Well here is the short and sweet on my dog Grandpa. He is a Beagle/(Spaniel/Coonhound) mix and is a pretty spasticly hyper guy. He is 14 months old and I have had him since he was about 4 months old. He has been socialized with other dogs that my parents have and my sister. I have never taken him to a dog park because of horror stories from friends.

I live in an apartment and I realize that excercise is key so I attempt to walk him as much as possible. I started off things very well when I got him and we would walk daily. I noticed from the start that whenever he would encounter a dog he would tug on his leash and sometimes let out a bark to get to the other dog. I corrected him like I do with most things but he would still persist. My friends told me it was just him being a puppy and I foolishly listened.

Well after realizing that I was dumb and with the continuation of this I attempted using a prong collar for correction. It ended up being somewhat of a double-edged sword because it helped him to quit tugging when no one was around, but when I attempted to correct him when another dog was around it basically lit a fire in him and made him bark and pull even more with occasional yelping (assuming from him tugging and hurting himself with the prong.)

Being somewhat frustrated and with Winter being upon me I stopped walking him till this spring. (I know i am dumb, but it gets rather cold here, and I would have to walk him in the dark.) Now I have realized that the prong is not going to work or anything that I have tried so far because the first time we attempted to go on a walk it was horrible because Grandpa has gotten to the point of being twice as worse as he was when I would use the prong collar. He isn't aggressive per say just acts like he just needs to be next to them to smell them or something. He has never bitten a dog or shown any signs to be aggressive physically. When this happens his hackles are full blown and he is completely in his own zone.

I have dogs in my complex that he will go nuts around when I take him out as well as when I am sitting in my apartment and he hears them. I am apparently making some people in my building agitated as I have been warned by the management that I may need to get rid of my dog.

What I guess I am asking for is any advice that would help me to get him to be less crazy around other dogs? As you can see I dont want to have to move or guilt my parents into watching my dog.

Ideas so far: E-Collar, Hiring a trainer, Moving to rural Nepal.....

I highly suggest getting Ed's Video on Basic Obedience training. Make sure your prong collar is sized correctly and start working on pack structure.

Sounds like your dog is insecure around other dogs.

My dog is also a nutjob when he sees other dogs. I got some great advice when I posted my question, maybe it will help you too (although, you say your dog isn't aggressive and mine is. But the advice will work for you too I think).

http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/190045/page/0/fpart/1

That is pretty funny that you sent me a link to that post as its the first post that I ever read on this forum.

I was thinking about getting the DVD's as well as just trying some different things. I would try walking him somewhere else but I really want him to feel comfortable around other dogs. Just the stress I can see in him is really getting to me.

As far as pack structure goes sometimes I feel like I am the pack leader and then other times not so much. I think that some of the problem is that at my job I am none to happy and I think when I come home that negative energy is felt by my dog and he assumes the leader of the pack position because of my negative energy...just a guess. It may sound weird but I first noticed this on a weekend when I had a few drinks and was nice and relaxed. My dog was completely at ease and when the neighbors dog started to bark he made one little bark, I corrected him, nothing more.

This forum is great by the way and I appreciate all the help.

The first post you read was mine?? Im honoured, LOL.

I am making slow progress with my dog as far as being in the yard (which backs on to a busy city park, so it's full of distractions).

Now - I might get blasted for this, and Ed has stated he doesn't agree with this - but I generally get very good to excellent results taking a group obedience class. The dogs learn, usually after the first 2 classes - that they can work around other dogs without having to worry about interacting with them. Maybe it's because its in a new unfamiliar location (i.e. not on home turf), everyone is leashed and controlled to some extent, and the dog is given something else to think about (now what exactly does my owner want me to do here? ... and he's holding CHEESE!).

Case in point, I took the dog I wrote about in the above thread to a combination obedience and agility class last night. There were about 7 other dogs there, plus my instructor's dog in an ex-pen. My dog actually seemed happy to see the other dogs - he had a relaxed stance, tail wagging, no hackles. Note that I didn't allow him to socialize with the other dogs, although I allowed him to briefly sniff noses with a female bulldog who was friendly. And he worked well for me too. (By the way, I was totally shocked. I had alerted the instructor that I thought my dog might be aggressive and was prepared to have my death grip on the leash all night).

In my backyard is still a different story, but I truly think that being around other dogs, while not interacting with them, in a new environment will help my dog realize that other dogs aren't a threat, and teach me to be more relaxed too.

Edited to add: I think you are right on with your statement of the dog picking up your negative energy. My dog will not eat if I've had a bad day at work, even if I smile at him and talk all happy to him. And when I take him outside, he just stands there with his tail down looking unhappy. Dogs can read us so well it's like they can read our minds.

Maybe you and I should try going on the internet and reading http://www.engrish.com or some other funny site before trying to walk our dogs.