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Hello,
I adopted a female 5 year old Border Collie mix from a shelter about a month ago. She is extremely gentle and friendly. I can take her favorite toys or food away and she doesn't even beg for them back, she is so gentle. We've become best friends and I've been teaching her basic obedience commands, which is coming along with no problems. About a week after I got her, I took her to a dog park and she did fine. No aggression. Although, she wouldn't leave this one small 15lbs dog alone. Kept trying to mount her, then the dog went on her back and it looked like she was mouthing her leg... I pulled her off and the other dog was moved to the small dog area again. I left shortly after, afraid she's getting too excited.
I've been having trouble with her on walks. She is very reactive towards other dogs. She gets excited, lunges towards them, barks and growls. Despite my efforts to fix this issue, I'm afraid it's getting worse since I brought her home with me. I have never seen her show her teeth. To me, it does NOT feel like a "I'm going to bite/attack!" bark. So far, it feels more like she's either nervous or frustrated. But I'm worried that it might develop into real aggression. Either way, I think the owners of the other dogs may see it as aggression and become fearful of my dog. When I took her to the vet and we were sitting in the waiting room, another big dog came in that kept lunging at her. My dog was scared and leaned up on my leg avoiding the other dog.
So far, I've been teaching her a "Watch me" command. She has gotten pretty good at it. She looks at me and I give her tons of treats. When she see's another dog from a distance, I say "watch me" BEFORE she bursts at an attempt to turn it into a positive situation. I give her treats when she see's other dogs, but has not bursted yet. I try to do it from a large distance where she is comfortable. Giving her lots of praise for behaving nicely around another dog. Sometimes if she bursts, I try to create some distance and she will listen to the Watch Me command and she calms down.
I live in an apartment complex and dogs are everywhere. I'm right next to the fenced area they have for dogs, so they all tend to swarm around my unit. I even run into them while leaving/entering my apartment, because the neighbors doors are so close together. Creating the comfortable distance my dog needs for training is becoming impossible. Because there's just too many "traps". I can't see dogs coming around from bushes, trees, other buildings, or staircases. So she just keeps bursting out before I can catch her. She's only 40 pounds and I keep her on a 6' leash. So she's really easy for me to control, I never feel like I'm going to loose her to her lunging. It's still scary and... embarrassing.
When she bursts, we are so close to another dog, that I just have to calmly walk away and create the distance and "hide" again from the other dog. But I'm afraid this is just training her to learn that if she barks enough then the "threat" goes away.
She is only like this when she's leashed. Once I put her in the fenced dog area. Took the leash off. Another dog came in and she was so calm it was like the other dog wasn't even there. Sometimes she also barks at very large/tall men who don't even have a dog.
Anyway, what should I do?
Is this a serious problem that I should consult a professional with asap? Or is this something I can fix with some changes in my training? Any suggestions on avoiding outbursts when I get surprised by other dogs approaching?
Sorry this was so long... but I really appreciate your help and suggestions, I love my little doggy and want to help her out.
Thank you!
I adopted a female 5 year old Border Collie mix from a shelter about a month ago. She is extremely gentle and friendly. I can take her favorite toys or food away and she doesn't even beg for them back, she is so gentle. We've become best friends and I've been teaching her basic obedience commands, which is coming along with no problems. About a week after I got her, I took her to a dog park and she did fine. No aggression. Although, she wouldn't leave this one small 15lbs dog alone. Kept trying to mount her, then the dog went on her back and it looked like she was mouthing her leg... I pulled her off and the other dog was moved to the small dog area again. I left shortly after, afraid she's getting too excited.
I've been having trouble with her on walks. She is very reactive towards other dogs. She gets excited, lunges towards them, barks and growls. Despite my efforts to fix this issue, I'm afraid it's getting worse since I brought her home with me. I have never seen her show her teeth. To me, it does NOT feel like a "I'm going to bite/attack!" bark. So far, it feels more like she's either nervous or frustrated. But I'm worried that it might develop into real aggression. Either way, I think the owners of the other dogs may see it as aggression and become fearful of my dog. When I took her to the vet and we were sitting in the waiting room, another big dog came in that kept lunging at her. My dog was scared and leaned up on my leg avoiding the other dog.
So far, I've been teaching her a "Watch me" command. She has gotten pretty good at it. She looks at me and I give her tons of treats. When she see's another dog from a distance, I say "watch me" BEFORE she bursts at an attempt to turn it into a positive situation. I give her treats when she see's other dogs, but has not bursted yet. I try to do it from a large distance where she is comfortable. Giving her lots of praise for behaving nicely around another dog. Sometimes if she bursts, I try to create some distance and she will listen to the Watch Me command and she calms down.
I live in an apartment complex and dogs are everywhere. I'm right next to the fenced area they have for dogs, so they all tend to swarm around my unit. I even run into them while leaving/entering my apartment, because the neighbors doors are so close together. Creating the comfortable distance my dog needs for training is becoming impossible. Because there's just too many "traps". I can't see dogs coming around from bushes, trees, other buildings, or staircases. So she just keeps bursting out before I can catch her. She's only 40 pounds and I keep her on a 6' leash. So she's really easy for me to control, I never feel like I'm going to loose her to her lunging. It's still scary and... embarrassing.
She is only like this when she's leashed. Once I put her in the fenced dog area. Took the leash off. Another dog came in and she was so calm it was like the other dog wasn't even there. Sometimes she also barks at very large/tall men who don't even have a dog.
Anyway, what should I do?
Sorry this was so long... but I really appreciate your help and suggestions, I love my little doggy and want to help her out.
Thank you!