Lyric,

The idea of walking the dog past dogs behind a fence is a mistake. Most dogs are protective of their territoryand will bark at any dog out side of their territory. This will stimulte your dog to retaliate in kind. What I have found tends to work the best is a systematic de-sentiziation. Find the point at which your dog reacts and work it in obedience beyond that point. As the obedience is better move closer. Do this around dogs that are not dog aggressive. Corrections must be firm and equal or greater to the force the dog puts in to it's attack on the other dogs. Correct for any signs of aggression towards the other dogs. If neccessary hang him if he is extreamly aggressive.

The other posts are correct, this is a situation that you allowed to happen. Most problems are easier to prevent than to correct. One of your functions as a handler is to protect your dog. In any situation if another dog is harrassing your dog you need to put a stop to it. If you are in a group setting:

1- Inform whoever is running the group. They should not tolerate this type behavior at anytime in the group. If the dog is actually nipping other dogs it should be moved to a seperate area and begun on de-sentisation for it's dog aggression.

2- Tell the owner of the other dog to keep it away from your dog during the group. If he doesn't also report this to the trainer running the group. There are jerks that take their dogs to groups that encourage this type of behavior in the group, that is why they are there.

3- If this happens more than 2 times with no action by the other handler or the trainer taking no action, leave the group. No training is good enough to place your dog in danger to complete the training.

The sooner you get this handled the better. This becomes a self reinforcing behavior by a superstious method. The dog comes to believe that by behaving this way he prevents other dogs from attacking him. It is like buying an amulate to protect yourself from tigers in Wyoming. No tigers ever attack you so it is working, right? By attacking first the dog is protected from aggression by the other dogs.

Come on guys. Did you pass right by Milts post. Please Milt I like you and I say this from my heart. You have a time bomb waiting to happen. Read Ed's article on dog parks and then read the posts on animal on animal aggression. Please!

Vince,

I let that slip by because I don't think Milt was suggesting that Lyric take his dog to a dog park. I believe he was just explaining the dog behaviors he would encounter in that environment and trying to link it to the topic at hand.

For what its worth though.....way to keep us all on the ball Vince!LOL <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Your right Chuck but I would feel real bad if something happened to Milt's dog and I did not warn him first.

Milt:

Not trying to tell you how to raise your dog but I had to give you some helpful advise. It's up to you if you take it or not.

Good point Vince.

Thanks Vince,

Now you tell me after I just purchased a new permit. I appreciate your sincerity. I will heed your warning. My wife will be disappointed she planned on cremating me and spreading my ashes through out the dog park.

Milt

Milt:

Good one.

In my personal experience with this, I have found that correcting the crap out of the dog will do nothing to stop on leash aggression. Seriously. What I *have* found to work, is the idea of finding the threshold at which the dog becomes aggressive, i.e. the distance from the other dog that triggers the aggression, and to work from there. Stay outside that boundary, and work on obedience. Repeated heels, sits, and downs are fine, with plenty of reward. This takes the focus off that other dog over there and puts it on interacting with you. Over time, you can decrease the distance gradually, and desensitize the dog in that way. Even with this type of desensitization, there may remain a threshold, of, for example, 10 feet which you will find difficult if not impossible to overcome. That's not a big deal, as it is usually possible to simply cross the street or leave the path and let the other person and dog pass. Teaching the dog to ignore other dogs while on leash is basically the key.

OK, I was in a hurry so I suppose I could have worded my post better.....

I agree except that at some point, there still may be a need for a correction. If all of the distraction methods, and attemps to ignore the other dog do not completely work, and the dog is still lunging forward and acting aggresively, a correction is necessary. I always say that the mildest correction needed to achieve the desired results be used. The point is to make sure the dog knows that agression will never be tolerated. If the dog is really out of control then a strong correction is needed. Again, I don't disagree with using the methods described above. I just think it is unlikely that a correction not be needed at some point to control this behavior. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I get what you're saying, Chuck, but...on lead aggression is a tricky one....we may have to agree to disagree....

I think that a correction *may* be appropriate, depending a lot upon the timing, and how deep seated the behavior is, and many other factors. I hate to recommend corrections without seeing the dog in action...but this one, as described, seems to me to be beyond corrections, that a correction is going to be meaningless to this dog, no matter how strong the correction is. Once the desensitization process has taken hold, and enough foundation been laid, then I think a correction may be in order depending upon the circumstance. It's just such a tricky one, this on leash aggression thing. I don't know if I'm making any sense....