Small Dog/Puppy Aggressive

Maybe he thinks little dogs are strange looking! 

I don't know what he thinks! But is sure is embarrassing!

 Have you tried having a friend with a small dog let them meet? Maybe he is afraid of them and just needs to see their nothing to be afraid of. What's he do around puppies?

So your a dog walker who continusely uses a prong collar for general walking instead of just training as it is inttended AND as reinforcement for other negative behaviors? Maybe you should look into positive reinforcement. Maybe some extra socialization so that he dosnt associate small dogs with him being punished.

Yes, I'm a professional, insured and bonded, dog walker. Yes, when I'm alone with him, on our own walks (like in the early morning and night) he does wear a prong collar and it is used properly and only when absolutely necessary. When have sought out a trainer and we've been properly showed/trained on how to use this training collar- we do not abuse the way it is used. When a prong collar is used in the way it is intended to it does not harm our dog.

I would love to socialize him with smaller dogs, but I'm afraid of him biting them, or even stepping on them and hurting them. I don't what them to get hurt. I just don't know what he's going to do honestly.

He does the same thing around tiny puppies as he does with tiny dogs. I have never let him get too close because I don't want someone's tiny dog to get hurt- either bit or stepped on- by him.

I used to be cautious with my girl around little dogs as well. She wasnt aggressive but extremly rough, almost as if she didnt realize they were smaller. One day at the beach we met a Boston Terrier and the owner was insistent upon letting them play, I told her my fears and she said her Terrier wouldnt let Rory boss her around. Reluctantly I let her go and they did pretty well. So do you think if you put the word out to local trainers they might have a ideal candidate small dog who knows how to exhibit calming signals and get your dog acclimated to smaller dogs. Put the word out, you'd be surprised how helpful people want to be. Or maybe set up dopggy play dayes with various sizes, gradually making the dogs smaller or what happens join in on a big and small dog already playing?

Also I didnt mean to be rude in my above reply. I just had never heard of a prong collar being used for everyday corrections, I'm still baffeled, LOL but I know not everyone has the time to train properly in this busy day and age. You obviously care a great deal about your dog and thats all that matters! He sure is a beauty!

No offense taken, I know many people don't like the prong collar and don't like it used on dogs. I've gotten used to that. He's over 100lbs (he's mixed with something else obviously) so he's very big, and this is the only way we've been able to correct him. In our area there are many dogs, when we're out we're bound to run into at least 3-5, so the prong collar is a good way to correct him if he growls at the smaller ones. We tried the gentle leader, and it worked wonders for teaching him to walk on a loose leash, but thats it.

I do think your idea of getting our trainer to get some smaller dogs together that are calm and project good energy together with our lab. I think that's a great idea actually and will be talking to him about it! Thank you! :)

BlackLabbie

I adopted my lab in March 2007. He's been excellent with my parents dog (cocker spaniel), and other dogs that are around his size, like other Labs, Goldens, etc. He's never gotten into a dog fight, and has never been bitten, and has never bit. We've noticed though that when there's a little dog, like a Chihuahua or Maltese, his hackles go up and he growls at them. More so when he's on leash. He wears a prong collar, so he does get corrected, and after that he's fine. My best friend/neighbor owns a Maltese/Pomeranian, and when he sees he (through the window or on walks) he really goes crazy, more so than with any other dog. I'm a dog walker and he goes to "work" with me everyday and is arund 5-10 dogs per day and is perfectly social, but all of the dogs I take are big. He has obedience training, and is exceptional in that area except when there is a little dog around. Why is this?

