So I have had Teal for a year(hes 4yo), at first he growled and barked at a lot of dogs when out and about.

Spent a lot of time with socialisation classes where he behaved beautifully.

I can stay at friends houses and have dogs stay here with me and hes fine. We can meet up with friends on walks and he is fine.

BUT

If he is offlead and spots a dog he goes up barking and doesnt bite but air snaps and has once picked up a jack russel but then runs straight back to me. If I see dog first I can recall him and put him back on lead. The one time a dog retaleated he hid behind me whilst getting shoved on the ground. And twice he has been humped by bigger dogs and ended up on the floor belly up tail between legs.

Now I can let him say hello on the lead and then let him off and hes fine. With dogs he knows off lead he gives the same reaction (barking, charging) but doesnt make contact, gives a oh its you and continues his business. I have tried with a dog where I keep my horse that for two weeks we both took dogs up and every day for 14days Teal has given the same reaction bark charge, oh its you, im off now as I dont actually want to say hi.

Any ideas?? The person who took socialisation said he is protecting me so I shouldnt reward him, and hide???

Any ideas?? My other two are over friendly and Dylan tries to say hello even if a certain pomeranian is hanging off his throat!!!

__________________


Doglets: Teal, Dylan and Buster

Ponies: Toffee, Samba and Jake

Guinea wiggles: Hector, Herbert and Humphrey

Fishes: Bess, Gerald, Barney and Claus

Any ideas?? The person who took socialisation said he is protecting me so I shouldnt reward him, and hide???

Any ideas?? My other two are over friendly

A) Any dog that is out of control and charges over to other dogs is putting himself at risk (and of course the other dog(s) and/or their owner) FROM other dogs and/or their owner(s).

B) if it is not approprite behaviour, why let him rehearse it?

c) Your dog is protecting you from what? Something far away? Who makes the risk assessments and decisions in your house, you or the dog?

d) Why WAIT until the dog has done it to then run away?

e) you are focusing on the wrong part of the problem. The problem is that you are not sufficiently aware of your surroundings to identify a dog before your dog does and you have not taught your dog an informal/formal "check in".

Ie you can train your dog to check in with you EVERY time it spots another dog for instruction eg to recall, to drop, or permission to play. It is YOU who should be controlling access to dogs etc.

f) there is no such thing as an "over friendly dog" only dogs with insufficient impulse control, manners and leadership.

My idea would be to improve your observation skills, train your dog to check in and, where appropriate, prevent your dog practising inappropriate behaviour by using a lead or long line.

I would stick him on a long line for his own safety- he could really cause a fight if he did that to the wrong dog.

__________________
www.RescueRemedies.co.uk
http://www.dogsinneedofspace.co.uk/

Many behaviours are context-specific, meaning your dog feels comfortable with dogs on lead but as soon as he is off lead, this is his normal reaction. He may still feel vulnerable off lead around dogs, or his reaction of going up and barking could be a self-reinforced behaviour and is part of a normal behavioural chain.

I would continue to socialise him on a short lead, using games such as the Look At That game (LAT game- search the forum) or BAT by Grisha Stewart: Behavior Adjustment Training (BAT) | Official site for BAT: dog-friendly training for reactivity (aggression, fear, frustration) by Grisha Stewart, MA

Progress to putting him on a long line and harness, practise the games on first sight of other dogs and then let him meet on lead. Slowly take him off lead and immediately engage him in the LAT/BAT exercises again before letting him meet freely.

You may also like to train a completely incompatable behaviour on sight of another dog. It may be that this behaviour was once fear driven, but is now less so through the socialisation. Thus, it could just be a reinforced behaviour chain. So you could teach a replacement behaviour, e.g. see the dog, focus on you, hand target and sit in front of you. Train these separately first, not around dogs, then on-lead, outside, in the park, in front of dogs, on the long line, off-lead etc.

So how do I teach the check in thing?

He has a pretty good recall and he heels very well (I dont use a long line on him as he just heels as he never pulls on a lead, I use a long line on my other two). He hasnt actually got to (as far as approach) a dog for about 6 months now because he stops and recalls to me but he still sometimes sets off before I recall him if that makes sense?

Like today I saw a dog he heeled to me I had his dummy in my hand as soon as we passed the other dog with no reaction I asked him to retrieve it after throwing it (we are working on some steadying) and he didnt even pay any attention to the other dog. This has taken 6 months of work to get him to do this and only now do I not instantly put him on a lead; depending if the other dog is on a lead or not and if I know the other dog (have several local dog walkers we meet alot now). Maybe I hadnt explained how far we had got with this. So by just continously letting him saying hello to other dogs on the lead do you think he may just get better. I put that first post as very negative.

The reason we did that at the yard is that we thought if he just had a dog approach him every day, with no fuss no reaction from from me/or the other dog he might realise that the other dog is no harm and require no such reaction. Obviously I am really thick for thinking that it might help him.

__________________


Doglets: Teal, Dylan and Buster

Ponies: Toffee, Samba and Jake

Guinea wiggles: Hector, Herbert and Humphrey

Fishes: Bess, Gerald, Barney and Claus