I've posted about Bruno before-- He's a 1.5 year old Pit mix.
I'm not quite sure if he's becoming Dog aggressive (he's wonderful with the 7 at my house) or Dog Selective, or just plain dog reactive. He's never bitten another dog, or even made an obvious attempt to try.
Last weekend, I had him at the Petsmart store, and I walked him around with his gentle leader some, and then with his flat collar. He did okay both times, he didn't scream when he saw another dog. He pulled like crazy, and when he finally got to another dog, he would sniff it-- then after a few seconds, let out a low growl. As soon as the two begin separating, or even beforehand, he would start that awful barking and lunging. He even did this with a tiny puppy, just with the low growling, which surprised me.
Today, I took him there with only his flat nylon collar, and he did terrible. The store was dead, so we only saw one dog up close. It was a boston. He started lunging and screaming, and dragging his claws against bags of dog food trying to get to the other dog. That time, I just stood there until he calmed down, with the dog remaining right on the other side of the food bags. Then I walked him away.
He sees other dogs from a distance without much incidence.
With the gentle leader, he doesn't pull, doesn't lunge, doesn't snarl, doesn't do anything of that sort. He's a completely different dog. I believe, though, that he'd probably Bark "aggressively" at them once we got far into the greeting. Of course, I'd like to be able to have him around other dogs without the gentle leader, if possible. It's just a drastic difference; he needs practice on the regular collar.
I'm not sure how to go about his training now. I can loose leash walk him just fine when there aren't other dogs near us. I'm not sure whether we should start training around other dogs with the flat collar at a distance, and gradually get closer, maybe with the help of a friend in a controlled situation... Or maybe just use the gentle leader in the store, and try to introduce him in a "*sniff sniff* Okay, Let's go!" type manner-- which he seems to do alright at. Or maybe something completely different?
I've been reading "Click to Calm." Wonderful book-- I'm just stuck at the Gentle leader or Not, issue.
What do you think our next plan of action should be?
I'm not quite sure if he's becoming Dog aggressive (he's wonderful with the 7 at my house) or Dog Selective, or just plain dog reactive. He's never bitten another dog, or even made an obvious attempt to try.
Last weekend, I had him at the Petsmart store, and I walked him around with his gentle leader some, and then with his flat collar. He did okay both times, he didn't scream when he saw another dog. He pulled like crazy, and when he finally got to another dog, he would sniff it-- then after a few seconds, let out a low growl. As soon as the two begin separating, or even beforehand, he would start that awful barking and lunging. He even did this with a tiny puppy, just with the low growling, which surprised me.
Today, I took him there with only his flat nylon collar, and he did terrible. The store was dead, so we only saw one dog up close. It was a boston. He started lunging and screaming, and dragging his claws against bags of dog food trying to get to the other dog. That time, I just stood there until he calmed down, with the dog remaining right on the other side of the food bags. Then I walked him away.
He sees other dogs from a distance without much incidence.
With the gentle leader, he doesn't pull, doesn't lunge, doesn't snarl, doesn't do anything of that sort. He's a completely different dog. I believe, though, that he'd probably Bark "aggressively" at them once we got far into the greeting. Of course, I'd like to be able to have him around other dogs without the gentle leader, if possible. It's just a drastic difference; he needs practice on the regular collar.
I'm not sure how to go about his training now. I can loose leash walk him just fine when there aren't other dogs near us. I'm not sure whether we should start training around other dogs with the flat collar at a distance, and gradually get closer, maybe with the help of a friend in a controlled situation... Or maybe just use the gentle leader in the store, and try to introduce him in a "*sniff sniff* Okay, Let's go!" type manner-- which he seems to do alright at. Or maybe something completely different?
I've been reading "Click to Calm." Wonderful book-- I'm just stuck at the Gentle leader or Not, issue.
What do you think our next plan of action should be?