I now have Flynn pretty much under good control when he see's another dog, thanks to the clicker and LAT, so now I am branching out as to where I walk him - not going to parks though where there will be off lead dogs.


The problem I have is with my nerves and if an off lead dog should ever come up to us in the street. Flynn has a threshold of around 100 yards when he see's a dog, unless it is behind a gate or fence then he is fine to walk past on the pavement around 5 yards away, he rarely takes more than a glance at it.
BUT if an off lead dog should come running up to us i'm sure he'd get all defensive and i'm also sure he is scared more so then aggressive, because when we go past a house with a barking dog he ups his pace and looks behind a few times as we walk by. I tend to slow him down again so as I don't go along with his fear.

I have no idea how I should react to an off lead dog and my mind is set that there will be a fight which doesn't help!

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Flynn - Kali - Britches - Bruce - T-Bo - Marty



"For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack"

What I did with Duke (and still do) is carry a smallish Kong with me filled of frozen or ordinary peanut butter. When dogs walk past on leads I do, sit watch me treat etc. IF there is an offlead dog that comes up to use I put the Kong to Duke's nose and say "Let's go" I walk a bit faster than normally, totally ignoring the dog in hopes the owner will call it back.

I find if I walk slower, Duke reacts more as I'm inadvertently telling him "I'm not sure, I'm nervous" etc. So far it's worked, he's more interested in getting the stuff out of the Kong than reacting to a dog that's following us

I take a cream biscuit out with me at all times for any dog that may come up but I'm pretty sure if it was persistent at sniffing Flynn no amount of bribes would stop him from reacting to it, just by the way he as been when dogs are a little too close. My trainer once said to stand in front of him and keep him calm but this boy is heavier than me so I don't see that happening either. I suppose I won't know what to do until it actually happens and I so don't want Flynn to ever have a fight. I'm sure he could handle himself but it would do untold damage to him and me.

I would do what you say though and hope it works and at least with a head collar I have more control where he looks.

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Flynn - Kali - Britches - Bruce - T-Bo - Marty



"For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack"

Do you have any friends with really really well behaved and calm dogs that could be trusted to walk past your doggy while they are off lead and flynn is on lead? I just thought maybe you could desensitise him a bit with dogs you know are going to just walk past and ignore him, while you work on getting his attention and treating him not reacting etc?

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Can you use a word of command that is associated with greeting people you know? We use "look who it is" in a friendly tone, when in training mode with approaching known friends with/without dogs so the command means a friendly person is coming. Then when a stranger is coming use the same command, set the dog up to have a successful meeting, if there is too long a period for the dog to react there is the risk of failure for what started as a successful meeting. With this in mind break down the whole process into smaller units, for which each stage gets practised and rewarded.

The body blocking your trainer mentioned is a good IME technique to use in some situations. You might consider that in different situations you use different commands/techniques to control your dog.

I use body blocking when one of my dogs takes an unhealthy interest in a visiting cow. I block him (when barking) and by stepping forward to move him back claiming the cow as mine not his.

The practising with friendly calm dogs is the key to building you and your dog's confidence to deal with strange dogs. When meeting other dogs that he already knows results in a treat...

But in doing this (which is what I thought about in your earlier post) get the timing right so the appearance of the treat does not risk triggering him being defensive about access to food. So I would give verbal physical reward when the other dog is close and the treat when the coast is clear.

I already use the LAT command when we see a dog and it works very well. Flynn is very happy with that as I use it when we see things he does like as in a neighbour who makes a fuss of him or when our cat comes over to greet us in the street. The trouble with body blocking is if Flynn wanted to he could send me flying from behind if he were to jump up, something he never does but could easily knock me over if he did.

I feel we have "cracked it" with meeting dogs from a distance it's just the off lead thing i'm not sure of.

Kivasmum - A neighbour down the road has a staffy girl who is non reactive and Flynn can walk quite close to her, all be it for a few seconds, without reacting so I could ask him if we could walk behind them to begin with then build up to walking next to them after a few walks. I know he wouldn't mind and he knows what Flynn is like. Been neighbours for 26 years so know each other well.

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Flynn - Kali - Britches - Bruce - T-Bo - Marty



"For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack"

i had a very dog aggresive dog and what helped me was to muzzle him , that way i knew if another dog came up to us he really couldnt fight . that alone gave me the confidence to work better with him , because it removed the fear i had that he may bite another dog even tho he had never actually done that . for me knowing that he couldnt cause any damage to another dog helped me so much because it was my one fear that he would be cornered and there would be nothing i could do , that on its own stopped me walking him as much as i should have and of course the less you walk them the less chance there is of getting them to improve.

Apart from building your confidence in general, I would agree with thinking about a muzzle (basket/Italian style). If you know that he has the propensity to bite in a cornered situation- more so than a non-reactive dog- then this may help you feel calmer. However, this does take away his defenses. Another thing would be to have some spray can with you, to use as a last resort to break up a fight.

The thing is he is never allowed over parks and is street walked so a dog shouldn't be off lead anyway. I don't know if he is actually aggressive as he has never met a dog face to face so muzzling would be unfair for a just in case situation when we've never had one in three years so far. Silly as it sounds it's Flynn I worry about getting hurt, with his two hip replacements, one fairly recent I can't afford to have him scrapping with another dog. I am more afraid of other people's dogs than mine as I feel Flynn would rather run than fight but on lead would have no option. I just wanted to know if there was a certain strategy for a potentially volatile situation. I would not muzzle him because he is so well behaved on lead, walks by my side, stops as soon as I do and has very many people friends round here - not only would my kids be horrified if I muzzled him for a chance encounter but I think my neighbours would too. I'm not afraid to walk him and he is walked four times a day every day, see's on lead dogs and providing the distance is far enough he doesn't react at all - I think a muzzle could have a very detrimental effect on this and we'd just go back to square one.

Poor boy doesn't get to go over the park let alone be made to wear a muzzle when he's done nothing wrong. I'll just carry a small water pistol and with a forceful "back" and a squirt hopefully that would deter an inquisitive dog.

People have said that he is the one on lead any anyone who lets their dog run up to him in a street environment are in the wrong but I would rather deal with a tricky situation than allow it to escalate - that's if it would, I just don't know!

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Flynn - Kali - Britches - Bruce - T-Bo - Marty



"For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack"

Can I ask why he hasn't met a dog or go over the park?

I'm just nosey :-)