# HELP with walking past other dogs!



## dyzir13 (Jan 9, 2009)

I have a 2 year old lab mix and am very active with him. We go for 2 walks/runs a day and he has been a pretty decent loose leash walker until he sees another dog approaching. He doesn't get aggressive at first, just excited and begins pulling. As the other dog gets closer he continues pulling towards it and then finally right as the dog is passing us he begins barking and growling. He has never been aggressive with other dogs and in my opinion his barking and growling is towards me because I am restraining him. 

Anyways, I need to make this behavior stop because I am no longer enjoying our walks/runs and to my knowledge have tried everything imaginable with no success. I've tried positive reinforcements with treats, negative reinforcements with the spray bottle, made him sit and let the dog pass, and simply turned around. About 95% of the time it ends with him pulling, barking, and growling. Please let me know anything else I can do. Thanks for your help!


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## Shandwill (Jul 23, 2010)

Hhmmm...I'm sure you'll get lots of great info on this. I have always just abruptly turned and went the opposite direction, particularly if there is a chance that your dog is showing dog aggression. What type of collar are you using?


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

When dogs are on a leash, they tend to feel less in control. For example, in their minds, they feel less able to protect themselves if something happened.
So, even if your dog has never really been aggressive towards other dogs he may have been around, when he is on the leash he may get a bit fearful or nervous.
In general, this kind of behavior is known as reactivity. I have a very reactive dog, and we are definitely working on this.

I would suggest that you keep your distance from other dogs. One important thing is that you need to be on the lookout for other dogs in the distance, so YOU see them first, and can take measures to control the situation BEFORE your dog starts freaking out.

When you see another dog, you could just turn in another direction, or you could just take your dog a little bit off your path, or sidewalk, whatever. That way, you give your dog some distance, and he can watch the other dog walk by without feeling threatened. The distance that you need to be away from the other dog will depend on YOUR dog. He will have a distance where he feels comfortable just looking and not reacting. If you go closer than that distance, he will react.
The idea is to gradually be able to get just a bit closer until you can actually stay on your walk and have him not react. But, the idea is that it has to be a very gradual thing. It might take weeks at one distance before you can move closer.

Good luck!


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## theyogachick (Aug 2, 2009)

Gracie is the same way. We are working on getting her attention BEFORE she notices the other dog. We will put her in a sit stay off to the side and give her a treat...I usually don't give it to her, I hold it in my hand and she has to gnaw on it slowly. If she shows any interest in the other dog, I say "leave it." Now, this doesn't always work, but at the park the other day, I got her attention first, tempted her with a yummy treat and she stayed perfectly calm as this woman with a gorgeous GSD walked by. She stopped, we chatted, and Gracie was doing so well (no whining, barking, pulling) that we let the dogs meet.

Now, that was once. She did it one other time with a greyhound on our walk, but it is a long process. Some days she is just crazy...we are working on it. Turning and walking the other way also can help (unless there is another dog behind you...lol...which is what happens to me often)


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## qingcong (Oct 26, 2009)

I think this is a pretty common problem, based on what I experience out on walks. I very rarely walk past a dog that doesn't get reactive to some degree, and I think a lot of it is caused by the tight leash. The dog sees another animal, gets excited, hits the end of the leash, can't get to his target, and releases that frustration in the form of barking, growling, whatever. To add to that, the owner is trying to control the situation with more excitement of their own. The other thing is that sidewalks form an unnatural approach. Dogs on their own would approach each other more from the side whereas the sidewalk creates a head on experience which is much more confrontational. A lot of these dogs get along just fine with other dogs in the dog park. It's just in this situation, the dog never learns to relax because the human never taught the dog anything else.  

One common solution is to teach an incompatible behavior with fixating on another dog. For example, looking at you is incompatible with barking and growling at another dog. First, you have to understand the concept of a threshold. Every animal has a certain distance where they will feel the need to fight or flight. An over threshold animal is unresponsive to anything, whether it be treats, yelling, whatever. The goal is to keep your dog underneath this threshold and teach an alternate behavior. Over a period of time, you work on shortening the threshold distance. If you are interested in learning specifically how to do this, pick up the book "Feisty Fido" by Patricia McConnell.


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## moluno (Apr 29, 2009)

I'm working on this with Juno now. It's always been an issue, but the older she gets, the worse it gets.... it used to just be excitement, "OMG I want to say hi!" pulling, and now when we walk past other dogs, the hackles go up and she starts growling and barking. She's also normally very friendly with other dogs and never has any issues playing at the dog park or at daycare. Even when she displays these behaviors on leash, I don't think it would actually escalate to aggression if she got close enough to the dog.... I think it's purely frustration. 

Treats work for us. I carry super yummy treats in my pocket and any situation involving a dog, I keep feeding her treats as long as she's remaining calm. Even if we just hear a dog barking inside a house. If the situation permits, for example if a dog is behind a fence, then I'll stop walking for a minute or so and reward her for remaining calm while the dog runs around or barks, and I also reward her just for looking at the dog. If she starts heading toward the end of the leash, then I just start walking backwards until she focuses on me again, and then we try walking forward again. Is he motivated by toys? If treats aren't motivating enough, maybe a quick game of tug would be a sufficient reward? 

It's a frustrating and difficult process though because you can't control the environment. You never know when you're going to turn the corner and see another dog. It takes patience and CONSISTENCY. Juno is so good when I put the effort in. The minute I start slacking off in the training, she goes back to her old ways. The other day, on just one short walk around the block, we had 3 loose dogs run out of their yards at us. Juno miraculously stayed at my side with a loose leash. It can be done!


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## NRB (Sep 19, 2009)

What about training "look at That" and getting an "Auto Watch" Both Patricia McConnell and (Oh help me, what's the name of the woman who wrote Control Unleashed?) talk about that. Search it on this forum, folks have spoken of it in the past. Or better yet find a copy of "Control Unleashed" and read that section. Patricia M has a tiny book called "Fiesty Fido; Help for the Leash -Reactive Dog" is a slim book at 63 pages and cheap.


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