Hands up who has...

Yep, Sassy is dog reactive but fine with people. I think the most unnerving part is that it's so difficult to read her signals. She doesn't growl or bark, so I can only go by her posture and her eyes. I'm sure I've erred on the side of caution more often than not, but because I've seen her react in a flash, I can't take any chances. It's no fun, but it is manageable.

I consider my greatest training challenge with Kirby to be his leash reactivity when around other dogs.  For him, it was a purely fear based reactivity that all got started about a month in to owning him.  We were going to the petstore and I had him on a tight lead since I wanted to watch him to make sure he wasn't tempted to try and mark or go to the bathroom when smelling in the store.  We were at the end of a one shelf row and I was bending down to look at some of the Sherpa bags.  Well all of a sudden all hell broke loose on the end of Kirby's line.  He was snarling barking, and flipping out on the slick tile.  I turn to see a large German Shepard and his owner.  They were just passing by, the German Shepard was a polite older gentleman who hardly glanced at Kirby.  Kirby however was terrified by the unexpected dog showing up so close without warning and he had bolted away from the Shepard as far as his leash would let him before flipping out.  I actually ended up talking to the gentleman who owned the dog, since we could tell have terrified Kirby was over the event.  We tried to give him some time to relax and come out and meet the Shepard but he spent the rest of the time cowering behind me.

After that Kirby suddenly had leash reactivity toward everything he thought was threat worthy.  Completly took me off guard and brought me to tears a couple times.  After a week or two though, I picked myself up, brushed myself off, did some research, and taught Kirby a, Watch Me command.  Within a week of working on that, I managed to kill his leash reactivity with everything but other large dogs. 

Getting him not to spazz out around larger dogs while on lead has taken me months of work and I still only consider him about 95%.  For him the display was always about trying to scare away the threat.  If he have got within 3-5 feet of the dog, or if a dog ever reacted back, he would immediatly tuck tail behind me.  Since for him it was fear based, it was all about giving him confidence.  In addition to a lot of on leash work on desenatizing walking by dogs, the dog park also helped him.  He was never aggressive off lead, but initially he was still very shy about meeting dogs especially large ones.  After a few weeks at the dog park though he really broke out of his shell, and I could see that confidence in meeting new dogs translate to confidence when meeting new dogs while on lead.  Now he has lost most of the display reactivity and we are just working on impulse control since he has gotten to the point where the prospect of meeting a new dog is the most exciting thing ever. 

 As for flexi leads, I have grown to loath them.  I've gotten lead burns twice across the back of my legs from someone else's flexi and their uncontrollable pulling dog.  I also hate how bad they seem to instantly tangle around other leashes when two dogs are greeting while on lead.  Personally I just prefer to use my 15ft lead when I walk and reel and let him out manually for extra walking distance.
 

I am really glad to see this thread is so active!  It's like a support group for me   I'm also enjoying reading about the different techniques everyone is using to manage their dogs' issues.

 I am super duper fortunate in that Bugsy isn't reactive to dogs or humans - ever - at all.  We just got back from the beach where he was harassed by three doxies, two aggressive ones and another that just wouldn't let him alone.  It is wonderful to know he will not to anything to them

However he is intensely reactive to cats and so incredibly prey driven that those are the times I find myself "outdogged" He doesn't growl, snarl or other but he wants them and he wants them bad.  He is powerful enough that it is a struggle to move him along and intense enough that there is nothing that will remove his focus.  It is better but I still am the lady trying to drag him away from the cat hiding in the culvert

LOL Megan you know I love Kaiser! 

Another big time Kaiser fan here, btw.  I think he is MAGNIFICENT!

Mia has just been through a "Bark, Snark and Growl" class after having attacked Pofi a few times (and yes, drawn blood) and then a friend's Italian Greyhound.  The trifecta for Mia seems to be proximity sensitivity, combined with rescource guarding (DH & I and food) and possibly being tired.  Every time it has happened it's been after a significant amount of exercise (except for once when we first had her and it had been raining and they had had no real exercise) - not exhaustive, but a good amount of open air, off leash, wide ranging exercise.  With the IG, we had been walking with this dog and another, off leash for nearly two hours without any incident and it was also our second outing together.  DH bent down to pet Mia and made the mistake of calling the IG over for affection, too, and Mia just went after him.

We signed up for the class the next day and started it that week. 

