Quote: lucillehollander

 Quote: dave ferguson

No one likes rhetorical questions and if everyone lived their life in "what ifs", no one would leave their house, or own dogs to begin with.

I want a place where it is OK to ask questions, and figure out how to do things. It is perfectly OK if this is not such a place, I can go looking some more.
I don't see that I can truly be a responsible dog owner without thinking ahead about the 'what ifs' that are reasonably certain to occur.

Lucille, life goes on. You do your best to pay attention and avoid bad things, but sometimes things happen. When they do, it becomes all about what to do now. See how it affects your dog, and go from there.

 Quote: steve strom

What should I do if that 1001st car is being driven by the 151st dog?????

Ha! Instant flash back of grade school and math class....

Steve,
Make sure you have a camera, get it on film and sell it to some ad agency.
You won't have to go to work tomorrow!

Lucille,
It's just luck of the draw. Otherwise called life.
Stuff happens whether we want it to or not.
I like Steve's response, we do the best we can and move on.

Tracy,

100% agree, though I would not kick another dog unless the situation was completely out of control. I fear that my hiking boots would damage the other dog.

I find a good slap across the back end does the trick and snaps the other dog out of it's intentions.

One of my thoughts is that I want "Case" to be more interested in me than endlessly jumping at other dogs. I'm training him to meet dogs on a 1:1 basis when I say it's OK and not when he decides to pull after them.

He's about 19 months old and we're only a few weeks into training, but there's already a huge difference from when I first met him.

Rob

 Quote: Dave Ferguson

In my opinion a lot of the key imprinting and socializing happens in the dogs first 6 months of life.

I've read that as well, Dave. Unfortunately Buster was 18 months old when I obtained him from the pound. I have a funny feeling that he might have been attacked by another dog before I got him. I've never seen a dog this uptight about other dogs before. I've been working with him lately at the park to acclimate him to being around other dogs. I will not take him into the dog park, but I've been walking him along the fence doing training sessions to teach him not to wig out every time he sees another dog. He's gotten to the place where he'll sit and stay without barking, but when I start to move, he goes into a frenzy toward the other dogs. I'm working up some other strategies.

Thanks for the advise all. Y'all mirrored my sentiments.

If he wigs out at the fenceline to the dog park, then move farther way. Across the street, or whatever distance you have to be so that he will ignore the other dogs. Then reward that behavior. Once you're confident that he is okay at that distance, more a little bit closer. You're gradually reducing the "flight distance" (reaction distance) with repetition and conditioning.

Don't push him any farther than you are "pretty sure" he'll be okay--set him up to succeed. And then take baby steps. If you move forward and he wigs out, then you know you went too far too quick. Just back up to the safe distance and go more slowly the next time you try.

I think with any reactive dog, it's all about setting them up to succeed---not seeing how far you can push them all at once.

I see where you are going, Tracy, and that makes a ton of sense. I've discovered if I take him for a super long walk before I bring him near the dog park, he's too tired to raise a fuss. The problem with Buster is that he is not food driven, at least not the same as my other dog. He enjoys praise, but even that is useless when he is in frenzy mode. I think you are right that I need to start farther away.

I know he will figure out at some point that he won't be harmed. Sometimes I feel like he is trying to protect me, and I'm trying to teach him that that is not his job. I'm the pack leader, and that is my job. It's baby steps with him.

 Quote: Chris Kuck

I've discovered if I take him for a super long walk before I bring him near the dog park, he's too tired to raise a fuss.

Works like a champ on our rescue Akita/GSD. It's amazing how much less reactive he gets toward the end of long walks/runs.

A tired dog...

Here is my two cents...I too am not an expert. Just a guy that had to learn due to the challenges of owning two shelter Pits.

Jeter (below) was once a very social dog and before I knew better I would bring him to the dog park. He got into a fight with 2 English Bulldogs who's stupid owners brought toys from home that they didn't want the other dogs to play with. When Jeter caught their Frisbee the fight was on. The next thing you know there were English Bull dogs flying around the dog park.

Of course because Jeter is a Pit he got the blame. Long story short...we don't go to dog parks any more and he has issues with other dogs.

So the question is do you want your dog to socialize with other dogs? If the answer is yes then you need to work through your dogs aggression issues slowly and certainly not by using forced socialization.

You can begin to desensitize him while out on walks and the easiest method is to have him focus on you while other dogs are in the area. Little by little you can get closer and closer. Its a slow and meticulous process.

Using a high value treat you can teach your dog to "LOOK" at you by holding the treat near your eyes. Once he looks at you without being distracted by other dogs you can treat him and mark the behavior. In a short time he will get it.

Once yo can have a dogs 3 feet away and your dog will focus on you, you may be able to begin socializing him again. Of course all this is done with all dogs on leashes until you are completely sure he is no longer dog aggressive. That may be never.

Good Luck