Ok so I'm pet sitting a dog called Reba, 11 YO mutt, who is fantastic with people but hates other dogs with a passion

The owner has said I can try to get her friendly with Kira if I want, so I thought I'd give it a go, as if they can get on then I can spend more time with Kira in the next few weeks, and it's be nice for Reba to have at least one doggy friend! lol

Well the other night I decided to try introductions, Rick came round with Kira and I brougt Reba out, Kira's on a 5ft (ish) lead (the large control ones from P@H, dunno if you've seen em, can have them at many lengths) and Reba's on a flexi, as its the only lead she has, and the only spare I have is a 1ft close control one.

So Reba see's Kira and gets down a bit low, body stiff and growling, a little lunging but not much, this is about 5-7 meters away. I move a bit closer (slowly) while stuffing her full of tasty treats shes never had before (coachies), which she loves and stops growling, but we cant get too close as she then lunges for Kira, they're not close enough to actually fight.

We decided to walk them together anyway, to see if that will have any effect, they do walk quite close together (5-6ft) a few times, but if they get too close Reba airsnaps at Kira, no growling tho. Reba also can't stand to have Kira walking behind her, and seems to get very anxious but is fine walking behind Kira quite close. Im still giving her plenty of treats for being close

It ended on a good note, with Reba going into the house and laying down, while Rick took Kira home. We plan to make it a regular thing, having them walk together, my ultimate goal is to have them both offlead in the house (Reba's house) and not fighting, this in itself will be a massive improvement.

Any tips on how to achieve this, basically all we're doing is walking her with another dog and treating her in the presence of another dog, will this be enough?

Also, any guesses as to her breed? Shes a rscue from Zimbabwe

I will update this thread with her progress

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I would look into BAT training for this as it is absolutley perfect. You can check out BAT here and I really recommend that you join the BAT list called functional rewards too.

Click to Calm by Emma Parsons is also a wonderful resource for this sort of work and has lots and lots of great remedies and exercises for this sort of thing.

Reba has a long history of this so don't expect miracles and certainly don't force her to love other dogs or even your dog (!). You will really need to learn to read subtle doggie signalling.

No more over-threshold work such as getting so close that she feels the need to aggress. Learn her subtle discomfort signalling so that you can reward this with distance.

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Anne, owned by Rufus & Tripod

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"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts." - John Steinbeck

"If you don't want your dog to bite you, don't be an a**hole to him." ~ Dr. Ian Dunbar

so the general idea of this BAT is that she sees kira at a distance shes comfortable with, when she does something other than growl, bark, lunge etc like look away from kira, I say good (my marker word), walk away (which is what she wants - distance), and then treat her?

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Thats basically it. Any softening in her signalling is rewarded with what those signal represent - a desire for distance. We teach her that all she needs is to be real subtle - she doesn't need to lunge, growl or bitch-snap. I have had amazing success with this with many many clients and lots of different uncomfortable situations.

I would recommend combining that with some Open Bar-Closed bar - treats appear when Kira appears but disappears when Kira goes.

Always keep below threshold though.

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Anne, owned by Rufus & Tripod

Pet Central site & blog
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"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts." - John Steinbeck

"If you don't want your dog to bite you, don't be an a**hole to him." ~ Dr. Ian Dunbar

I will give it a go thanks

Will it actually work towards her being dog friendly or is it more for control of the situation?

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I agree with Tripod, but be very careful. Timing is everything otherwise you end up rewarding the bad behaviour - a common mistake made.

The amazing thing about BAT is that in most cases it comes to a point where the subject dog stops throwing discomfort signalling and begins to want contact and closer proximity - giving them the confidence and control in social situations helps them to feel better able for interaction.
In the first BAT session I ever did with a client the subject dog was soliciting attention from my dog - this was the only dog that the subject ever ever ever did this with. I have had similar success with many clients since then.

Take it slow - lots of history with not liking other dogs plus it is two bitches Join the BAT group for lots of support and advice too.

Would love to hear how you get on

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Anne, owned by Rufus & Tripod

Pet Central site & blog
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"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts." - John Steinbeck

"If you don't want your dog to bite you, don't be an a**hole to him." ~ Dr. Ian Dunbar

Tbh with desens work with reactive dogs you are likely to make mistakes - life happens but the important thing is not to dwell on mess ups, just make sure to have extra successful sessions to make up.
Plus she has been rewarded for 'bad' behaviour her entire life - that is why she does the scary dog act - it works making the scary thing give distance.

We are dealing with sentient, complex animals with definite likes and dislikes - it takes time, persistance, patience and good sense of humour

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Anne, owned by Rufus & Tripod

Pet Central site & blog
Join us on FaceBook & Follow us on twitter

"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts." - John Steinbeck

"If you don't want your dog to bite you, don't be an a**hole to him." ~ Dr. Ian Dunbar

I will keep the thread updated

Thanks Tripod, it seems a simple technique that I can do easily with just a few well times marker words and treats

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my GAWD shes F-A-T... holy-great-aunt-hannah, poor dog, i think shes half-hippo

are U allowed to put her on a weight-loss diet? honest, if i could, i would!
the easiest one i know of is the pumpkin-diet -
reduce her measured-meals by One-Fourth + substitute canned pumpkin-puree [plain] for the missing-fourth.

she gets the same-volume of food, so she does not feel starved - but she gets fewer calories.
the pumpkin is mostly insoluble-fiber, smells sweet but has few carbs.
the weight comes off the same way it went on - slow + steady.

i think she;s a Lab-cross;
the spots on her legs + tricolor markings look like any Foxhound or hound-type dog,
Harrier, whatever; shes blanketed with eye-spots + Irish-pattern markings.
her ears are hound-shaped, oval + pendant, with a slight-rise; her tail looks like a Pointer or Hound-type.

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terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007