Oddly enough, Mia is usually perfect on leash and Pofi has become very leash aggressive since we adopted her, though it is all bluster and bravado.  If he gets to greet the other dog, he will usually settle right down, but what owner wants their dog greeted by 75 pounds of writhing, shrieking muscle?  I think he overcompensates for her underconfidence (she is a supremely underconfident dog).  Recently we ended up doing an impromptu "pack walk" with two of their friends - a Tibetan Spaniel and a Schnoodle.  The Schnoodle is usually a very leash reactive dog, but when we met up and all were walking, Pofi took on the role of protector of his whole extended pack - 4 humans and 3 dogs he's very fond of.  And he was insane - it was an exponentially worse display than usual.  My friends were incredulous because they know Pofi to be an extraordinary softy and lovey dovey boy who plays very gently with their small dogs!  Funny thing was that the Schnoodle was completely relaxed and non reactive - we all noticed!  He was more than willing to depend on Pofi to give the warning message to the dog across the street!

So I've been working on some of the techniques taught in class to get control of Pofi's issue - mind you, that off leash he is a very social and appropriate dog!  And he has never, never hurt another dog - not even close.  But we have a way to go - and dealing with Mia's lack of confidence is, I think part of the equation.

All that being said - I manage my dogs very carefully to minimize their impact on others - no flexi leashes and now that I'm carefully, carefully managing Mia anytime she is in the company of other dogs.  The IG was not badly hurt, but the poor little guy was sore and had one shallow puncture....

Not my dogs - no - but they both came that way (no aggression or reactivity).  Luckily, we have not yet met a super reactive dog on our daily walks either.  My friend's GSD is reactive, but we all know this and know to give her a wide birth and not let our dogs get in her face.  There is one mini-Dachshund on our walks that flies out and attacks us (growling and biting at our ankles) but honestly that dog just seems nuts, not necessarily reactive since it's not on a lead and we are not on his property.  My uncle's dog is somewhat reactive on a lead, which is exaggerated by the fact that she has an insane about of drive and almost NO training from him.  Several dogs I've walked at the shelter were reactive, including the one that bit me about two dozen times and shook me like a dead rabbit.   

Chuffy

How many of you guys have been in that boat? 

Uhm.. duhhhhh, ME! Haha... Cherokee can be pretty beastly. She's aggressive to people and dogs...and girl's got some prey drive too. *sigh* But she's almost 10 now, and in all the scuffles she's had with other dogs, and all the times she's barked or growled at a person, she's drawn blood on only one of each.. She tore my aunt's husky's ear once a looong time ago during one of their posturing silly things (and both dogs seemed shocked when Selene was suddenly bleeding..), and she nipped my..mom's..second cousin? Because I stupidly trusted him not to touch Cherokee while I let her out of my room to go pee..

For a long time I just hid her away from dogs and strangers because I didn't know how to deal with it and I was afraid she'd bite someone or injure another dog, but we're working on her dog aggression now, and I'm gonna call this positive training center and get some help with her aggression towards people. I wish I'd done these things 9 years ago, but hindsight is 20/20 I guess..

But yeah, she's "attacked" other dogs more times than I care to admit. Here's a few of the worst stories..

One time when we lived on the East Coast my psycho dog leapt out my SECOND FLOOR WINDOW to go jump on another dog...yeah, that was fun... thankfully she didn't get injured from the fall (which I'm sure was shocking to her), and she didn't hurt the other dog... She was apparently laying on my bed, which was against the window that happened to be open, when another dog went walking by.. My sister and I were sitting in the living room, and she saw something fall from the second floor..we looked out, and there was my dog, on top of this other dog. Geesh.

She also slipped out my grandmom's front door a few times while we were at her house, and went after this Irish Setter that lived down the street.. I don't know what it was about that dog, but every time Cherokee saw it, she tried to get at it..even though she didn't usually do that with other dogs.

She broke a flexi lead once trying to get at another dog on the beach..luckily this surfer guy was somehow able to grab the teeny cord as it went flying past him, so she didn't make it to the other dog. That was both the last time I used a flexi, and the last time Cherokee went to the beach.

She's horribly mean to Jaz, so much so that they never see each other, even though they live in the same house.. Stupid on my part to separate them when the first couple scuffles happened, because it only gets worse and worse, but again with the hindsight...

Uhm..yeah, I think that's the worst of it...

Now would you believe me if I told you she is absolutely the sweetest dog on the planet to me and other people she knows? Would you believe me if I said the person I trust her most not to bite, besides myself, is a 5 year old? (I would never push this, I'm not arrogant enough to bet a kid's face on it, but I believe it 100%)

She LOOKS so sweet, its hard to believe your stories!  It#s an adorable picture

I think once you KNOW the dog has a problem, it's a bit different.  You are a bit more prepared and and you know you have to manage the dog and be on watch and take certain steps. 

