Riley's a "red" dog. - Advice please

Ok, I will try those too. Thanks. He does have a pretty good "leave it". If I say "leave it!" and throw his tennis ball, he will not chase after it but will wait until I say "okay". This might seem like a tiny thing but he absolutely loves playing fetch (he would play all day if he could, no joke) and would take someone throwing his ball over a treat any day.

Honestly I never thought to use the "leave it" in other situations. I'm going to make sure it is SOLID as can be and use it when we come across any triggers.

Any ideas on the treats vs. no treats argument? He likes treats, but will they just excite him even more? Should I carry a tennis ball along with me to show him when he sees another dog? Or is that just misguided for the same reasons as using treats?

Sorry for so many questions. I just want to make sure I'm doing things right. I accept his backwards progress as my responsibility and fault 100%.

Hi Riley,

In my very limited experience, he sounds dog-reactive.

Rexy does a lot of the same behaviour as your pup...tensing up, standing tall, mouth closing, breathing pattern changes, hard fixated stare, hackles up.  That can then progress to lunging and barking. At it`s worst, she was wildly lunging (using her feet to push off of me), roaring and barking.  The few scuffles she has been in have been lots of noise and flashing teeth, no injuries for either dog. She also reacts differently to certain dogs, and does have a couple of dog friends, so I know she can play nicely with others when she is feeling comfortable about the situation.

In my experience, insisting on a down or sit when she is worried and fixating on a dog actually makes the situation much worse as I`m putting her in a more vulnerable position.

I`m not familiar with the personality typing you describe.

I`d suggest reading `Scaredy Dog` by Ali Brown, and `Control Unleashed` by Leslie McDevitt.

The more you can avoid him reacting, the better, as everytime he practices the unwanted behaviour it becomes more ingrained.  For Rexy, reacting to strange dogs and strange people make them (in her mind, the scary monsters) go away, so it`s immensely rewarding for her.

And even if you don`t feel the issue could be reactivity, the exercises in `Control Unleashed` are great for working on handler focus and impulse control.

I am not familiar with this book, but if the protocol is to make the dog lie down and pet it, then no, I do not agree.  First, the main problem is that the dog has already reacted, already been pushed too far, and in many of these cases it becomes self-rewarding (like reacting at another dog passing by for example - your dog is nervous, so he reacts, the other dog and owner walk past and leave, and to your dog he accomplished making that dog leave by reacting).  If it is not self-rewarding, then it becomes more like flooding (forcing the dog to remain exposed to whatever triggers the reaction, hoping that it will desensitize the dog), which I just plain don't like and don't agree with especially for a reactive dog since most reactivity is based on insecurity.  Second, lying down is a submissive position.  When the dog is already showing insecurities like tensing up, whining, hackling, etc, forcing him to stay in the situation AND assume a more submissive position is the opposite of what I would do, which is to remove the dog from the trigger *before* there is a reaction.

Liesje

I am not familiar with this book, but if the protocol is to make the dog lie down and pet it, then no, I do not agree.  First, the main problem is that the dog has already reacted, already been pushed too far, and in many of these cases it becomes self-rewarding (like reacting at another dog passing by for example - your dog is nervous, so he reacts, the other dog and owner walk past and leave, and to your dog he accomplished making that dog leave by reacting).  If it is not self-rewarding, then it becomes more like flooding (forcing the dog to remain exposed to whatever triggers the reaction, hoping that it will desensitize the dog), which I just plain don't like and don't agree with especially for a reactive dog since most reactivity is based on insecurity.  Second, lying down is a submissive position.  When the dog is already showing insecurities like tensing up, whining, hackling, etc, forcing him to stay in the situation AND assume a more submissive position is the opposite of what I would do, which is to remove the dog from the trigger *before* there is a reaction.

I would go with you Liesje, but am concerned with what i see as the OPs rush. Good dog training on this sort of stuff is done in a relaxed manner. I never put time tables on it, but often seem to get the result quickly. I am all smiles though and remain very relaxed. Me relaxed== better chance that dog relaxed. I have nearly always found foos to have a slight calming effect too, but may be i missed something??

Liesje, you put it very well.

Riley, in my early days with Rexy (before I knew better), I tried insisting on sits. This totally back-fired as she re-directed the fear and frustration onto me and I ended up with bloodied knuckles from her gnashing her teeth at my hands and a totally freaked out dog who started to react at a particular yard even when the nemesis dog wasn't there. It's not a path you want to go down.

Hindsight is 20/20, but had I known what reactivity was 2 years ago, and started training much differently, we'd be in a much different place now...

Pick up "Scaredy Dog". Reactivity is explained so well. Thresholds, de-sensitization, counter-conditioning, it explains it all for you and is a quick, easy read.

As poodleOwned mentioned, this type of training takes time, and it has to be done at the dog's pace to get any sort of success.

If you have access to a Reactive Rover type class, it would definitely be worth your while to check it out.

Rexy

I tried insisting on sits.

This can happen eveb after planned arousal. Some of us use heavy amounts of play/prey drive in our training and we know that our dogs can go out to lunch sometimes and not "hear us". They are not being naughty or any of that lark . Same when dogs get slighly fearful becasue their owners are fearful and don't perform like they should. If i gat even a touch angry or very nervous both my dogs back off and get cautious. All the same thing, all sane sensible responses from sane sensible dogs.

One way around it when you need really good recalls is to use a supersonic whistle that can break through. I never ever tell my dogs off if they are absorbed in something and miss me calling out to them. I might as well tell them that i don't ever want them to focus as it will have negative consequences..

 Dump the Silverman book in the trash and grab a copy of Patricia McConnell's "Feisty Fido" or Emma Parsons' "Click to Calm" - thinking that you can train a dog not to react to other dogs by forcing it into a down is not very accurate.  In fact, "down" is a very vulnerable position - and most of this kind of behavior, about 80%, is caused by fear and not aggression - so, the dog is even more fearful (or aroused) by being forced into the down.  That doesn't mean that the dog would not react aggressively if allowed off lead, but most don't.  In fact, it's the very fact of being on leash, usually with an embarrassed or frightened owner (can't blame them) tugging back and yapping incessantly at the dog to stop, sit, down, off, come, etc. when the dog is not in a frame of mind to hear them that escalates this behavior.  This type of training is done in stages, in controlled circumstances, and involves classical conditioning and desensitization.

Resources:

http://www.petexpertise.com/dog-training-books/training-guide-for-reactive-and-aggressive-dogs.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_BA39Q0Q08

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1262

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjWfXi43WSk