Dog parks and Socialization

oranges81

 I don't care if she never plays with another dog again. My biggest concern is being able to walk down the street and pass close to another dog without her going ballistic. 

Jackie, I'm trying to do my best in a crappy situation. This town is not dog savvy when it comes to issues like these.

Just a suggestion, but buy a copy of "Click to Calm" - it's a great resource and written in a step by step way that makes a lot of sense.  Also, consider finding a "Feisty Fido" or "Growlies" class.  Sometimes, having a mentor, and a safe situation in which to work can be very helpful.

 Anne, I borrowed Click to calm from Heather and I've been doing a lot of what the book suggests.  It has helped. Unfortunately there aren't any Feisty Fido or Growlies class around here.   I'll keep pestering the trainers around here thou. Maybe I can get something going.

spiritdogs

This is great advice, and so is the suggestion about BAT, which is basically the same principle - you work under your dog's threshold so that she doesn't respond with her normal reaction.  The trainer you spoke to might not have been that far off the mark in one sense, although his advice certainly was stupid.  However, we often see dogs that are highly reactive when they are on leash, behind a fence, in a crate, or anywhere they feel trapped, but when they are off leash they do well with other dogs.  That, in fact, is really the main difference between reactivity and true aggression.  The aggressive dog behaves aggressively both on and off leash, while the reactive dog only reacts while on leash or when the personal space gets invaded.

This is Kota.  To a T. He's fine at the park off-leash but does not like young boisterous dogs running up to him, so will growl at them and if they back off, no problems.  if they don't... well I haven't found any like that at the dog park yet thankfully. We go for the off-leash walking and trails, not for socialization or play with other dogs.

Thank you for your advice.

It's great that this information and material.  My current project, a resident statement, is twice as difficult for me. I found this source, and I'm hoping they can help me make it accurate this source residencypersonalstatements.net But I hope to be able to manage this on my own in the future.