Most of the time I can avoid the situation....so I will do this from now on and also work on more training at home with her. I'll be the first to admit that I have been slacking in that department lately.

Sometimes though it can't be avoided. Like there is a lady who has 2 crazy dogs who will sit right in from of my apartment building. I have to take my dog out that way to take her potty. So, leaving the building and returning I have to deal with her and the dogs she has absolutly no control of. One even got loose from her one day and tried to come after us....needless to say her dog got picked up by the scruff of the neck and I explained to the lady that my dog will NOT tollerate another dog coming at her like that. Even after that the lady still sits out there with her dogs causing problems for everyone. Thank goodness my dog is small so I can just extend my arm with the leash and pick the other dog up without them getting close. Otherwise she would be having Yorkie for lunch.

Just a quick update. This morning I took Pele out for her morning bathroom break and there was another hyper dog out there. This time I relaxed, said "LEAVE IT" and she turned and came back and we walked off. Now, she did keep turning around to go back but I just kept telling her to leave it and she did (although she was all worked up and shaking...at least she listened).

I think I may have been getting mad before and correcting at the same time I give commands and that could have been causing her to get more worked up. I have been doing a LOT of reading of Ed's articles and they are great. I will be using them for my training along with the DVD I have.

Thanks again for all the replies, I will be doing a lot more work with Pele since I want to get her in agility one day.

Thanks a bunch,
Matt

Matt, that sounds like good progress.

Cooler heads prevail!

Matt,

It sounds like you're making good progress.

One thing you may want to think about is how you define your "leave it" command. With a lot of "no" type commands, people tell their dogs what not to do, but don't then tell them what to do instead.

So, you want to teach an incompatible behavior, something the dog can do that is positive that is incompatable with doing the unwanted behavior.

When I train a "leave it" command, for example, I also teach "eyes," which is to turn away from whatever and focus directly on my eyes, until released. If the dog is looking into your eyes, it can't also be focusing on the distraction. They're incompatible behaviors.

When first teaching leave it as defined this way, I actually use both commands leave it, then eyes. Eventually, the eyes part becomes part of the leave it, and you can drop the second command.

As Connie and others have said, you then have to be very vigilant about recognizing what your dog is going to focus on before it does, and give the leave it command before it's totally focused on the distraction.

Marker training is great for this kind of thing, and of course, you train this in no then low distractions, building success, before setting your dog up for failure with too much distraction too soon.

leih

I actually have two "leave it" commands.

"Mine" means back off, you can't have any, and a head turn away from the object is the sought behavior.
"On By" means we are walking/running, you need to ignore that and keep moving in the direction you were before. This command doubles for keeping on straight where the dogs think we are going to turn.

Well, seems this is not my only problem. Pele spent the past weekend at her cage free daycare and I guess she did not sleep the entire time and was being a bit rough with the big dogs in the area where she usually stays. So the people there put her in with the smaller dogs when she was all stressed out and scared and she attacked a dog there. I think that was a mistake on their part and she should have just been isolated from all dogs till she chilled out, but I am not a behavior specialist like they say they are.

So my wife and I talked about it and we think that this daycare is what has made her more aggressive to dogs. Seems since she started going there is when we noticed her becoming more dominant to other dogs.

My thought was that she would get more socialized there and it would be the opposite and get alone with other dogs better. Any ideas why this could be happening?

We are thinking of removing her form the daycare all together but I do know she has fun most of the time. We are just kind of confused by the whole situation.

 Quote: matt wilson

Pele spent the past weekend at her cage free daycare and I guess she did not sleep the entire time and was being a bit rough with the big dogs in the area where she usually stays. So the people there put her in with the smaller dogs when she was all stressed out and scared and she attacked a dog there. .... So my wife and I talked about it and we think that this daycare is what has made her more aggressive to dogs. Seems since she started going there is when we noticed her becoming more dominant to other dogs..... My thought was that she would get more socialized there and it would be the opposite and get alone with other dogs better. Any ideas why this could be happening? .... We are thinking of removing her form the daycare all together but I do know she has fun most of the time. We are just kind of confused by the whole situation.

I'd get her out of there in a heartbeat. JMHO.

Cage-free means forced to be in a group, right?

Socialized, for me, does not mean "forced to mingle with groups of strange dogs." It means "able to ignore strange dogs with calm focus on the handler."

So stressed that she doesn't sleep......

From the post (and I'm sure that there are other POVs), my opinion of the "behavior specialists" there is pretty low. But then, I wouldn't consider putting my dogs into a group setting with strange dogs, regardless of the structure or operations. So I have a strong (very strong) bias from the get-go.

What are your options besides the daycare? Is this a kenneling situation for vacations, or a daily thing while you work?

I agree this was a mistake of the daycare. You don't take a dog that's stressed out and throw her in with a bunch of dogs she does not know.

I also agree that socialization should be an extension of pack structure (master and dog) not free play. You drop her off to play with strange dogs all day, and then want her to ignore strange dogs on walks? Seems rather obvious that one of those two things is not going to go well.

I do take my dog to "playgroup" but I am with them the whole time. My hubby watches one dog like a hawk while I watch the other. We call them back to us for little time-outs of affection and treats before releasing them back to doggy play. If I had a fenced yard big enough for the greyhound to stretch his legs, I would not go to playgroup.

Thanks for the replies. I am glad I am not the only person that thinks the daycare was wrong. Guess I will be pulling her out of there for good. She was going there 2 times a week and a dog walker comes the other 3 days. I liked taking her there because she is a JRT and needs a LOT of excersise. This place she could run around and play and work some of that energy out. This was her first ever cage free experience staying over night and it won't ever happen again. There are a lot of kennels here in LA that she can stay at when we go on vacation that will cage her and exercise a few times a day.....just costs a bit more $$$$ =)

One of the things I talked to my wife about was getting a doggy treadmill. Not because we are lazy...we do walk her a lot, go on hikes and sometimes I will run her. But there are times when I can't take her on a 4-5 mile walk and a treadmill would be awesome for those days. Anyone have any sugestions on good ones that will not send me to the poor house?

If you already have a bike, a walkydog would be much cheaper than a treadmill. It still takes your time, but you'd have to supervise the treadmill work anyway, and traveling faster allows you to get her exercise in a more compact time period.

http://walkydogusa.com/
Hrm... It seems they are out of stock. I heard someone made one that hooks to the rear part of the bike frame from a pipe hanger, a long eye bolt, and a little bungee.