FED UP with leash aggression

Well, to the OP - I hope you can squeeze some info out of this crazy thread. "Scaredy Dog" is a great book and it's straightforward, easy to read and interesting. I also have "Click to Calm" and it is like a recipe book of exercises to try. Very helpful and I recommend them both for your situation (Kaiser is not far off from how Scout was at first).

Also to the OP, Conrad has some minor leash/barrier reactivity issues too. We've been working on finding a good distance at which I can start desensitizing and working on attention and focus. It is difficult with him because his reactivity is very occaisional--it's not every dog, it's mostly the dogs who start up with the reactivity towards him first, so it's hard to know when I should stop walking and do some work with him and when we'll be able to walk right by another dog with no problem at all. But at the dog park, which we go to every weekend, he's the total Mayor. He's popular, he's friendly with every dog that comes in, he's highly social and responds extremely well to social cues from other dogs. I think that may be part of his reactivity issue that I have a hard time seeing. To me it sometimes seems like he's freaking out over a random dog who's just standing there, but Conrad is so highly attuned to dog social cues that he may be seeing just a slight posture from the other dog that is screaming "I DON'T LIKE YOU!" and I just can't see it.

Whatever it is, the entrance to the park we walk by almost every day makes him go on to High Alert from about a block away even when there are no dogs anywhere around. He's had a lot of encounters there, since it's a city park and there are dogs constantly coming and going at that location. I'm going to start working on attention and focus as we walk by that spot with no dogs around.

This has nothing to do with leadership. this has everything do with the dog being insecure, insecure that the larger dogs are more "man" than he is. This dog is an alphla wannabe. He really has no power, but easily gets threatened. and with unneutered pitbull, I would think that the problem lies in breeding rites, not pack strucuture.

 
Breeding rights are very much a part of pack structure. Alphas get to breed. "Alpha wannabe" is about leadership.

Well, thanks to everyone who has been a help. Anne, i always appreciate your input...you have helped me so much since i've joined the forum.  Houndlove, Kaiser also will only react if a dog barks at him ( a little one) usually he doesn't bat an eyelash at a little dog, unless it starts getting yappy with him.

I'm glad I've been a help to you, Megan. Thanks for telling me. []

Get back on topic and leave the personal feelings aside...If this I am/you are behavior continues to be exhibited I will be taking alternative steps to correct the behavior

Do you think maybe unaltered males may be the problem?  My dog reacts to some dogs also.

 I am never for sure which ones he will be fine with or which rare one  will set him off.

 I just realized that the few  problems I have seen, are with unaltered males.

ORIGINAL: RidgebackGermansShep

Kaiser has played with all most all of my friend's dogs...i'd say the number is around 20. The only dog he had problems with and couldn't get over was with an unaltered male pit bull. When Kaiser is off lead, he will act dominant at first...hair bristled, tail up, stiff posture...but if the other dog doesn't act aggressively and obviously wants to play, then we have no problem. He also only exhibits this behavior with larger dogs. we have never had a problem with small dogs. And i agree, Kaiser is one of the best house dogs i have ever been around, but when i get him out around other dogs, he is a different dog. The only weird thing he does around humans is stare at them and kick the grass up behind him...but he's affectionate with complete strangers. I'm watching feisty fido on ebay, i think it ends tomorrow, i'm excited!

I'm sure unaltered males could be causing him to act like that, or even just the behavior of the other dog.  Cairo is MUCH more likely to explode at another dog if that dog is staring him down, and even more likely to do it if the dog is trying to drag its owner toward us while staring.  Walking by dogs that totally ignore us is pretty easy really []

Some dogs do react differently to unaltered dogs, some react differently to dogs that stare, or to dogs with prick ears, or to dogs that are white or black.  But, no matter what the trigger, the remedy is still focus on the handler and desensitization to the trigger, first at a distance the dog can tolerate, and later to increasingly closer distances until the dog can walk by another dog without reacting.  With some dogs you never get there, with others, you get there pretty quickly.

Megan, it may help you to take your dogs out seperately a couple of times.  Take him to an area where you can control the distance between you two and other dogs.  Find out what the comfortable distance is, pay attention to your dog, watch for subtle changes, especially in posture.  As soon as you see that change, that's the time to take a few steps away and get his attention on you.  The distances may be different for different types of dogs. 

Gaia thinks that all brindle dogs are bad, large black or dark dogs on profile are ok, all large dogs that are tan or white are bad, little white dogs are bad but little dark dogs are ok.  So basically unless it's a small black dog that's not looking at her, or a large black dog that is in profile, I can get a reaction.

Yeah, i've been thinking about starting to take them out seperately. Wyatt is so laid back, that during Kaiser's fits i don't even think about Wyatt. He's just loping along beside me. But, i was thinking it's quite possible that kaiser would do better without him. I know if i walk Kaiser with a friend, he always has to be in front of my friend's dog, no matter what kind o pulling it requires. When it's just me and him, he walks quietly beside me.

Instead of a halti can i recommend the gentle leader. It's a head collar from what i've heard it give the best results. I don't use one (we had a dog trainer that said it shows failure from the owner not being able to train the dog[]) but my dog walks well on the leash anyway. But anyway it comes with an instructions cd on how to fit it and everything ( I bought one i didn't use it heaps because my dog already learnt to heel nicely). It may take only a couple of day to a couple of weeks for them to get use to it and it says when it does it will heel perfectly and i THINK but i'm not sure that when your dog heels excellently of the gentle leader if you switch back to a normal collar the dog will automatically heel perfectly like he did on the gentle leader. I'm not sure if that will help but i reckon you should maybe give it a go.

A halti and GL are essentially the same thing.  I would have to disagree that using a halti or GL is going to magically train a dog to walk at heel.  A tool is just a tool and if not used properly, it can't do it's job.

ORIGINAL: glenmar

A halti and GL are essentially the same thing.  I would have to disagree that using a halti or GL is going to magically train a dog to walk at heel.  A tool is just a tool and if not used properly, it can't do it's job.

I agree with Glenda, but I also don't think that a Halti or GL represents a failure in training.  They simply allow you to manage the dog in situations that are beyond his training level, so that he doesn't get to practice inappropriate behavior. []