Reactive behaviour developing

I have been taking my boy Winston dog training ever since he was a puppy and he's always loved it. He's not overly friendly, but has never been in anyway aggressive or reactive to dogs or people, he just likes to be in his own bubble. About 3 weeks ago this large spaniel type dog has joined our training class and constantly barks and lunges at winston. In the most recent class winston decided he had enough and now reacts. He will never instigate it.

Whilst out walking twice this week we have come across 2 springers, winston has growled and barked at them even though they were on the other side of the road. He's a big boy and has deep loud bark and thundering growl. The springers owner looked at me like he was a DA.

My trainer is aware of the other dogs behaviour and emailed me after the first session saying she was aware he was a bit of a problem and would be dealing with it approriately. I'd never had an issue before as we just ignored it and got on with our own work. But now I feel it's having an adverse effect on my usually stupidly soppy lump.

Is it reasonable to blame his reaction on the dog at training? I'm thinking I may need to pull him out of the class which I really don't want to do.

i wouldnt pull him out of class unless absolutely necessary, for a start the chances of him never coming across another aggressive/yappy/reactive dog is pretty slim, so you could actually take this opportunity to desensitise him to the situation
watch the crazy springer for signs of kicking off, as soon as you think,"oh here he goes" distract your dog, get him doing sits, watch me, or just stick a treat/toy under his nose, simply to teach him that firstly: you dont need to join in, and secondly, that even though he is kicking off, YOU get to have nice things. so eventually he will learn to be calm and comfortable in that kind of situation
hope that helps

oh and if necessary make sure theres LOTS of space between the two dogs, the closer they are the more difficult it will be for your dog to remain calm

I started a new training class with my male Kerry Parker and there is one dog there he can't stand too. It is a Staffy that keeps barking all through the class and he then wants to bark back at it as he doesn't really like Staffies unless the Staffy is calm and they are both off-lead.

I make sure I don't get near this dog with him and get him to focus on me when he wants to retaliate with wuffs. Not easy but good practice as in real-life you will meet other dogs your dog will dislike and you can't always avoid this.

Email back to the trainer and let him/her know what's going on with Winston. The trainer can then advise you what s/he intends in respect of the classes (a good trainer should be able to get the situation under control) and also s/he should be able to advise the best course of action for you to take as s/he will know you and you boy and will likely be able to advise how to overcome this blip in his development

I'm having this exact same problem at the moment. A dog at our training class had his sights trained on Jack and was spending the entire time at class trying to get to Jack which sadly he did on several occassions. He yapped loudly in Jack's face. Jack ignored him until one class he just couldn't take it anymore and barked back. After that he has been barking at class and also at dogs that we see walking in the street. He has also started to lie down when he is off lead and we see dogs coming.

I have started to use clicker training to try and build his confidence back up and I am avoiding training until I feel that I can keep him calmer when in close proximity.

In hindsight I wish i'd pulled Jack out of the training class I was in but this is because the dog was allowed to come over to Jack as he had very poor recall. Sounds as if your training class is more controlled and you're trainer is keen to work through the issue with the other dog.

How old is your dog and what is the breed?

This is just what I would advise. Your trainer knows both you and Winston - as well as the spaniel, and can hopefully work a situation where you can iron out this issue before it develops into a problem.

winston is just over a year and is a newfoundland x weimaraner.

He is normally very good at ignoring and focusing on me, i'm more concerned at his reaction to the springers whilst out walking.

The trainer is really good and has been training the spaniel in a seperate room and trying to integrate him slowly, but its literally everytime he comes in the room. Just making me feel a bit edgy.

Not sure if your dog is neutered or not but even so, he is at the challenging age and needs to be taught that "going back" is not acceptable.

Weimis in particular can be very "assertive" over other dogs, so you need to nip this in the bud. It is a phase, and how you handle it will determine his future behaviour.

Look at this situation as a safe environment in which to teach your dog what is and what is not acceptable with expert help at hand.