I am one of those owner's

My bitch was attacked by a dog which charged her,as a result she is now DA.
If your dog charged my dog with Hackles raised I have absolutely no doubt that my dog would defend herself,possibly resulting in a fight.(because of this we have now changed our routine and walk where dogs are supposed to be onlead and at times where we are unlikely to meet offlead dogs)

We have been in the position whereby we make progress and all it takes is one charging dog to take us right back to square one,even if the dog is friendly we don't know that.

Not everyone wants to have their walks ruined or training taken back because of one charging dog.

Hope you manage to sort the behaviour out,
Good luck.

I am also one of those owners
My Skye was attacked by a labrador, which has left her very fear reactive towards anything that comes rushing at her. She is not the least bit interested in interracting with other dogs.......she just wants to play with me and her ball but if a dog came rushing at her, she would show her teeth, which from what you describe, would end up with your dog attacking and me screaming obscenities at you
I really hope you can get to the bottom of the problem so you can safely walk her with no worry

Good Luck

Jann
xx

Yup I totally agree. Its really good to hear about what has worked for others

To all those who replied to my previous post - thankyou. I am really pleased to report, that following some hard work, persistance and also help from some dog-dog aggression experts, Beth no longer charges at other dogs. It seemed for a while that it wouldn't change, a bit exasperating at times, then gradually it got better and better, one step forward, two steps back, until finally she has stopped doing it. Walking her now is so much more relaxing and she is a much happier dog.

Fantastic news - well done!

Seems like you had some great advice from someone! Well done for taking the time and making the effort. Any chance you could share what helped ou resolved the issue so that others might learn too?

Great news.

It's always nice to get an update on things like this.

There are a variety of different reasons why a dog is aggressive and it occurs under different circumstances, so I firmly believe that the solution to this varies according to the need of the dog. What worked for me, may not work for another and in fact may not be appropriate at all - particularly a fearful dog!

My first objective was to understand why she was behaving as she was. The most common cause of aggression is fear, and although my dog trainer was convinced her behaviour was due to fear - I didn't agree.

I sought advise from 3 different behaviourists and got 3 different answers of how to deal with it. The common thread from all 3 was that she was not fear aggressive. I got her when she was 18 months old and I think the problem was due to lack of socialisation in her youth. I was told by and agree with the behaviourists that she was just cheeky Madame, who was rude to other dogs and it had just become a habit. It is possible that she had behaved like this when very young, wasn't told off for it, and got rewarded by the action, so over time it became a habit. The majority of dogs she barged at on walks were so shocked by her behaviour that she was hardly ever told off by another dog for it, which just re-enforced the habit. I also concluded that she needed something to tell her off, but the timing had to be absolutely precis, which I couldn't do when standing 200 yards away from her.

Behaviourist 1 recommended removing the unwanted behaviour through a process of illimination i.e. not to allow my dog to have access to any other dogs, apart from the teaching dogs who would not accept bad manners from another dog. I didn't persue this, primarily as it wasn't practical for me to take this path, avoiding other dogs on a daily basis was impossible for me - although I had other reservations about the suitability specifically for my dog, although it would be an appropriate method for others.

Behaviourist 2 offered classes every weekend. Attendees are taught how to use a halti correctly, particularly when walking an aggressive dog. The next lesson is to learn how to spot when the dog has eyed something and how to prevent the aggression occuring i.e. to distract the dog into doing something else. An important factor here, is that the dog must be accepting to the owner being the leader and also trust that the owner will protect it/be responsible for what is going on. It's amazing what a difference that can make. Numerous exercises are also done whereby dogs and owners walk round in a field, from different directions, so over time the dog becomes used to people and dogs approaching, walking away etc., and the owner learns how to manage the dog under these situations. I discovered that in a session initially the dogs are unsettled and need some time to adjust to it, so, over time in the same session they gradually calm down. We also did a variety of exercises of standing in circles, weaving in and out so that the dogs became used to being closer to another one, or another one is stand in rows opposite each other and the end two walk down the centre of the line and back round to the top. There are a number of different things that can be done, to keep up the variety, as well as commands, sit, stay, down etc. The whole objective is to be doing things with many other dogs around. The session were long, however I found this to be benefical as it takes a while for highly reactive dogs to calm down, and its only when they are calm that they can learn. I would return home, totally exhorsted for the rest of the day - and the first time I did it, Beth (my dog) didn't stir from her bed until the next day. As I said before this wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, primarily as this group caters for the competitve breeds, like GSDs, so some of the dogs there have bad aggressive issues. I attended about 8 of these sessions over 4 months.

