Aggression/ protection

my dogs have been barking at other dogs when on lead for 6 months or so now and i think they are protecting me,
i was managing that fine and it seems to be getting better but today they have started barking at people that walked to close to me, any tips for help with out getting a trainer

I`m sorry to have to break this to you - but your dogs are not protecting you - they`re protecting themselves.
Are they OK off lead? Being on lead can make a dog more anxious because they can`t run away.
You need to socialise your dogs by teaching them that other dogs and people are not (normally) a threat.
I suggest finding someone with friendly dogs and walk regularly with them.
A good training class can also help.
But mostly - when you see a dog or person and your dogs stiffen, turn and walk away. When the dog is calm, reward / praise.
Gradually the distance will become less. Never force the dog closer to something he is afraid of - it makes the situation worse.
This video might help
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwf53xwyndw

A self confident dog with a good leader would have no need to behave in this way.

It sounds as if your dogs are windy and have been reinforced for what they do by you for six months. So they are now very good at it.

What breeds do you have as a matter of interest?

You need to raise their self confidence and interrupt ther bad habits. I would suggest you get a reputable trainer out to see exactly what the problem is, we cannot diagnose over the ether, but in any case this sort of behaviour is unacceptable and leaves you and your dog dogs vulnerable to legislation.

they are perfect with dogs of lead in fact more playful than most dogs,
i am doing the turn around and treating and like i say its getting better with dogs but now it has started with people
i want to get them into agility so that should help with socialization

Or alternatively wind them up so much that this behaviour is increased.

Possibly - but in the Aggressive Dog class we went to, they do agility after `normal` class so owners can learn to control their dogs when they are excited.

But that is under instruction, taking a dog with no impulse control to agility to participate in agility rather than being taken to agility to be taught impulse control are two entirely different things.

Sorry to read of your problem

It would be helpful to know what your dogs are and how old, also if you've always had both together?

One thing you may have to consider is whether one is winding the other up? Often when helping dogs, it's better to walk the dog/s individually. Then later they can be walked together again, after they have more training under their belt.

Agility can wind some dogs up a lot, but this is often at more competitive clubs (was talking about this at a dog-dog aggression masterclass I attended on Friday) but if done more as a calm, pet dog type of class, it can help as long as instructors, owners etc are sensible types

Wys
x

I would suggest your priorities are wrong---pay for a trainer to help you before paying for agility lessons.

rune

if they need a trainer then that will happen first i just asked if people had any more tips before i got \a trainer