Let me start by saying great site and great community here. I've been lurking for a while and finally decided to join. Here's my situation. I have a seven month old Australian shepherd mix that I adopted from a shelter two
Months ago. She's the cutesy most well behaved dog when she's with me and my girlfriend. All of her commands are extremely solid with me under minimal distraction. I can tell her to sit and stay and walk a few hundred feet away and she won't move at all. Her recall is amazing under minimal distraction. All of her commands she does the first time I tell her. I used food treats to shape and teach her commands and now that I'm introducing distractions I'm using a prong for corrections. She's making amazing strides with obedience. She's solid on that.

Me and my girlfriend have been traveling for the past six months and currently live in the car. She rides perfectly in the back no problems. I'm her main trainer and have been working extremely diligently to establish leadership. We use the back seat pretty much like a crate (we've been socially isolating her except for exercise and play. Trust me she gets a lot of exercise. We run and play fetch 3 to 5 times a day). It's working really well she's starting to look to me for everything. Food only gets left out for twenty minutes then we take it. I do everything as per eds groundwork standards. She's really an amazing dog.

Here's the thing. She's kind of shy around strangers. She doesn't growl bite or snarl she just barks a lot. I tell people just to ignore her and pretend she's not there. I don't let people pet her ever. Always say no she's in training blah blah blah. The entire time she's barking she's wagging her tail like crazy. Now with dogs she's a different dog. I've gotten to the point that I can get her to listen to me (shell do down and sit and won't lunge) but if the other dog gets too close she growls snarls and snaps. We've been working on being able to get closer and closer but she still won't let them get closer then five or six feet. She's making great progress and I know I just need to be persistent and patient.

I'm going home in a few days finally and I'm unsure what to do. My brother has a 12 week old husky puppy and I don't want her to bite her. My c
Friends that I'm often with all have dogs that are very friendly and wouldn't ever bite. What do I do when she growls at thes four or five dogs? I don't want to not be around my friends because of this? How do I introduce her to these dogs the correct way? I'm around these dogs every day. When she barks at my friends what do i do? Collar correction? Do I use the prong to correct her for aggression with my friends dogs? She's only aggressive because she's afraid. When strange dogs approach her I'm going to start stepping in and making them leave but these are dogs I want her to get along with as shell be around them constanly.

I've read every. Article on this site but I'm looking for situation specific advice.

Thanks in advance,
Jacob

I feel I need to add a few points. The social isolation has only been going on for 4 days and will stop shortly. She's always on leash and under the umbrella of my authority. She doesn't do anything without my permission. (sitting at doors, before food, pretty much going with the saying "nothing in life is free")


And sorry for spelling mistakes. I'm sitting outside a starbucks in dallas and using an iPod touch.

Once again thanks,
Jacob

This dog doesn't need to be around these other dogs right now. I would start to plan the way I was going to work this out. She needs to settle in at your home, she needs to be confident in her new pack (two months on the road almost does not count), and she might need some desensitizing work.

You don't mean the other dogs and your dog would ever be off-leash together, right? So biting the puppy won't come up. But your dog isn't ready yet even to be close to a large overwhelming bunch of strange dogs.

I'd probably be practicing me new mindset of "new dog first" and any exuberant reconnecting with friends and other dogs has to be with her under the control of one or the other of you at a distance where she is not anxious, not reacting, not nervous. Just seeing, being safe, and being with one of her new pack leaders.

A misstep here can have such long-lasting impact on your bonding, on the dog's reactivity, on everything .... but it's not forever!

Welcome to the board! It's great that you are being very methodical about your new family member.



PS

"Friends that I'm often with all have dogs that ... wouldn't ever bite." No such animal.

Got any pics? http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/postlist/Board/146/page/1



Edited by Connie Sutherland (02/24/2011 07:56 PM)
Edit reason: PS

No, they would never be off leash, at least not my dog. Those dogs have no formal training, they've just always been let loose in their houses and they turned out to be well tempered dogs. They don't reply to commands except come here, but thats my lazy friends fault. I definitely don't plan on introducing her to the dogs right away, but the dog in my home shes going to meet either way. My dog is always on leash, no matter what. Just looking for advice on what to do if a problem arises, or better yet, how to avoid the problem in the first place and slowly work my way up to meeting them.

And shes soooo cute, I'll post some pics here soon, now that I'm on the computer, not the dumb ipod.

Thanks for the quick reply,
Jacob.

Hi Jacob,

I too would love to see pictures. Not sure if I understand your set up at home but do you have your own room? I would set up an area where you can crate your pup and no other dog will have access to her. You want to work on making this location a refuge for her a place she knows is hers and wants to be there. Have you read the info about introducing two dogs?

Take everything slowly; no need to rush. She doesn't care if she's around the other dogs or not. I would avoid physical corrections until she 100% understands what acceptable behavior is. And since she will be in a new home that is going to take awhile. Slow steady desensitizing to other dogs after she is accustomed to living in your home.

Most important is her knowing she is safe and can count on you to deal with the scary things. So if the pup is off leash your dog should in no way be accessible to him. Your job is to keep her safe. And remember not all dogs want or need the companionship of other dogs so set your goals accordingly. I have a feeling you two are going to do great!

I no longer have my own room (my damn little brother stole it when I left), but I do have a crate waiting for her and plan on using it quite a bit.

Thanks you so much for all the advice everybody and keep it coming.

Jacob.

 Quote: Jacob Norton

I no longer have my own room (my damn little brother stole it when I left), but I do have a crate waiting for her and plan on using it quite a bit.

Is there a quiet place away from all the activity where the crate/dog can be placed? Is she familar with the crate at this point?

There is plenty of quiet places for the crate to go. No worries there. But shes never even seen the crate. I have read quite a bit about introducing her to it and plan on doing so the correct way. I really don't want any negative thoughts attatched to it for her.

Alright, home sweet home. Arrived home today, fed her and put her in the crate. I introduced it to her with a lot of treats and praise, didn't force her in, and waited for her to be calm to close the gate. Shes in the basement, away from anybody in the house. Shes only barked for 45 minutes and has since calmed down. She hasn't made a peep in an hour or so. Shes got water in there too.

(When I got home I was expecting my brother to be gone, but he was here and she did AMAZING with the meeting. The other puppy was all over her and she just stood there and took it wagging her tail like crazy. she even wanted to play. I was sooo proud. she's making such amazing strides, but I'm not going to have any more introductions until shes done with social isolation. Also, my three brothers and my dad were able to walk straight up to her while she was sitting and pet her all over and she looked so happy. I feel like all my work with her is paying off, but I know we still have such a long way to go. I'm such a happy dog owner right now.)
Some questions: How do I know how long to keep her in the crate? Obviously I'll take her out for a few walks and to poop, but how do I know when the social isolation is working? And when I take her out should I do a training session during the walk, or just walk and completely ignore her?

Thanks,
Jacob

At this point I'd give her a couple days to decompress and get used to the new surroundings and then start doing short marker training sessions with her throughout the day. Keep things low key with the other dog and other people, but you can be teaching her through marker work. Spending quality time and working with her will really help build your bond.