Hello patandspud ... love the name!

Does you GSD/Rottie cross have a good recall if off lead? If she has then you are halfway there already. I have a very male DA wolf cross, Ben, and what we do is this. We do not walk him in or around our village, but drive him to 3 or 4 villages away - a distance of some 8 miles each way, so not inconsiderate - and we walk him up on the top of the Northamptonshire Heights where you can see for miles in every direction in certain places. It is very important to let your dog run free, but only if she has a very good recall. If she does, then if this is possible drive her to an area like the one I describe where you can scan the horizon for other dogs and put a baskerville muzzle on her. These are very kind, they can eat, drink in them and even nip, so you need to make absolutely sure that she will recall if you are taken unawares. If you do see another dog approaching, put her on the lead and try and make her walk calmly passed the other dog without circling, barking or making any aggressive gestures. Keep doing this, with the muzzle on, until you have got to the stage where she is passing other dogs more calmly, and then remove the muzzle.

If she is turned on by titbits, reward with titbits, but just a lot of praise and encouragement is sufficient reward.

With Ben we had to train a reliable recall first, but now we have a dog who is slim, fit, has an extremely good recall and although still DA, much less so. We still walk him miles away from home, we will never become complacent, but at least now he has a decent life with sufficient exercise every day.

Sorry, I must be being dense, I still don't understand why you think it would choke . . . The lead isn't attached to the collar at all, only the muzzle-loop. The muzzle loop runs through 'belt loops' on the outside of the collar, so it moves completely freely unless the dog pulls. When the dog does pull, it effectively pulls its own head down towards its chest There's no pressure on the dog's neck or throat.

The collar is as adjustable as any buckle collar, I suppose - I would have preferred an infinite-fit collar but it's good enough. The fact you site it high is irrelevant; the lead isn't attached to it.

Why I stopped using it myself is because my dog is long haired and I found it difficult to fiddle about under his 'beard' to pull the muzzle-loop out from the plastic clip.

Also, to let your dog off lead, you are supposed to take the muzzle-loop off the dog's muzzle, pull the ends of the loop at the back of the neck to take up the slack, then wrap the ends around the dog's neck and fasten them together again under the chin . . But they weren't long enough to do that with my 'lion-maned' boy! That meant I had to take the entire collar off, which was a PITA!

Once the Canny was on, it worked well; it was just the fiddle fitting it due to my dog's coat.

Because I had one, and that's precisely what it did. Also, the little carabiner clips that are supposed to secure the straps when you put them around the neck broke within five minutes, leaving dangerously long dangly straps hanging from my dog's neck. I abandoned the thing after one use.

So have I - and I've told other dog-owners about it, too, (especially those who, like me, didn't like head-collars) which is why I am now so concerned at your experience!

I'm sorry, you sound like you're losing your patience with me. I'm not saying it didn't happen to you, I'm just trying to understand what was happening when it DID. I'm worried I may have recommended a product which isn't fit for purpose. Just because I didn't notice any problem doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Have you considered going back to the company? As the RSPCA and Guide Dogs for the Blind endorse the product (according to their website), I can only think nobody has reported this problem before, so it's been missed. I'd suggest taking video footage of what happens, to show them, but that means putting your poor doggie through the stress of it again

Anyway, their email addy is info@cannyco.com

As for the carabiners - I couldn't even get the ends of the muzzle-strap to meet under my dog's chin, LOL! I never got to try the carabiners.

Not at all! Sorry-- I didn't mean to sound that way, just to explain why the Canny didn't work for me. I hope I haven't offended you!

I didn't go back to the company, though I did report the problem with the broken clips to the reseller. I never did follow it up-- the dog for whom I had bought it became very ill and sadly we lost him to cancer, so I wasn't thinking about that. I just wanted to share my experience with it. I understand many people have had a lot of success with it, but for all its fiddliness and lack of adjustability, I just wouldn't recommend it.

I was more worried I'd offended YOU, LOL!

I feel a bit stupid, if I'm honest, cos I'm still not sure what was happening with your Canny/dog, but obviously it was distressing, whatever happened, and I dont blame you for not using it again.

It worries me when people have had unpleasant results with a product, when up until then you've been told it's a 'good piece of equipment, provided you use it correctly'. I still shudder to remember when I trained my first GSD lad, 25 years ago - with a choke chain!! That was considered the best way to train a dog back then, provided you 'used it in the right way'. He was a dream to train, stuck to my thigh like superglue and never once tightened the lead enough for the chain to work, but of course now, I only have to think, What If?? For my blood to run cold. 'If' never happened - I was lucky - but that doesn't stop me understanding the danger both I and the dog were in.

