Aggression help please.

[thatgirl]

We have a 1 1/2 year old female Basenji that is turning into a nightmare to walk. When any other dog in the neighborhood walks near us, she carries on like she wants to bite their head off!

She is becoming an embarrassment to walk.

She is fine with people and children. She is fine at the dog park.
She is fine on a leash at dog shows.

My DH wants to stop walking her before something happens.

Can anyone point us to some books, videos, etc to help us cope and address this behavior.

TIA

[mrsjrd23]

We have the same problem. We even took Pasco to a "reactive rover" obedience class that worked on leash agression issues. He did OK in the class. Does great at doggy daycare or at the dog park. Unforutnately his moderate success at the class hasn't translated into real life.

We use a harness, try to take treats with us at all times. When we see a dog, we try to immediately get his attention on us and reward, we will sometimes do this 20 times if it prevents him from focusing on the dog he sees which causes him to go crazy. unfortunately, we don't have the best luck maintaining his attention and the other dog often wins out. and once he is fixated on another dog, it is SO hard to get his attention.

I hope someone can offer up some help because I'd love help too.

[redheadbaker]

It doesn't sound like aggression. I would find a class specifically geared toward reactive dogs.

[vccake]

But -- does he actually bite their head off? I'd try to see if a good friend with a dog (maybe a dog that isn't fazed by that...and maybe a few friends with dogs) let's you try many meet and greets followed with praise when he doesn't react upon the next meeting.

[thatgirl]

With some dogs even dare to say most dogs she is fine with, she is just anxious to greet them. But a handful of dogs in the neighborhood she is crazed over. We think she feels our neighborhood is HER territory and gets fired up over other females.

We do not expect her to like all dogs, I do not like all people. BUT having her out of control is ridiculous and embarrassing.

[redheadbaker]

Jun 8, 2012 6:14:44 GMT -5 thatgirl said:

We do not expect her to like all dogs, I do not like all people. BUT having her out of control is ridiculous and embarrassing.

My Aussie shepherd is the same way. She's not aggressive; she's reactive. Our apartment building is "her" building and other dogs are not allowed to live here (in her eyes). Same with our neighborhood. Wherever she happens to be is "her" territory and no other dogs are allowed.

Our trainer taught us to teach her both the "Watch Me" command and the "Look at That" command.

Watch Me is for when she sees another dog and can't settle herself; it gets her to refocus on me.

Look at That is sort of a desensitization command. I tell her to Look at That! (another dog) and reward her for looking but not reacting.

[patches31709]

Does she know "watch me?" We can't walk past other dogs on leash in our neighborhood either, even though our dog regularly goes to flyball events where he is surrounded by other dogs (on and off leash).
What we do when we are approaching another dog on a walk is that we stop, make Patches sit, I usually squat down in front of him, and I tell him to watch me. If he keeps watching me for a few seconds, he gets a treat. We do this over and over until the other dog has gone by.

When we first started doing it, I had to shove food in his face rapid fire-style, but now that he is much more relaxed, the pauses are getting longer and longer.

[thatgirl]

Thank you all so much for the great suggestions and advice. We have already started some of the suggestions when she sees a dog walk past the house and reacts.

Thanks again!