.

If you can do this one, great, but it does mean finding someone suitable to help, which is not often that easy.

Hope that helps. Lady can display fear agression so I've been down this long road!

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by raffaella

Is strange because when she is with me we even go for group walks and she is fine..I'll try your suggestions anyway ,thanks!

Walks like this can help all sorts of problems,... can you get your B/F to join you on these walks, you may have to warn the others, but most people would understand the problem and be willing to help you out,...I am sure it would help, you could take onto the back, at a little distance, and as he becomes more settled start to close the gap with the others

[raffaella]

Originally Posted by nickmcmechan

I hope it does help

Another suggestion would be to arrange walk-by's.

What you need is a dog and handler that are unfamiliar to your dog. Then, in a nice open field walk by each other at a distance, say 20 yards. Your dog will be getting lots of treats for ignoring the other dog.

(you do need the other dog and handler to be calm around excitable dogs)

Gradually close the distance down. If, at any point during the exercise your dog reacts then increase the distance. Don't let the distance get too close, because if your dog is successful in reacting with agression your back to square one again.

It might be good for this exercise for the person handling your dog to be your BF, not you.

If you can do this one, great, but it does mean finding someone suitable to help, which is not often that easy.

Hope that helps. Lady can display fear agression so I've been down this long road!

sounds like a good plan although I don't know how to find someone that would do that apart from some people i already know but that would not work as maya is familiar with their dogs...

[raffaella]

Originally Posted by Stuart

Walks like this can help all sorts of problems,... can you get your B/F to join you on these walks, you may have to warn the others, but most people would understand the problem and be willing to help you out,...I am sure it would help, you could take onto the back, at a little distance, and as he becomes more settled start to close the gap with the others

thats a good idea,I regurlary meet with a few people at my local park ,2 of them have a gsd ,one of them already offered to meet to help me with my son..

[Blitzen]

Good advice from Nick, it is what I would do too. And I did something similar with my GSD girlie as she was dog reactive when I adopted her as an adult, and she has improved immensely using a method similar to what Nick described

[raffaella]

Originally Posted by Blitzen

Good advice from Nick, it is what I would do too. And I did something similar with my GSD girlie as she was dog reactive when I adopted her as an adult, and she has improved immensely using a method similar to what Nick described

thanks..how did you manage to find someone to help you?just wandering how can I find someone with a dog that maya is not familiar with..