Quick question for you guys -

My younger dog, Bella, is a female lab mix, with probably some terrier and cattle dog mixed in. She's about a year and 8 months old, though I've only had her for a year. Before that, she was god-knows-where out in the mountains with a few different random people. She wasn't necessarily mistreated but wasn't well-socialized or well-raised either. Despite that, she's become an awesome dog - very smart, friendly and happy, fun, and doing great in agility. She seems to have pretty good drive and focus in agility, IMO.

The problem I'm working on is that she can be dog aggressive (possibly fear aggressive) when on leash. She is friendly with other dogs when off-leash and she lives with several other dogs here at my house and is fine with them. When on leash however, she is usually very excited about other dogs and wants to go meet them (in a friendly-ish way), and if I let her do it and if the other dog is friendly, or neutral/disinterested, or aloof and higher ranked, then she's ok. If however, the dog is nervous or tense about her charging up on them, or is staring at her, then she goes on the attack. Or, as is usually the case since I don't want her charging up on random dogs, I tell her to leave it and tighten up the leash so she can't, then my impression is that the leash pressure also makes her reactive.

Today I was down on the waterfront boardwalk here in town where lots of people walk their dogs on leash, and was trying to test her with different scenarios. It's a little bit wider than a normal city sidewalk, but there's still not lots of room. When I could get her over to the side and off the path by maybe 5 feet or so, I could then have her sit at my side and pay attention for treats while the dogs passed by. The extra distance seemed to make things ok for her. You can't always get that far off the path though, and having her sit at my right side (while I'm standing on the leash) and distracting her with treats didn't work when we were in closer quarters. When the dogs got close enough, she'd break the sit and try to get them. Walking quickly past them with her on my right maybe worked a little better but it's hard to firmly control the leash with both hands and also deliver treats. If your right hand is off the leash just for a moment to deliver a treat, there's a potential for that to be the moment when she's got extra leash space to charge.

She's not real big - 48 lbs and 20" at the shoulder - so I can physically control her well enough, or just pick her up if I think there's going to be trouble, but I really want to make it clear to her what things I don't want her to do, and what things I do want her to do and then let her exercise self-control. This is why I was thinking of the prong. Charging forward will give herself a more serious correction than the flat collar will, making the "wrong" more obvious, and then I can give her treats for behaving herself.

Also, I should add that she has a decent "leave it" but the closer the distance, the more amped up she gets and the harder it is for her to listen and obey the command. The prong could help make it clearer that disobeying the "leave it" is not an option. I guess my concern is that if she's scared of the dog and then feels the correction of the prong, couldn't that amplify her fear of the dog by associating the dog with the prong correction? She's fairly sensitive, but she's also very smart so maybe she'll get the point without many corrections. I've also thought about trying the clicker on this. I do mark the correct behavior with a "yes" but sometimes it seems to me like maybe it's good to simplify that to a clicker mark when the task is particularly challenging.

Thoughts and advise are as always greatly appreciated.

JMO

Restraint of any type, be it a leash, fence, crate, or even just holding a position, seems to make a sharp dog sharper. This is the case with my dog. When off-leash, she's much more relaxed, and I can call her away from another dog or any other distraction. IMO, if your dog is aggressive, she wouldn't be okay with another dog that is relaxed.

Also, if you use the prong, make sure you are giving the corrections. It's not there for the dog to correct itself; that's not a true or proper correction.

Matt,

I'm probably far off the mark but that never stops me from opining.

I agree with Duane that while a prong collar offers some self correction, my opinion that relying on self correction just desensitizes the dog to the collar, and teaches it tolerate it in behaving badly.

That noted, I don't correct the dog for addressing another dog or a distraction, I correct for breaking without release. If I sit the dog, I expect it to remain in place unless there is some overwhelming reason for it to break, and the presence of another dog that is not all but attacking it is not that overwhelming reason.

I think what you are thinking through is the command confidence you want to share with your dog.

My mutts need to focus on me, in the first instance. I walk my mutts, not a stranger's. I control that which I can control. Good, solid training does not destroy a dog's drive or enthusiasm, in my opinion. It channels it.

It is hard in some social circumstances to maintain distances between your dog and another person's. But that is all the more reason to do the rock solid training.

I use prong collars in the sense I put them on the dog but it is a rare thing to have to use the prong collar for correction once training has been accomplished. A loose leash, the dog and me. We go for a walk. I'm not inclined to go for walks with other dog owners though I do, occasionally. It gives me comfort that my mutts are pretty well focused. Occasionally the only barrier between my mutts and a bad outcome is my voice, and their command compliance.

Not even close, right?

I'm no expert but I have a pretty reactive dog and can at least share how we deal with it in similar situations.

First off, I would ditch the treats while trying to pass another dog. I tried what you were doing at first, which pretty much amounted to luring. That only works for so long and, like you said, becomes difficult to manage while controlling the leash and dog movements at the same time. We found better success getting the dog to focus on you and focus on the walk, and pay attention to a firm "leave it" command. Once we've passed the other dog successfully, and your dog has returned to a calm state, them we party, I praise like crazy, and give treats.

Second, I never tolerate a tight leash. If you have to tighten the leash to control the dog, it's too late. Now you're just playing tug of war and corrections are more difficult to administer. We just tell her to "leave it" and once you've done that, correct sharply and firmly as frequent as you need to in order to keep your dog focused on the walk. Don't give her a chance to even look at the other dog. If she looks toward you, praise lavishly and just keep walking. If you need to reward while you're passing the other dog, I would recommend the "touch" command, where she touches her nose to the palm of your hand. It gives her something to focus on and it's fun.

Over time, our dog has learned to correct herself. It's a hoot to see her start to look at another reactive dog then, all by herself, snap her head back to looking forward. It's so very rewarding to see her look to you when she's nervous about passing a reactive dog instead of staring at the other dog and that's when I reward it by playing touch. Again, big party afterward if you pass successfully and she calms down. Mine will celebrate all by herself if she's done well by just jumping up and down.

Good luck!

This is all excellent advise you guys - thanks. I will test these concepts today and report back. I think you're right Mike - I'm needing to figure out exactly what I want her behavior to look like so I can work towards that image in my mind. Greg - do you treat her when she does the "touch"? Bella knows touch but she usually gets treated on the first, second, or third touch (I vary it). Duane - very good point about the corrections. I will be sure to correct her myself, with or without the prong.

 Quote: Matt Lang

Greg - do you treat her when she does the "touch"? Bella knows touch but she usually gets treated on the first, second, or third touch (I vary it).

No. The touch game is her reward for a successful "leave it".