Hello all,

I have a 19 month old male Aussie that hasn't been neutered (yet). He is a sweet, incredibly "soft" dog but is reactive to other dogs. He barks like crazy when he sees them, but is very well behaved, even submissive when he's with them. His reactivity is something we are working on, but it's a tough road. So last night we were coming back from our walk/run and in the neighborhood across the street was a lady with two little white poodly-shitzu type dogs. When we saw them Gunner (my dog) perked up but with a quick warning from me kept quiet. I was really proud of him, one of her dogs started barking like mad. It then bolted across the street (she dropped the leash) and was circling, barking, and nipping at my dog. Gunner was quiet, and just circled around trying to keep an eye on this little tiny terror. Meanwhile, the lady made the worst attempt ever to come and get her dog, and I didn't want to kick it so we just calmly waited until it calmed down, which was probably about a minute. Then Gunner sniffed it, I picked up it's leash and gave it back to the lady and we went home. I was extremely proud of him for handling it so well and not going bananas. But it left me wondering if this is more or less likely to make his reactivity worse? Any thoughts?

Today he barked at a dog but quieted relatively quickly, so that was a good sign

Who knows what last night meant to him.

Sounds like whatever you guys have been working on shone through last night, though. Congrats, and keep it up! . It's working!

When I was dealing with my dog's reactivity, my goal was to prevent all dogs from getting in his space. I felt that it was important for him to know that he didn't need to react defensively because it was MY job to keep strange dogs away from him, not his. It makes a real difference to them.

I absolutely have kicked a dog to keep them away. If the other owner won't control their dog and it's left up to me, sometimes that's how it goes, unfortunately. My dog has been attacked by a loose dog, and I have zero tolerance for them at this point.

I can't say for sure one way or another whether this encounter will have a long-term effect on your dog, but I will say that ideally, you prove to your dog that he can relax because you have the situation under control.

Regardless of how it started out, any time you can get through an encounter like that where no one got into a fight or got hurt has to have a positive effect on your dog. I'm not sure our Bailey would have been quite as calm while being harassed like that so good on you and Gunner. Sounds like he has confidence in you enough to not do something stupid on his own. We're still working on that.

Thanks everyone!!