I found the worst moment for me was the moment when I found I no longer had the control I'd always thought I had... When I could SEE he was going to attack another dog, he wasn't on lead and he wouldn't respond to any cues from me... and actually AVOIDED me when I went to get him so he could go round me and get the dog again.  I was so mortified.  It was a moment I NEVER want to repeat.

pofi_pasquale

I manage my dogs very carefully to minimize their impact on others - no flexi leashes and now that I'm carefully, carefully managing Mia anytime she is in the company of other dogs. 

This is how I feel about Jada.  BF doesn't think she is aggressive.  I've tried to explain that she is reactive to select dogs, and if he watched her, he would see it.  Generally, she is a bully who loves to push other dogs around if given the chance.  She's also very vocal and rough in her play, which lends itself to escalating play into fighting.  There are plenty of dogs she gets along with just fine.  But when she finds a target, she hones in.

Physically, even though she is only about 65-ish lbs, Jada is such a compact mound of muscle, stamina, and tenacity, that if she was in a fight, I don't think I could physically stop her.  I have to catch her in the instants after she has the thought and before she acts on them.  Luckily she is easily distracted out of it if I catch her and tell her NO! (She does not like being in trouble w/her people).

Achilles is what I consider primitive.  He won't bother another dog, but if they are the slightest bit rude, he will scrap hard and fast.  He cannot go to the dog park because there are too many rude dogs who are asking for a life lesson.  That's basically the way we control his aggression - keep him away from other dogs that have the potential to be rude.  He easily accepted Gracie into the house, but she is not a rude dog.

As for people aggression, in the house, Achilles is the most likely to bite an intruder, and I am ok with that.  He never aggresses on people.  He only defends the house and people within it. 

Max is sometimes leash reactive ... and sometimes not.  He tends to lunge more at dogs that walk on by without stopping to say "Hi" - almost like he  takes it as a personal snub. If I see a dog coming toward us I either go off in a different direction or take him off  the path, try to get him in sit and then do the "click, treat" thing.  He seems to be getting a bit better, but I just can't trust him and I'm never sure what I can expect. If they stop to greet, he's not so bad - I just have to keep reminding him "no jumping." The last time I took him to the dog park (after a long absence) he was getting a bit snippy with another dog, so I just leashed him back up and took him home. He has never so much as growled at a person.

Joyce

fuzzy_dogs_mom

He tends to lunge more at dogs that walk on by without stopping to say "Hi" - almost like he  takes it as a personal snub.

Do you think dogs really can take offense like that?  I ask because that is where Crushers issues really started as far as I can tell.  There was one dog that we would see every morning on our way to or from the park where he played with the other dogs.  But this one dog was focused completely and utterly on his owner and would just trot past with hardly a sideways glance at Crusher, no matter how hard he tried.  At first Crusher just wagged at him, then he would whimper or yip at him.  After a few months of this, one day he just lunged at him.  I had him on a leash, but it took me off guard and I went down on one knee.  After that it just got worse and worse.  Soon any other dog that was on a leash when he was was a threat.  Then any other dog on or off a leash when he was leashed.  Now its just off leash dogs or dogs that come too close to quick.  But is it possible his behaviour started just by being offended at the lack of attention?  Its always played at my mind.

huskymom

  But is it possible his behaviour started just by being offended at the lack of attention?  Its always played at my mind.

I don't know. I used to think I was nuts for thinking a dog could get ticked off at another dog for snubbing him, but I've actually had 2 or 3 other people tell me their dogs do the same thing. There's never any sort of aggression if we all stop to say "Hi" - I just have to keep a short leash and remind him "no jumping." It makes going out for a walk a real adventure.

Joyce

huskymom

But is it possible his behaviour started just by being offended at the lack of attention?  Its always played at my mind.

I believe you Chelsea--chows are known to be very sweet and loyal to their people. 

That child is gorgeous!!!

Well I had one reactive dog, and now I have two, and both are reactive towards people and dogs.  Zoe has attacked and bitten many dogs and has bitten people a couple of times, once breaking the skin.  With most people she knows, however, she is the sweetest most loving dog ever.  I think she is overprotective of the people she loves and that is why she is reactive.  I used to take her to doggie daycare and she would be in a room filled with other dogs, and with strange people, and she never reacted at all.  But add me or another family member or friend into the picture, and it would have been a different story.  When Zack reacts to people, he will run up to them, get on his hind legs and throw his paws up on the person, and just bark up in their face over and over. 

 I read an article recently (I wish I had bookmarked it, I have to look for it) that said that reactivity isn't always due to fear like commonly believe.  It could  be drive based or an over reaction to stimulus, and that truly fearful dogs are more likely to want to avoid confrontation, but will act aggressively when cornered.  Just like a truly fearful and shy child is more likely to retract from social situations rather than being the bully in the schoolyard.