By this time, I was doing a dog behaviourial course, which I have now completed. I found the literature available on this subject confusing due to the different views and opinions, so wanted to understand the subject in more detail - and this certainly helped me to formulate my own views.

Also in parrellel with the above, my partner and I discussed what would be best for Beth and concluded that she needed to be told off when she charged in and didn't respond to a recall. We decided to get a remote control spray collar. I got one which has a setting that emits a sound. This is NOT appropriate for a fear aggressive dog, as it could have the opposite affect of frighting the dog even more and the dog could become very confused, consequently the behaviour would become worse. My partner and I thought long and hard about this approach over several months before taking this route. The first time I used it, I made absolutely sure that she had heard the recall when she was charging at another dog, had an opportunity to respond and choose not to, then used the sound - she immediately came back to me. Though I will say at this stage, I could spot when she was likely to charge and would distract her into doing something else, however I was managing the problem, rather than illiminating the behaviour. I can tell by the position of her tail and watching her body movements, such as where she was looking as to whether she was likely to react or not. I must have had the devise on for about 6 weeks (though didn't need to use it much, less than 10 times) and now removed it completely. I was a bit hesitant in writing this on the forum as I know there are many people who are vermantly against this method, as it would be perceived as cruel, which it would be if used on a fearful dog, unlike Beth who was just being a Madame. My tutor from my dog behavourist course told me also that this is only the last resort, timing has to be very precis and the user needs to understand exactly what impact it would have on the dog, that is, know for certain that there would be no negative consequences.

Aswell as this, when ever she approached a dog slowly and politely, I gave her a huge amount of praise.

For the past 2 months or more, she has been fine when other dogs when on walks. She approaches slowly and I have noticed over time that she reponds more to calming signals and it starting to use them herself. She used to do prolonged sniffing and had reduced that to, her tail is more often in a down relaxed postion, whereas before on walks her tail was always at a horizontal, ready to go upright whenever she spotted another dog. Friends have commented on how much more relaxed and attentive to me she has become aswell - which I didn't notice initially as I have been working on this over a long period of time. It has been a delight to see her calm down, less reactive and it looks like she's alot happier.

As to what primarily solved the problem, I can't say, as I used a variety of different methods. What I can say, is that I was absolutely determined to resolve the problem, so worked really hard to distract her from unfamilar dogs, every day, on every walk. It took a long time, 6-8 months, and at times I felt we were going backwards, rather than forwards, as there were periods when she was fine for a couple of weeks and then reverted back to her old behaviour (which happens when changing a behaviour).

For anyone who is wanting to deal with an aggressive problem, I feel that its very important to obtain help from an experienced behaviourist who specialises in dog-dog aggression and runs classes specifically for dog aggression. Also there are different views and opinions, so if you are not happy with one behaviourist, find another, as there are different methods, which suit different owners and their dogs needs. It took me a while to find a way forward - I feel its also important to gain an understanding of dog communication and to understand the aggression itself.

Well Rhodie. I would like to commend you totally on your approach.

Your COMMITMENT, in my view, is the chief driver behind your being able to resolve your dogs challenges. Well done you. Brill!!!

It seems a mix of appropriate socialisation, a guidance from you, to your dog, on what is NOT appropriate, some confidence brought about by you working to develop your own knowledge and a limitation of innapropriate learned behaviour, has brought about a satisfactory result!

I am very impressed that you have managed to resolved such an issue and that you have gone to such lengths to do so.

Do you fancy a job working with me?

In my experience, innapropriate stalking is puppy play behaviour allowed to develop, and gone "wrong", with a strong minded dog, who feels that manipulation of their environment is more "interesting" than some other activites with which they engage. With a lack of guidance, these behaviours continue and develop.

With an owner such as you, determined to understand and resolve, they can be changed.

I can not say how impressed I am by your commitment. Well done!

I found your term interesting, the 'manipulation of the environment' which of course, includes not just the other dog but people in the vaccinity, i.e. getting attention, whether that be positive or negative. Her previous owners, kept her in a kennel outside in the backyard and rarely interacted with her - she only had short walks to the park. My partner has always been of the view that attention seeking and lack of stimulation when young was another aspect to this, as she's a bright dog, most probably from a working line. The more stimulated and active she is, the happier she is.

I smiled when I saw your comment about working with dogs I have thought about it, the course I did was really fascinating! Who knows, when I get really fed-up with IT, I may indeed decide to work with dogs instead - may be alot happier with it than having to deal with politics all day Good for you to do something different!