Aggression Help - Juno bit another dog

[TinyTinaTunaFish]

I've had issues with her barking at other dogs in the past. I can't figure out why she barks and goes nuts at some dogs, and she's friendly, fine, and happy to play with other dogs in our complex. For the most part I try to just keep her away from other dogs. She will bark and start going crazy, spinning around. I bought the book "Click to Calm" so I can read it and try to help her. She's not reactive with all dogs. I just don't understand it. I've taken her to dog parks before and she's fine with the dogs there. Runs around and plays, and she's good. Get her around a dog when she's leashed though, and she freaks out.

She's gotten in a fight with a dog before where the other dog bled, but that wasn't our fault. A dog that was completely off-leash, with a history of dog aggression, attacked us and she defended herself. She also scuffled with a dog who was off leash and came up onto our front yard before. She's territorial, and when the dog got off of our lawn, she stopped. So.. yeah... she's had scuffles with other dogs before.

I don't know how to stop her dog aggression, so I just do my best to minimize her exposure to other dogs. Unless it's a dog that I know she gets along with, I ask people to keep back with their dogs, and when we're walking anywhere and I see a dog ahead, we turn and go the other way. Not sure if that's the best way to handle it, but it's what I've been doing right now until I can figure out how to handle it.

Anyway, so yeah. Juno bit a dog today. I took her out to the bathroom and was standing with another lady, chatting, while Juno did her business. Juno was standing next to me calmly and I bent down to pick up her poo and she suddenly charged away from me, ripped the leash out of my hands and took off. There was a lady walking her dog past on the level below us, and Juno ran up to the fence and barked at her, and then ran around the corner, where the two levels meet up. In the past when she's encountered dogs that she barked at she's stopped and sniffed them. She just lunged at this dog and bit her. I caught up to them at that point and pulled her away and she calmed right down and stood there. I don't know if she hurt the dog. The owner pulled her dog away, put her dog in her apartment and then came out to talk to me. Juno pulled a tuft of the dog's hair out. She said she'd check over her dog and see if she was alright and let me know if her dog needed to go to the vet. She hasn't come over yet, and if her dog was hurt, I imagine I'd have heard about it by now.

I'm terrified animal control is going to come out. She isn't registered right now. I didn't renew her registration, which is stupid I guess, but it expired recently, and we're moving out of state in three weeks, so I just didn't see the point in paying the fees to register her again.

When I move, I'll be in a bit better of a financial position than I am right now, and I've been intending on getting her more training when I'm up there. I also think I'll be in a better position to work with her on training, because right now, I live with two other people who don't reinforce anything I'm trying to do with Juno, and as a result she attention barks a lot, and can be really pushy.

This has gotten long and rambly, sorry. I'm just worried about my dog. She's my responsibility and I feel like I'm letting her down. I can walk her with a muzzle, and make sure the leash is firmly wrapped around my wrist, but it won't fix the underlying problem.

 

[ihartgonzo]

Read Click to Calm! Practice it every day, on every walk, consistently! You've already got the book which is the first step.

Honestly, the fact that she ran that far to get to the other dog.... barked at the other dog.... then continued to pursue it and bite it... makes it sound like more than just leash aggression. She clearly has high arousal levels and I'm sure her history of fighting with other dogs while on walks has only made it worse. Lowering her arousal level at the sight of other dogs and making other dogs a positive thing will help immensely. I don't let my dogs meet other dogs on leash any more - EVER - and they are much better and safer for it. Most people have no idea how to appropriately introduce dogs on leash (I'm talking about 99% of people) and in my experience the majority of dogs get reactive on leash to some degree. I've had too many experiences with people saying "oh he wants to say hi!" and their dog saying "IMA EAT YOUR FACE OFF DOGGG!" to trust strangers any more. It is not worth traumatizing your dog and risking a fight. I wouldn't muzzle her, just be hypervigilant about keeping a grip on the leash and maybe get her a head halter and connect the leash to both that and her collar for extra control.

 

[Teal]

Coming from a Pit Bull background... I sometimes forget that to other people, dog aggression isn't normal.

But, the example I use (and it's the ONLY time I compare dogs to people) is - You don't like every person you meet, so why should your dog like every dog she meets?

All that needs to be worked on is where she acts like a jerk when she sees another dog. You need to teach her to focus on you and ignore the other dog. I would start at home with a focus command, and start to incorporate it on walks when she's solid at home. You need to be hyper-vigilant on walks, and the second she spots another dog and BEFORE she freaks out, get her attention.

I have a dog who I didn't do any training with when she was younger, just because. She started acting like a total idiot when she'd see other dogs - screaming, lunging, etc. But when I finally put my foot down and got on her for it, she got a lot better and now she can be at dog shows and races where there are LOTS of dogs and she doesn't act stupid. She actually has a better focused heel when other dogs are around, because she gets more amped up about them, and then puts that effort into her training.

 

[TinyTinaTunaFish]

Sorry this is a late reply. Thanks for the insight and the suggestions.

I need to work with her more on focus and a look at that. She's great with focus commands at home, she's kind of awful at it outside. Click to Calm has some suggestions on getting focus out in public, so I'm going to work on that with her.

I've been walking her on a shorter leash and keeping her a bit closer to me when we walk. It's helping some and if she starts to wig out, she's close enough to me that she can't spin around and around and work herself up. So I think that's helping as well. I also just try to keep moving so we get away from whatever sets her off and after a few steps, she's back to sniffing bushes and exploring.

We're about a week and a half away from moving, so I'm going to work with her a lot more once we get to our new place. I'll have a lot more time to spend with her, and I think moving into a new place is a great time to start reinforcing some new rules as well. Hopefully I can derail this and get her trained up some more.

Teal, that's a good point about not liking everyone you meet. I'd never thought of it that way before, but you're right. I shouldn't expect her to like everyone she meets, I just need to teach her that she can't be a jerk about it.