Its concerning Millie our rescue terrier type girl . We have had her now for almost four months, on the whole she has been a joy , a delightful little dog who is obedient, loyal and very affectionate . She is brilliant with most other dogs, loves people too but unfortunately , she is very bonded to me and gets worried if other, mainly large, dogs come rushing towards her , me or Sam . She isnt nasty , hasnt ever bitten but will growl is she feels threatened , never carrying it through but definately stressed , especially if the dog in question is onlead and straining towards her . Two schools of thought here , do I take her where there are loads of other dogs or just a few and to places where I know she wont have to face her demons ? She was lovely with Charlie on Wednesday , they all got along really well and she wasnt remotely anxious, but its always when the other dog is coming towards us onlead and pulling . Not knowing her background makes it hard of course and also the fact that she isnt a young dog makes it tougher to overcome demons . On the whole , she is such a happy little thing just this onlead dog issues coming towards us , any ideas please or do I just accept that she has this very minor issue ?
Re: A little advice please Well, who can blame her Kate? Big unknown dog probably four times her size straining towards her - I'd probably growl too!! Hopefully this will get better with time, as she realizes the dogs you meet are not a threat. I'd say give the tried-and-tested method a go - get her to sit quietly by you whenever a big dog approaches, and praise and treat her if she does so. Refuse to get nervous or rattled yourself - you know that only makes them worse. I'm sure you'll get this tiny blip on Millie's perfection under control!
Re: A little advice please We have/had the exact same problem with barley, he hates it when other dogs especially large ones come charging towards him, and he went into defensive mode. We just completely changed the way that he say dogs, and this same method worked for his hatred of flat nosed dogs. Every time we saw a dog he got a treat even if it was on the other side of the park, when he looked at the dog then back at me i gave him a treat, and i encourage him to look at the dog and he gets rewarded for looking at the other dog, and i put it the command of nice dog, we even do it fro people walking past him, nice person get a treat, or nice bike get a treat, it just helped him see dogs/people/bikes in another way of not things to chase, growl at or be fearful from, but as things that are great as he just gets a treat for looking at one nothing else, so he sees them as good things that bring rewards instead of growling at them as if he growls at the he does not get a treat
Re: A little advice please Hi Kate I would suggest a similar thing to annabelle. It's what I have to do with my two and strangers coming close, with or without a dog. Smelly treat at the ready so they associate the stranger/dog with a treat. Scout nudges my hand now when we meet and pass people/dogs. If you search on the kikopup you tube channel for counter conditioning that basically explains a similar problem and what to do. Good luck Jen
Re: A little advice please You've done a fantastic job with her already, Kate, you'd never know she had ever had any issues from the way she was happily and confidently bouncing round the beach with the boys! Lovely girl, just lovely.
Re: A little advice please Thanks Julie , she is good as gold with other dogs about 99% of the time, its only when they approach her, me or Sam , straining at the lead, so I guess if thats all we have to deal with , we arent doing too bad
Re: A little advice please Agree with others.... cuillin has had issues with groups of dogs in the distance approaching and we have spent a lot of time perched on grassy hillsides watching dogs being super calm chilled and treating...I think the tricky bit is catching them before they go over their threshold into anxious and then react. We've moved gradually and have got to the stage now that nine times out of ten when she sees a group of dogs she will rush back to me for her chicken rather than bark....if the dogs are all running about like loons having a hooly she still panics though and has a bark but will still run back to me so we are getting there! Just takes a wee bit of time I reckon....
Re: A little advice please Have you read Grisha Stewarts BAT book Kate, an interesting read for anyone with a 'reactive' dog. Might give you some ideas.
Re: A little advice please I havent Pippa but will have a look for it . I hope I havent overplayed Millies anxieties , it is a very rare occurance indeed so it really isnt that big an issue but one I would like to improve if possible x
