he doesn't go off lead unfortunately...... it is a bit of a shiba trait ..... very few who own these dogs let them off lead. He pulls deaf ears and runs thinking its good fun. He has no road sense and their nickname is houdini, they seem to get out of anywhere and vanish, so i don't risk it.

I pull him away because if i owned the other dog i would be very worried with kai behaviour as he sounds quite aggressive and i don't think its fair on the other person or their dog,......

yes on a few occassions he has been fine with other dogs, seems to be older dogs or calmer dogs or ones that just are not interested in him and i have had no problems but i feel that when kai growls it starts some other dogs off and i just worry about them fighting so i take him away from the situation.

in the morning i am meeting up with a friend and her dog and we are going to try and do a bit of mixing. We will go for a walkand see what happens,

My Mollie is a growler/lunger on her lead, comes from being attacked when she was quite young, I used to pull her in tight to the side of my leg....Of course all I was doing was reinforcing her fear.. I now keep the lead loose, and she can greet dogs without being afraid.....I was making her worse!...She is however brilliant with any dog when off lead....

maybe i will try that tomorrow, he is not a nasty dog just think he needs more socialising so i will try and be relaxed and see if that changes anything, thanks i will let you know

I have the opposite problem - other dogs always have and still do seem to want to fight Loki but he learned to defend himself and now if I walk past other dogs and don't use the lead to keep him close it ends up in lots of barking, lunging and aggression. Does if I keep the lead tight too but at least I can stop any fighting.

I should add this usually seems from both dogs but it is as though he just won't tolerate it anymore. So I try to avoid the situation now. Often we'll see another dog and Loki will stare and the other dog will lunge and bark and Loki starts. And we've had loads of fights too.

Wish I knew the answer to your (and my) problem - lots of good experiences with other dogs I guess but we don't get much of that as when it does seem about to happen and Loki is calmer, they seem to start on him anyway.

thank you i was beginning to think that i was the only one with this problem. Mine used to do it in the house with us, i think i will try the same sort of training, walk away with him and then go back and everytime he makes a lot of noise take him away again, he can get excited but not growl i think with time and a lot of practice he would be ok.

That sounds like what Victoria Stillwell did with a little growler in one of her programmes. I think it worked in the end. I've tried it with Loki - every time he stiffened or started to stalk I turned away - the eventual meeting was better but not great. Unfortunately we then met an off lead JR - Loki allowed it to approach him without any aggression at all (I was amazed!) but then the JR went for him - arghghghghgh! Back to square one. He has never been aggressive with people - quite the opposte - he'd love them to death rather than anything else .

As SB says you really need to interpret the growl along with the other body language..in some breeds my own for instance a growly noise can be a greeting and not a threat I would try to give your dog as much contact with other dogs as possible, I don't like the idea of a muzzle for him because this can make a fearful dog more afraid and defensive...you will have removed his only protection from attack by other dogs, he is already on a lead so can't flee . Hope you can find a training class where he can meet other dogs under supervision.

I think dogs are far more sociable than we give them credit for given the chance and because we fail to interpret their body language correctly we restrict their access to other dog and make the problem even worse. Have you seen this article by Shadowboxer? it may help
http://www.dogweb.co.uk/talkdogs/des...dogs_8050.html

REMEMBER YESTERDAY I TOLD YOU ALL ABOUT MY SHIBA KAI IS NOT A VERY GOOD MIXER WITH OTHER DOGS AND AS I WOULD LIKE TO SHOW HIM, HE VERY MUCH NEEDS TO MIX WELL.


ANYWAY TODAY MET UP WITH A FRIEND AND HER 4 MONTH OLD REDSETTER. (SCATTY AND PLAYFUL, AND OF COURSE GORGEOUS).

I TOOK YOUR ADVICE AND WE WALKED AROUND LOCAL WOODS, KAI WAS LEFT ON A LEAD BUT I LEFT IT VERY LOOSE EVERYTIME HE CAME CLOSE TO ANOTHER DOG (NORMALLY BECAUSE HE GROWLS - I WOULD TIGHTEN LEAD) I RELAXED AND THOUGHT WELL LETS SEE, ANYWAY IT WAS WONDERFUL HE SNIFFED LOADS OF DOGS AND DID'NT GROWL ONCE AND AT ONE POINT THE REDSETTER AND MINE WERE LICKING FACES.

I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT AND WE HAD A BRILLIANT TIME. TOMMORROW WE WILL GO AGAIN,

IN THE MEAN TIME I JUST NEED TO TRAIN HIM THE STAND AND WE REALLY MIGHT BE DOING A BIT OF SHOWING!!!!