But we went that route with Ella, and she doesn't display ANY wanted behaviors around other dogs.
Then you're too close to the other dogs. You need to find the distance, whatever that may be where she sees the dogs, but is not alerting to them....not getting the ears pricked up, not tensing up and freezing. Catch her quickly before she alerts, but when she very first sees them and click/treat. Mark the behavior (prime her up first to the clicker) and then treat. Practice when she's hungry and find a treat she will not turn her nose up to...a tiny piece of steak or chicken, hot dog, liver treat. A quick game of tug with a rope toy, a squeeky toy. You must find something she
does love to use as a reinforcer for the second or two of wanted behavior. Just letting her know (or marking) that her behavior was good isn't enough. She
must be reinforced and reinforced very, very frequently at first.
Keep her just below her threshold for some time. Don't get up close to other dogs for a while. It's important for you to
set up situations/environments so that you don't just happen upon random dogs. I know that can be difficult when you live in a crowded place. But try to find places to walk for a little while that are not over whelmed with other dogs. Get friends or family who have calm dogs to use as practice "subjects."
You can stand a long ways apart...whatever is necessary for her to not react. Each of you walk your dogs in a parallel line to one another, going the opposite direction....back and forth, reinforcing her all the way, over and over, every step or every other step. You don't have to get her attention on you. She needs to see and be aware of the other dog, but still maintain some composure.
Sufficient distance between. That's the key at first until she is ready for decreasing the space between. You can take her to the parking lot of a Petstore and stand way, way in the back of the parking lot...and she can see dogs coming in and out of the store. Perhaps that won't rile her up so much.
There are a couple of other things you can do to, depending on what her situation is. Is this truly aggression do you think.... as in, she will attack if given a chance? Or is she reactive as though she wants to go see the other dog? Is it worse with a leash on? Or have you ever observed her off leash around other dogs? Do you know her socialization history way back when she was a very young puppy? This behavior is usually due to a lack of early socialization. And it is very difficult to over come, at least significantly. It can surely be improved with behavior modification. But that imporvershed socialization really makes for a battle.
When it comes time to getting closer, keep those treats coming as long as she can walk forward without reacting too strongly. Work with her when she is hungry remember. You don't have to get perfect behavior. You can reward for some improvement and then later, withold reward until she gives you a tad more. She doesn't get to meet the other dog unless she's walking nicely. (if it's that she wants to meet the other dog) Are there any dogs she does like or can play with? Practice with those dogs.
Have you read Emma Parson's Click to Calm? That's very good and helpful. I highly recommend it. As it was said, all dogs, when they're barking, snarling, yapping and lunging must take a breath of air or they'll die.... or step back in order to prepare for the next launch. (lol) When you use a clicker, this is a very effective way to get your timing more precise and catch the dog just as he takes a breath. Timing is everything in training. It communicates so much better to the dog what it is he just did, that very second which earned him the reinforcer.
Anyhow, basically, what is needed is a desensatizing to other dogs...seeing them from a more comfortable distance, a more comfortable location perhaps for your dog and not bombarding him with up close and personal. And in addition to desensatizing is counter conditioning....giving him an alternative way to conduct himself which
pays off.
You can also ask for other behaviors as alternatives besides just standing there not reacting. You can distract him a little bit with a nice sit, where he's facing you at an angle....so he sees the other dog, but also is turned somewhat toward you. (makes him more comfortable) Keep the treats coming. If your dog is upset by seeing other dogs...if you think it's not because he wants to go meet them, for a while, you can walk away from the other dog even more once he's given you a few seconds of calm behavior. Reinforce with a treat and reinforce further by walking away more....giving him more flight distance. Later, that will change because in the meantime he's going to learn to associate the other dog with good things. (treats, a little tug game with a rope toy, praise, etc) And soon that increased flight distance you give him as reward will no longer be a reward because getting closer to the other dog
WILL become more rewarding to him....as he gets desensatized and learns what behavior makes things better for him.
This is not something that happens in just a few weeks normally. It can be months and months. And you want to pace your training, your increased degree of difficulty over a long time, taking each step very gradually.
As with everything in training, when you add a new critereon....something harder, you look at the other parts, the other critera and you back off on whatever you can...making the part he was doing before easier. So you have to look at the behavior and break it into as many smaller parts as you can see. For example in this type of thing: there's the distance between him and the other dog. That's one criterea. There's duration. How long must he maintain his composure? There's perhaps a sit thrown into the exercise. There are distractions. What all is going on around him? There's the amount of reacting he's doing to take into consideration. If you are decreasing the distance between dogs than where he was before, then lessen the seconds of duration he must stand there and see the other dog. Remove him, turn and walk away after reinforcing him. Do not reinforce the walking away. If he is ready, add a few more seconds and a little closer proximity, but make sure there are fewer distractions, say. So in other words, make it easy for him to succeed, getting more and more reinforcement for baby steps in the right direction.
You need to observe the various stages of behaviors which lead up to his all-out going berserk. Watch his body language, his facial expressions, the mouth, the eyes, ears, head and tail set, tensing up, standing taller. All these things are seperate events sort of. See if you can observe any special order that some of these types of things take place. By reinforcing
before he launches into the entire set, interrupt that chain of events by reinforcing one or two of those early behaviors. "Good! You only just perked up your ears and looked." Here, (click) have a treat and let's play tug and walk the other way for 10 steps." Next time...."Good, you only just looked, perked up your ears and began to tense your left shoulder. But you didn't lunge or bark. Here, have a piece of steak and let's play with the squeeky." Break into that cycle and reward for his not continuing. Inch by inch.
Anyhow, get that book. Jean Donalson also has a good one called Fight. Very good and informative.
