Aggressive Behaviour towards other Dogs?

We are getting worried about Storm's behaviour lately. He is about 15 months old and has always pulled towards other dogs in the street (while on lead) and whined in frustration if he hasn't been able to meet them properly. But lately he has started really barking aggressively at them and tonight he even started this aggressive barking after he had been allowed to meet a dog and everything seemed fine! Nearly all the dogs he has been like this to have been bigger or the same size as him, it's never to small dogs.

Also, a while ago when we were in our very small local pet shop and a person walked in with two Malamutes and Storm went mental, lunging on the lead and barking like mad at them and he wouldn't stop, so we had to take him into the back of the shop to calm him down.

Today we were walking through the high street and a man with a Staffy came towards us and Storm went crazy again. What made matters worse though was that the man didn't walk off, as he then went to talk to some mates outside of the pub, which was just a few feet away. So both Storm and this Staffy had full head on eye contact the whole time, which just made matters worse.

Tonight when we saw a dog and Storm went crazy, I know that if I tensed on the lead, Storm would pick up on my tension, so I pretended that I hadn't even seen the dog and so, kept the lead really lose, but Storm still acted the same.

His behaviour is really worrying us now and we dread seeing another dog in the street. Just don't know why he's become like this. He is fine with other dogs if he is off lead and this morning we met a man walking a Doberman cross Labrador (which was a lot bigger than Storm), but he was off lead and Storm was on a long lead (because there were sheep near by) and Storm was fine and wanted to play with the Doberman cross. Though on the other hand, he was a bit aggressive (though nothing serious) to a huge St Bernard we came across today, but I think this was partly because Storm had his frisbee and he didn't want this dog to steal it from him.

Does this sound a bit like fear aggression maybe? If so, is there anything we can do about it?

Have you looked up lead frustration? I have no experience of it myself but believe it's a bit different to on-lead reactivity (which can often be fear-based)

Thanks for the reply Krlyr.

I have just Googled lead frustration and think it could be that.

So, we may have to try the suggestions that were offered on some of the links and hope that will solve some of Storm's 'problem' behaviour.

I don't know if this helps, but when he reached 17 months, Dexter started doing this too. He'd always pulled like crazy towards any dogs, but suddenly he started lunging, barking and generally going beserk.

Off lead he is the friendliest dog you could imagine and treats any and every other dog like a new best friend.

I assumed that his new slightly mad behaviour was intense frustration at not being able to greet and play other leashed dogs.

However our trainer says it's also partly because I'm a bit tense when we pass other dogs and so Dex picks up on it. You're doing amazingly well to keep a relaxed lead - I really struggle with this though the training is helping a great deal.

Have you tried distracting him with either a treat, or a 'watch me' command, and then having him sit and watch the other dog and then praising him for calmer behaviour?

Dexter got so bad when passing other dogs that I now have to use a headcollar (he also goes beserk at quite a few other things).

It's helping as I can keep him calmer and then praise that improved behaviour.

Do you have friends with dogs? If you have a mate with a calm dog, you could get them to maybe help you? Have them walk towards you and every time your dog goes mad, they stop. They can only come nearer for a greeting when your dog is calm.

I wish you the best of luck - I know how frustrating it can be!

Just curious as to why you think Storm's outbursts are 'aggressive'?

I do understand how others can think a madly barking dog even when on a lead and clearly under physical control can still be scary, but it doesn't necessarily mean aggression. It's what Jean Donaldson means when she coined the phrase "The Culture Clash".

I've never seen Storm look remotely aggressive, and when he met Merlin who is - let's admit it! - quite a strong character, he took that well in his stride and everything was great (even though I still IOU a frisbee!!!!).

Lana is like this and is worse than when I first got her. I've been wondering what I've done wrong to make her worse. She looks really vicious when doing it and it can be quite embarassing at times. I don't help because I become flustered and don't stay calm and grab the lead tight and when she has the harness on I pull on it and end up speaking in a high pitched voice

I'm not sure why she does it, I was thinking it was fear as she sometimes lunges and barks at people. She was worse with people in the dark so for the last week or so when we've been walking at night I got her to sit and gave her treats while people were passing. Yesterday and tonight, no treats and she was absolutely no problem although we passed a lot of people. I was thinking of trying the same thing when we passed a dog although not sure if she will be so easily distracted.

If you think this is a silly way to do it and I'm doing it wrong please feel free to tell me as I have no experience in training dogs and sometimes think I am floundering in the dark

Many thanks for the replies.

MerlinsMum...Hi!

The reason we are thinking that Storm is being aggressive is because he just sounds and looks like he is, especially when he saw the Staffy in Street yesterday. I think though that the fact his collar went very tight and he was almost choking didn't help, as he wouldn't have been able to breathe properly. So that would have probably made him more anxious and unable to think straight and then of course, I was tense by then too as it was all happening so fast and I was desparately trying to control him. So my emotions would have affected him too.

Also, the OH and I have been talking this morning and we are wondering if Storm is behaving this way towards dogs because he doesn't get to socialise enough? The only dogs we see are out in the street and we see a few out on walks, but usually not that many. We used to walk down to a big local field every evening next to an estate, where quite a lot of people walk their dogs and sometimes there can be as many as ten dogs being able to meet and play together, if you get there at the right time. We haven't been going to this field much lately though, because there is a big patch of wild grasses in the middle and Storm always finds birds in there and chases them for about half an hour at a time and we can't get him to stop and come back to us, even if we whistle him, show him his favourite toy or walk off towards home. So, consequently we don't like to go to this field very often. Even when there are dogs around, Storm will still run off to chase birds and we end up walking around the field with no dog!

Trying to see it from the point of view of, if for example a child was always playing alone. Then when it saw other children it could play with, but wasn't able/allowed to, then that child would probably become very frustrated and develop behavioural problems. Surely, it's the same for a social animal and just being with us and other humans mainly isn't enough. Whenever Storm sees another dog (unless he's chasing birds, or having a ball thrown), he always really wants to play and there is never a problem when they are both off lead.

I think we will start taking him back to the 'social' field and see if he then improves when he sees other dogs in the street. Also, will try the 'look at me' and giving him treats to distract him when we see other dogs, if the extra socialisation doesn't help!

It appears from your last post that you have other problems with your dog ie overall lack of control when the dog is self employed in a field!

I would so a lot more work on your relationship and for example make it quite clear what is and what is not acceptable.

If you cannot recall your dog in certain situations then keep him on a long line whilst you are training him. If your dog likes chasing (which he may well do being half collie) then it may pay you to redirect this behaviour onto a ball etc.

If your dog is after birds it may prove useful to identify if the fields in question require dogs to be on lead from 1 March to 31 July during the bird nesting season?

In order to ascertain whether or not your dog is fear aggressive or a victim of barrier frustration you may need the help of someone experienced. In any case you should conduct some counter conditioning at a suitable distance ie outside the range where the presence of dogs trigger this behaviour.

Be very careful about distracting dogs with treats re timing otherwise you could inadvertently train your dog to increase its behaviour in order to get a reward, or hyper sensitise your dog to the appearance of dogs.

Also, if you give your dog MORE access to other dogs you will then confirm that dogs are the SOURCE of the greatest joy, rather than the presence of them triggering great games with YOU.

HTH