aggression on leash

[Misty+Mason]

Hi everyone I have a question about my dog that concerns me some and all advice is greatly appreciated.

Misty is your normal dog. Goes for walks, plays with our other dog fine, loves people, never snaps at people on or off leash.

However this has been going on for a little while now. which I think I know whats causing it, but I'll let the experts see if they agree with me.

When we go for walks, I take both dogs with me. Misty and Mason both are okay on the leash, mason pulls a little more than misty does(which I'm going to start using the gentle leader on him, which is what i used on misty to get her to what she is now).

Anyways, both come with me. When we great other dogs, mason starts the barking and the raising of the hair, when misty is allowed to sniff the other dog she is fine and then she becomes mean and lashes out for no apparent reason, which there could be signs from the other dog im missing. So she does that, which since it started I will admit i am on edge when we meet other dogs, which i know can be a big reason why she is still doing it because of my stress.

She only does this lashing out at bigger dogs, never to puppies. And I do not know if she has acted this way when she is the only one im walking, which i should try to see if mason is the cause.

I would like more advice from more experienced people here. Don't know how many people have been through this. But I'm worried that she will never be allowed to go in petstores anymore because of the lashing out like that.

I have never seen mason lash out yet, he is uber excited to see other dogs and if given the chance he probably would not lash out, but I need to find someone who is willing to work with me, using their dog they trust to help get my dogs friendlier, like what they do on "its me or the dog" ect.

Any ideas?

 

[Dekka]

I have a dog reactive dog (who behaves like this if strange dogs come up to her) who goes everywhere with me and trials in all sorts of things.

If your dog doesn't like other dogs coming up to her on leash. Don't let them. Work on her to look to you and relax around other dogs. Some dogs as they age don't want to play and 'be friendly' with strange dogs. I think people should accept that. That doesn't say lashing out is acceptable. But it sounds like she is just trying to make the strange dogs keep their distance.

Click to Calm is an excellent book.

 

[Sekah]

Do you need your dogs to greet strange dogs?

Personally I prefer my dog ignore others even if they come up to sniff. If she's focused on me I can provide rewards for focus, and it can pretty much annihilate the opportunity for either my dog or the stranger's to snark. Leash time is work time, in my mind. When my dog is off leash she's more free to socialize at parks etc.

The excitement that Mason is exhibiting is almost definitely feeding into Misty's excitement and anxiety. If you can keep them both in a decreased state of excitement you'll probably find your problem much easier to deal with. So maybe if you see another dog coming, pull your guys off to the side, ask for a sit and work on some focus exercises instead of greeting.

I'm sure you could countercondition Misty for greetings, but my preference is working on focus first.

 

[Misty+Mason]

Great ideas everyone, that is what I'm looking for in answers! Very happy with both posts, will take them into action on our next walk.

I'll work with each dog one by one and then slowly work together, so that they both get the training each, since i wont always walk both at the same time, and then work on both, in which the training done seperetly should count torwards a better result with working on them together.