The fact that your dog is good with most dogs, and has not bitten, is indicative of the fact that he was probably well socialized with medium to large size dogs.  Most Labs are boisterous players, even as pups, so the owners of Maltese or Chi's are not usually too thrilled to put their dogs down on the floor to play with a dog three times their size.  So, most Labs simply don't get that much real experience with the tiny tykes.  In those cases, what you are seeing would probably be attributed to fear (what IS that little yappy thing?).  Alternately, some dogs are predatory when it comes to smaller animals, including dogs, and would actually go and catch Fluffy if they could (yum, Pom-kabobs).  Another possibility when these reactions occur, is that the dog may have been corrected in the past for trying to get to the little dogs to investigate them.  Over time, that can result in the larger dog thinking "every time I see those little dogs my neck hurts - I hate (or fear) those little dogs.  Or, it can just be frustration at never being allowed to investigate. Needless to say, as a trainer, I usually advise people to stop correcting the dog on a prong collar (that collar is really designed to simply stop a pulling dog by making it uncomfortable to pull.  It is not correct to use such collars for correction, not that that's necessary anyway.  If you want your dog to like small dogs, and not be so barky-lungy when they appear, you must change his opinion of them through conditioning.  If they are potential prey, the idea is to have your dog focus his attention on you (and the great treats or ball or tug that you have for him), not the "meal".  If he is afraid, the idea is pretty much to make him think that the appearance of small dogs predicts that you will turn in to a roast beef dispensing slot machine.  The techniques are well outlined in Emma Parsons' book "Click to Calm", and it's a great step by step protocol.  It was written for aggressive dogs, but works with the fearful ones, too.  The prong is ok for a pain-insensitive breed, like a Lab, but only if the dog does not have issues.  It is not a tool I would use on a fearful, reactive (aggressive appearance on leash, safe with other dogs off leash), or aggressive dog. 

Thank You! Terrific advice!!!! I really appreciate it, and I really appreciate others insight!!!

BlackLabbie

Thank You! Terrific advice!!!! I really appreciate it, and I really appreciate others insight!!!

You're welcome.  Glad to help another Bay Stater;-) 

BlackLabbie

I do think your idea of getting our trainer to get some smaller dogs together that are calm and project good energy together with our lab. I think that's a great idea actually and will be talking to him about it! Thank you! :)

That would be the best approach, you have to make sure that you are not afraid like you said before at that moment because that would send tense signal to the dog and he will be more likely to attack, if you are also calm the dog might even see you first to check for a signal on how to proceed, if you are afraid then for the dog thats a "here is something wrong, lets attack" signal, if you are calm he will get a "my friend over here is calm in front of this little thing, he seems to be ok with it, lets investigate" signal

A muzzle on the first tries would be helpful to avoid accidents

spiritdogs

Over time, that can result in the larger dog thinking "every time I see those little dogs my neck hurts - I hate (or fear) those little dogs.

That its flat our wrong and a clear misunderstanding of how a correction works, dogs are not dumb, they dont think that the pain comes out of nowhere, even less that somebody can cause pain on the distance, on the animal world "if you are going to cause me pain you need to touch me first", the dog knows the walker is the one causing the correction and therefore the dog knows that he is doing something that is not allowed, "when i bark at the dog i get a correction, when i dont bark i dont get a correction", no brainer what to do (or not to do) then

BlackLabbie

Thank You! Terrific advice!!!! I really appreciate it, and I really appreciate others insight!!!

I definitely agree with spiritdogs post.  With my pit mix we used a prong to correct her for reacting to other dogs (under a trainers instruction and supervision) and she eventually tried to avoid the dog she was reacting to all costs.  She connected the corrections with the dog in question, *not* her behavior.  If anything, what we did with the prong made her worse.  Since then I have gone to a different trainer who has worked a lot with us around dogs and she has improved greatly.  This particular trainer, who is not against corrections in the right situations and is not against prong collars told me that what the other trainer did was probably not the right treatment for Sally's issues.

That having been said I have no problem with a prong used properly in general--I use a prong for my 18 month old lab, BUT he is not reactive to people or other dogs and when he is paying attention to a barking dog or something all I have to do is say his name and his attention is on me.  

sillysally

With my pit mix we used a prong to correct her for reacting to other dogs (under a trainers instruction and supervision) and she eventually tried to avoid the dog she was reacting to all costs.  She connected the corrections with the dog in question, *not* her behavior.  If anything, what we did with the prong made her worse.

I'm confused, you used a prong, she eventually tried to avoid the dog she was reacting to but then you say that the prong made her worse? so if the prong help her to avoid the dog then how is that making it worse?

The dog connects the corrections with the owner, like i said in my last post, for animals is virtually impossible to believe that someone will cause pain by sitting or walking 10, 20, 30 yards away

Lets suppose that they actually believe that can happen, an e-collar is the perfect example to show that a dog wont continue to be aggressive to another dog if that other dog is the cause of the corrections, under a experienced professional who knows how to use an e collar, the correction is done by distance and the dog stops attacking the dog, car, etc in question, the dog never keeps going at it "because is making me being in pain", i mean, it even sounds dumb

I agree that your trainer had absolutely any idea on how to use corrections and it was good that you changed techniques