My dog is very friendly with the dogs it meets. However on walks when aggressively barked at she exhibits some stress and flight tendencies. Her food and prey drive disappear(ie to lure her quick through to distract her). so that leaves me with not moving away while stressed or coddling her. I ignored stressed behavior and waited for the flight and stress to disappear move a couple steps (repeat) and so on to get out of the situation but just wanted to know if there is a resource out there I can use. Its weird, meeting dogs is great, being the object of barking dogs behind fences different story. Now if i know the situation is there I can stay afar but life happens and curious what advice exists.

my tools: bait pouch, puppy leash and harness

Are there any articles or posts that address this that I can be pointed to.

The simplest way is to build distractions from a distance.

If the dog is stressing then your to close. find a spot where she can see the distraction but isn't stressing over it.

Waiting till your in the middle of the barking dogs, or any distraction isn't going to work when you try and distract with food or whatever you have. She's under to much stress as you mentioned.

When yo see these dogs comming then turn around and go the other way before your to involved.

I'm not a big fan of a harness for walking a dog. It only teaches them to pull. With a collar you have much more control over the dog.

Thanks. I started using harness based on Ellis system. She doesn't pull nor would I let her. I know they use leash pressure later on and harnesses for puppies. This is my first dog though that I am trying this harness over collar idea. When she goes past me at all I stop moving and mark her when she comes back and re engage.

But to your point I agree. I actually was halfway and I had no quick options. Lesson learned. I won't gamble with that again. It is hard walking dog when there are so many possible chance encounters. I will pick the shorter path and just do laps and work at a distance from known areas.

This is actually a nuisance. I can't go either way about a couple hundred feet and I run into dogs. How do I exercise dog regularly and avoid for now. She actually barked and had hackles today at another dog that barked one.

Practically speaking do I become a tree of sorts and wait for dog to calm down? This is creep I didn't see that kind of moment. Do I keep walking as fast as possible pretending there is no issues. Or avoid the neighborhood cause they be everywhere. Lol. I understand the training from afar but in the meantime I can't get her much exercise going hundred feet our so.

Try and build your engagement with her before venturing out. This includes obedience. Put things out like high value food in a bowl or toys. Place about 10 ft away, keep her on leash and work OB with her. Slowly move closer to the distractor as her focus on your engagement becomes stronger. You can also release her to get the food in a bowl to build drive. If you have a family member or friend, or a friendly, good mannered dog that can take the reactivity and remain neutral, use as your next distracor. Once she's engaging nicely under those circumstances go out and practice your new skills in the neighborhood. In the meantime, and not to undermine your training, you probably need to walk her as early or late in the evening as possible to avoid those triggers. Also, when you do run into a distractor just keep moving quickly, call her to heel and distract and lure her by shoving food in her mouth, cup your hand while holding the food between your fingers, don't release the food until she's actually walking with you and paying attention to you. If you can get that then stop and work a few sits, downs and heels before moving on. Lastly, HIGH VALUE treats like chicken, steak etc. reserve only for training. You may want to consider all her food at this point is given thru training only.

PS ... under the 'fear aggression' post there are suggestions that will be helpful for your situation to. Good luck, keep us updated on your progress.

Hi Daniel,
I live in an urban area so can understand the many dog encounters out walking. Are the dogs that are barking loose, leashed, fenced? If they are loose and behaving aggressively, a call to animal control might be in order. If they are leashed and you see them coming it is on you for not getting out of there and if they are behind fences.... start there to desensitize.
If you are concerned about exercise, try walking her in an industrial park before/after business hours.

Use your neighborhood walks as socialization opportunities. 5 minutes one dog at a time and you will get there.
As far as when it's too late and you are in the mix of things; get in front of her and use your body to block her view or turn her around and push her in the other direction. If you haven't ever used your body to move or redirect her, practice that as a positive thing so she isn't startled and you are not adding fuel to the fire. Your goal is to create enough distance so she is capable of engaging again.

Try turning 180 with the dog and go several steps, and then turn 180 and resume the walk.

My limited experience has to do with working through the issue without treats or undue recognition of the distraction, and with a confidence down the lead to confirm to the dog I'm in charge and nothing will hurt it.

Some times we inadvertently reward and reinforce unwanted behavior by our actions. Just try walking through a distraction with a confident tone in your voice and reassuring words.

When all is said and done, you are training the dog to focus on and be confident in you and your leadership. If the dog senses your anxiety you reinforce its behavior.

Be anticipatory, look for possible issues and then power confidently through them. Have a plan, and go easy on the treats. Dogs have to come to grips with situations and they will take their cue from how you react.

It seems to me that a situation is an opportunity for training and bonding. If anything, walk taller and with more authority when confronting an issue. Soothing words work, or maybe just a command confirmation, like walk. I wouldn't stop unless there was a real danger that I had to deal with.

It is just you and your dog. Nothing else matters, most of the time.

Go to the other side of the street if necessary, to reinforce the dog's confidence. Whatever works but don't stop. If the dog wasn't with you how would you react? Would you stop and give yourself a bracer to get yourself through it?

Just two cents.

I can't add much to the excellent advice already given on teaching engagement and working on gradual desensitization.

I do want to address one thing that perhaps I'm misunderstanding, though. Are you saying that, when your dog encounters a stressful situation and starts barking and raising her hackles, you just stand still and ignore her and wait for her to calm down? If so, that is allowing her to rehearse the undesirable behavior. I would remove the dog from the stressful situation immediately. You say she loses all interest in treats at that point. Fine, but just turn and walk away in a matter-of-fact manner, speak confidently to her. This is not coddling. You want to get her attention off the distraction and back on you as quickly as possible. That's not going to happen if you are standing there waiting for her to decide.

Teaching engagement with you is a long process that will involve a lot of work starting out in a completely non-distracting environment. You asked for some how-to links, and I think this one addresses the basics of teaching engagement and attention. At the end of this video are links to others on the same topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiMGJBxRtBw

To make things clearer. These are dogs behind fences. When she meets dogs on leashes our loose(friends dogs) she is all puppy. I still will work on engagement. Thanks.