Just an update, I took Delilah to the Dog Behaviourist, one of only 8 trained to this standard in England. It cost £200 for 2 hours. She was extremely nice, brought her dogs so that she could see how Delilah behaved, had me walk about and give commands etc. I also completed an extensive questionnaire about her which she had before we went to see her.
Anyway, she told me not to walk her for a week, just train with her for 5 minutes, 5 times a day. She said there was no quick fix, that I had to get her to focus on me in calm situations so that when we saw dogs, cats, foxes etc I would have more control. She advised on food and additives to help boost her own serotonin levels and took a video of us, where she was advising on how to correct and hold the lead etc. I have had all this advice sent to me so that I can refer to it.
Anyway, the upshot is I feel a bit better when out walking, but I think I was hoping for a miracle (or Cesar Milan!), the advice was good but it hasn't cured anything - I've just got to train, train, train. I walk with the lead through a belt, for two reasons, more control and not sending the wrong signals down the lead. I'm feeding her using a Kong Wobbler and trying to keep her brain occupied a lot more. I'm not using the muzzle or the halti, just a training lead on 2 collars and making her walk by my side, turning back on myself when she goes in front and walking the other way. We haven't seen many dogs, but I haven't been able to calm her sufficiently to say there was improvement. I'll let you know how it goes over time.
She is still a wonderful dog in every other way, so I have to take the pluses from that.

Sorry to hear you haven't made as much progress with Delilah as you hoped.
Did the behaviourist do a follow up ? usually they catch up with you to see if you have made progress or need to ask for more advice. She should do at that price!

I have two reactive dogs and I have lots of ups and downs because I can't control other people's dogs.
I'm lucky that I can walk round large fields so can keep my distance if necessary. I tend to follow other dog walkers and use their dogs as my stooge dogs ,( Its easy for me though as my dogs are small and look cute.) i heavily reward my dogs for not barking and try to get closer and back off if it looks like they might react.
It takes a bit of practise! Its not just training but also changing the emotion of your dog .

Did the behaviourist suggest anything like this? its a standard practise.
Alison

The advice you have been given seems rather 'old-hat' to me; repeat basic training over and over and then 'hope' you will have done it enough times that it will will override your dog's basic instinct next time you encounter your dog's trigger.


Training, training, training will help, and of course you should do it, every dog-owner should! But the fact is, you'll still face the same issue when you next meet a dog when you are out. You need to know what to DO when that happens - not just to hope it will all be fine!

Have a read of this website.
http://empoweredanimals.com

My BAT behaviourist came out to my home, stayed for nearly two hours and charged £40, but if you're prepared to do some reading and maybe watch some YouTube videos there's no reason why you can't understand the concepts yourself and save yourself a lot of money.

BAT is about learning how to read the subtle signals your dog gives you when it sees a trigger that worries it (in this case, another dog) and then to remove the dog back to a point where it feels relaxed again. Once the dog is confident you understand him/her, it starts to relax and look to you automatically to sort the problem out - not because you have a treat in your hand but because they trust you!

You don't need a 'stooge' dog, you can practise BAT whenever you are out and about. The more you handle a situation successfully, the more your dog trusts you and the more likely he/she will look to YOU when it sees a trigger, rather than thinking it must deal with the situation itself.

Big, wide open areas are best to start out with; you'll be better able to take your dog away from anything she 'notices' that worries her. Don't let her ever get to the lunging-snarling-barking point; the MOMENT she notices another dog and does that 'stop and stare' thing, call her, about turn, treat-treat-treat and walk away. That's it in a nutshell - you just keep repeating this. The dog wins twice; first, a yummy treat, and second, the avoidance of an unpleasant encounter. Yay!

Treat tip; try a tube of liver paste. Squeeze it while you hold it down to the dog, letting the dog lick the nozzle; its a continual distraction/reward you can use until the trigger is passed, whereas other treats are a 'snap and its gone', and of course, the moment it's gone your dog's focus will go straight back to the trigger!

I hope it helps you as it did me. I can't say my boy is completely cured, I still have to watch him for that 'stop and stare' trigger, and I probably always will, but its so much better than it was.

I always recommend a muzzle for reactive dogs. But this comes with my territory. My Jade is not usually reactive, though with some large dogs or large people, she is, but rather... she often waits until you are within range and she just attacks.

She's terrified of children and dislikes small dogs, both have been the targets of her attacks, and we were lucky nobody got hurt. It was muzzle from then on out. She doesn't mind it a lick, and as it removes her main line of attack, she feels restrained and calms down a lot.

This turned out to be permanent for us as the dog was seen actually attempting to bite, but muzzles can be used to assist in reactivity, as well. We have a Baskerville type muzzle. You can give treats through them so ideal for training.

Oh, and it's going to be right tough to train a dog not to react towards dogs with no dogs during training. It's possible in some cases, but I don't see it being effective on an extremely reactive dog.