[srelizabeth]

My dog Riley is the sweetest thing with people, but is dog aggressive (the exception being with our other dog, Brody). My boyfriend has taken Riley to a couple of different training facilities, attended a couple of classes at each, and stopped going due to not having the money but also not seeing results.

With the use of an easy walk harness, we can get through our walks safely but it obviously doesn't stop him from freaking out and attempting to lunge at other dogs. (before we were told to use a prong collar, which I stopped using, and we have also used the gentle leader on and off)

Now, there are a couple of houses that he has his biggest reactions with. The first one is because when we pass, the dog inside throws itself against the door and barks like crazy, inciting a ton of whining and lunging from Riley. His eyes get big, focused on the door, some low growls, but mostly just frantic movement towards the door. WOULD it be a BAD training tactic, to sort of stop near the door, wait for Riley to calm down, get him to sit, treat him once calm, and keep repeating until there's less and less of a reaction?

It sounds like a good idea in my head but I really don't know if it would be harmful to expose him to the amount of stress he is in when we approach.

I wholeheartedly wish there was something I can do that doesn't cost me thousands of dollars in training which may not even help... I am open to any suggestions.

My last question is for people that walk multiple dogs. Is it acceptable to walk your dogs separately? I feel like when I walk Riley I'd like to be 100% focused on him instead of two dogs, but I feel so guilty if I leave Brody behind and take Riley out by himself.

 

[busannie]

A better approach would probably be to wait him out, reward for focus, etc at a far enough distance that he is aware of the dog, but not significantly distracted by it. Then you move closer when he is 100% at that distance, closer, closer, until you are in front of the house, but he's not even entertaining the thought of reacting, just focused on you.

I walk my dogs separately fairly often (or one while the other stays home), and would recommend it if you are having problems with one dog. As you said, you really can't focus on the problem dog if you are also trying to wrangle a second, so taking just one allows you to focus on that dog only. Additionally, sometimes the "good" dog can pick up less than desirable behaviors from the troublemaker. You can take one, then the other, and I'm sure Brody will appreciate the individual attention as well