Dog Community

Let's be Friends

Posted : 5/7/2008 7:04:00 AM

My dog is very territorial (with dogs) and will display some nasty barking and lunging behaviour when any dog dares pass by his yard. I am able to get him to sit quietly if I stand beside him but without me there he has no self control! Away from his property he barely acknowledges the presence of another dog. Anyways last evening I was outside with Kobi. He was at one end watching the activity on the street and I was busy around the corner. I heard him run to the fence and start barking but then almost immediately stopped. I walked around to find one of our neighbours standing at the fence talking to Kobi. "Good Boy!" She had her dog with her and she was feeding Kobi treats as he sat nicely. I wandered over and the neighbour explained that she wanted the dogs to be friends so she had purposely brought her dog and a pocket of goodies to see if she could convince Kobi that good things happen when her dog was around!

It worked pretty well. Kobi kept his eyes on her dog, who was about a foot away, but did relax as the neighbour continued to talk to him and offer treats. Interestingly when I approached Kobi did seem to get a little more aggressive for a moment. So the neighbour said if it was alright, she would continue to work on getting Kobi to accept her dog. It sounds like a good plan to me as years of working on it from my side of the fence has not solved the problem. Is there a downside I may be missing or would you agree that it is worth a try?

CoBuHe

Posted : 5/7/2008 7:51:30 AM

I believe its worth a try...especially since you have observed good behavior the first time. Good on the neighbor as long as you were ok with the feeding of treats without your knowledge at first.

I too have issues with dogs passing by the front fence and Heidi going ballistic. But, I've noticed that the more that the same neighbors with dogs walk by, the less she reacts. Or, I should say the level of excitement lessens. She has even reached a point where one set of regular walkers go by, she doesn't even run up to the fence anymore. But, this particular group doesn't have any dogs with them.

Anonymous

Posted : 5/7/2008 8:22:11 AM

I definately think its worth a shot, I have issues with both Maggie and Teddi when people walk by the front fence. When both dogs are out its a nightmare to control, but I noticed when just Maggie is out she doesn't bark at all hardly at anyone walking by. Teddi is a bit fearful/aggressive with other dogs which I am trying so hard to socialize and break, but I think another training class may be in order.

My dogs are only like that with people walking other dogs, children and people walking by they don't make a sound. The one guy that walks buy usually lets his dog sniff mine at the fence while I watch and they calm down and stop barking, then as soon as they start to walk away they bark again.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 5/7/2008 10:40:49 AM

I love your neighbor. Would you like to trade?