Dog screaming and lunging at some other dogs

Hi

Purdie our 3 year old PRT has some issues with other dogs when out for a walk. She is always on the lead (we are still working on her recall) and only reacts to other dogs that are also on the lead. An off lead dog can run straight up to her and she is fine. When she kicks off she screams and lunges at the other dog even if they are on the other side of the road. We are clicker training her which has worked wonders with her loose lead walking and we are clicking and treating her for any good response to other dogs ie if she even just looks at a dog without reacting she gets a click and a treat.

She is fine with dogs she knows. We also have 2 mini long dachshunds ( 11 and 12 years old) who she gets on fine with now most of the time but last night she picked a fight with the middle dog while he was sitting at my feet under the computer desk

Any ideas would be very welcome.

hi i would seek behaviour advise with your dog cos unfortunatley most lead aggression is owner related! How do you react to other dogs? do you tense up and pull back on the lead also do you speak and respond to your dog when they are reacting? contact your vet and ask to be refered to a behaviourist,it sounds like your dog is frustrated when meeting other dogs

Hi

Thanks for your reply. We are really trying to concentrate on loose lead walking with Purdie and we try our best not to tense when we see other dogs but once she kicks off even if we did nothing the lead would go tight. The only thing I can think of is that we've maybe caused this by trying to teach her 'good manners' when she was a pup ie not letting her drag us over to every dog she sees and have inadvertatly given her a fear of other dogs She is very reactionary to all other creatures (high prey drive I think), from rabbits, birds, cats etc... oh and squirrels! So I think she may always be 'challenging'! I'm hoping to take her back to training classes after summer (APDT), I'll see if they can recommend a good behaviourist.

Nik
3 year old PRT has some issues with other dogs when out for a walk. She is always on the lead (we are still working on her recall)

Clob
Sorry Nik I did not understand that - how long have you been training?

Hi

We've been training her since we got her at 11 weeks old. Her recall in the house is generally very good it's just outside that is difficult. She is very good at all the usual commands, sit, down, stay will give you left/right paw, roll over etc so she's very receptive to training (and hotdogs!) but it is still difficult to get past all the distractions she encounters outside when it comes to recall.

Hope that wasn't too much info.

Hi Nik

You may find this Dogsey article on recall of help/interest: http://www.dogsey.com/dog-articles.php?t=8049

Hi

Thanks for the link i'll take a look.

Nik, Environmental safety and legal requirement obedience training is to show you how to train your dog to recall, not only when under mild distractions but when exposed to extreme distractions.

Offering treats should have stopped 2 2/3 years ago. If you carry on with the type of training you are doing nothing will change except he will quiet down as gets old. Obviously what they are teaching you is not training, they make their money by a low charge each week and keep yopu going for years, thats how these so called trainers make their money.

Sorry to have to say but your being ripped off.

Hi

Sorry to have caused confusion but we only went to training classes with Purdie until she was six months old all the training she is receiving since then is done by ourselves. How do we reward good behaviour when she is non reactive to a strange dog if we don't use treats? She is not the slightest bit interested in any toys or other forms of reward or distraction if she loses the plot out for a walk. It's her lunging and screaming at strange dogs that is our main problem at the moment.

If treats is what it takes to get your dog to focus on you then use them. Use them in abundance - a strange dog = lots, heaps, masses of lovely things coming from you.

Once she has got the idea that it is more rewarding to pay attention to you than to other dogs then you can reduce the rewards a little. But she needs to know, always, that you are the source of rewards. Watching you gets the jackpot - lunging and swearing at passing dogs gets nothing.

(Make sure that if you are using 'the drinks are free' method that you take that into account with her meals - otherwise you will end up with a butter-barrel )