On leash aggression

It's the fight or flight instinct kicking in when he is on leash. Off leash, he can control how he interacts with his environment. He can run away so there is no need to fight. On leash, he can't run away so he goes into fight mode. I have a dog exactly like this and it is a bitch to deal with. There's many training methids to control the behavior a bit but after 3 years, we haven't been too successful. My dog is much better than before but I don't think it will ever go away completely. Some books to read are click to calm, control unleashed, hmm and a bunch of others i can't think of off the top of my head. Basically you want to counter condition the dog so that when it sees another dog while on leash his emotional state is more on the positive side. You also want to train in some default behaviors that you can go to before the dog reacts, such as a sit, watch you, look at that etc. I sympathize with your situation completely

 Hello and welcome to the forum!

The trainer must have had some info when that happened in class?

I agree with what was already said.  Does he also react if you walk him alone?  He may and yet he may still be calmer when it is just the 2 of you.  He may feel that there is a vacuum and "someone" needs to step in and take the lead dog position when out with his pack.  If that is the case, then he needs to know someone else is already in charge and he can remain in pack role.

I use the term "focus."  Training this, you hold the treat up to your forehead.  Like "come," this is a command which always, always, ALWAYS gets a treat.  (Sit and other commands, you wean off treats and reward with praise over time.)   Do it in the house, in the back yard.

 When you walk, always have a treat baggie in your pocket.  As soon as you see someone approaching, you have to take action.  Cross the street if you can, walk off the path into the field if you are at a park.  Take out the treats and have him FOCUS.  Reward.  Keep at it until the "intruder" has passed.  You want high value treats, I use bits of hot dog, cheese, and boiled boneless skinless chicken breast. 

I've been working on this with my Willy for 2 years next month.  I DO see improvement, but gosh I go through tons of treats on a walk.  And we still have some dogs he reacts to, leaving me and the treats behind at the far end of the leash.  I only walk him a lone about once a month, which is totally against what I've written and what I was told by my trainer to do, lol.  It's tough when you have multiples to fit in several walks!  

 

 

 First of all, thank you for your replies. Regarding the incident at the puppy class, I had been taking George along with my grandson for about 5 weeks and he seemed to be getting on with his training and was even making a few friends, then one day a new pup arrived at the start of class while George was still on the leash and he started to bark and snarl at the new pup. The trainer advised me to let go of the leash, to see what he would do and George promptly attacked the other pup. The trainer ran over and hit George quite hard and after that George went into a sulk and wouldn't do anything he was told. The dog was stressed, I was stressed and the trainer was getting frustrated so we stopped going. Perhaps George thought that I wasn't protecting him?

I will certainly try walking him on his own although he is very attached to Ruby. Maybe I will try sending Ruby and Jack out first with my wife and then meeting them at the park.  I have tried to gain his attention with treats but he largely ignores me once he is in fight mode. Time to try harder I guess.

Thank you Jewelieee for the suggestions for the books, I will look those up. I know that George can learn to accept new dogs once he is used to them, as he allows my daughter's shih tzu in the house with no trouble. I just need him to understand that other dogs are not a threat. It's funny, but Ruby ignores most other dogs when she is out. I wonder why George doesn't take a cue from her?

Anyway, back to the drawing board I think.

I agree with walking the dog alone. I have a pack of 3 and walking my reactive dog alone goes a long way. If I walk them all together, they feed off each other which makes things worse.

My dog also is fine with other dogs on leash once she knows those dogs. It is new dogs that come into our environment that freak her out. And it is fear based, it is important to remember that. I wish I could explain to you everything we have done but it would take a year to type it all up. There's no one specific magic cure. It is trial and error with obedience (which builds confidence), counter conditioning and environment management.

I would see if your area has a good vet behaviorist and/or a good dog trainer who has specific experience in leash reactive dogs. Anyone else will do you more harm than good. It is important that the person has experienced it themselves and has worked through it. Negative based/punishment based training is not the way to go

crashland

  he largely ignores me once he is in fight mode.

 

 Yup, so does Willy.  That is why you have to take evasive action (crossing the street) and getting him set up focused on you, his back to the  'distraction,' BEFORE he gets himself wound up.  Then, when you are starting out on this routine, you have a huge bag of treats and as one trainer told me, "just keep shoveling treats in his mouth to keep him busy until the other dog has walked past and is out of reactive range."  Praising all the while.

 Don't forget to adjust his normal food amount down, or you will have one very pudgy doggie, ha haa!