Recently Tasha has started going nutty if we are sitting on the porch and a strange dog walks by. I know that to some extent this is to be expected. In the house and car I can control it, but on the porch it goes to a whole new level. She doesn't bark at people or dogs that she knows. Its only dogs that we don't know.

My biggest concern about it is that she will knock over the railing. We live on the second floor, so its not safe to have her slamming up against it. Because of this I have been keeping her on a line when we are out there.

My second concern (and the reason I am posting here) is that she has been showing some aggression to other animals when we are out. I have been able to control it in almost all situations, and have been working really hard with her on it. Does this level of territorial behavior have a link with other aggression?

My final concern is that someday she will get frustrated and redirect on me. Her excitement in this situation is so much higher than in any other. Today when I pulled her away from the railing she started squealing and continued barking in this crazy mix of sounds.

Is there any reasonable way to work on this situation? I could just keep her inside, but the porch is my only outdoor space that isn't shared with my neighbors and it would be nice to have her out there with me.

I had some similar issues and what worked for me was having a leash on when on the porch (ours is open to the front yard - so she had to have it on anyway). We did basic ob when there were no passer-bys. When a dog walked by, I would work on engagement with me by "look at me" and use a marker and treat. Lots of treats when she looked and was quiet.

The thing I learned from my trainer and has been effective is to anticipate and redirect. Once she alerts (ears go up) in response to another dog, she gets a correction if she doesn't engage back to me since she knows how to do this without the distraction. We worked on distance from the other animal at first. I do this on porch or on walks. I don't wait for the bonkers but have to nip it in the bud when I first see a hint of ear movement. That is when it is easier to get her to redirect to me.

She can pretty much ignore other dogs now. I still find it difficult when they are behind a fence and barking at her, though.

Thanks Marcia!

If they weren't totally different colors I would swear that Maggie and Tasha were sisters!

I have never had much success with "watch me" as a real life tool. I have gotten her to where she automatically looks at me with "sit", but I think there are just always too many distractions around here to build up slowly to a simple "watch me".

Maybe the porch will be a good place to work on it, since the dogs walking by aren't a constant. We could use the cat the people across the street let out on the roof as a first level distraction

Thank you for explaining the timing of the correction, too. I have never been able to figure it out since most people who advocate teaching "watch me" don't support using corrections. I have a feeling this will make a big difference.


You're the best!

make sure to try to engage the dog BEFORE he spots the other dog.

Keep your eye out and try to spot the dogs before she does and start doing ob with her then.

that is what works for me with tucker. I get his attention before he even sees the other dog and it works much better.
I can still get his attention if he does spot the dog first, but he is a bit more reluctant.

Once she is already at the nutty stage that's the red zone, and by that time it will be too late.
catch her before she gets to that point.

How old is she?

Teach her leave it. Then you can correct for that and keep your watch me command as something thats rewarded.

 Quote: steve strom

Teach her leave it. Then you can correct for that and keep your watch me command as something thats rewarded.

I like that. Chula knows both, and I like the idea of keeping the 'watch me' purely positive. (she's dog-reactive, too, mainly with yapping, lunging ankle-biters with clueless owners)

I just picked this up from a trainer. A good "leave it" behavior should end with the dog checking back in (Watch Me) so it's perfect in this case.

Er, how old is this pup?

Thanks Wendy. She's 16 months.

The kind of work you are describing is what we have been doing at the park.

We started out about 40 feet from the walking path and now we are down to 10. Because of doing this there have been times that having a mellow dog come right up to us has worked out well..

Passing dogs closely on leash is still a no go outside of our obedience classes, so for right now I don't even attempt it. I really don't trust other dog owners to be able to control their dogs, and she's not at the point of being able to ignore a reactive dog. She's doing really well at class, so I see lots of hope for the future.

I can see how the same work will probably help for this situation as well. Thanks for the input!

 Quote: steve strom

Teach her leave it. Then you can correct for that and keep your watch me command as something thats rewarded.

"Leave it" works well for us with rolling in dead animals, digging holes and eating cat poop. I need to work more on having it be a general command that also applies to moving objects.