I have a 2 1/2 year old lab. I wrote a long post awhile ago in the Dominant Dog Issues Forum titled - Not Sure what I'm Dealing with Here.

This dog has a few times gotten into fights with other intact males. Females he seems to be fine with. Anyhow, about 3 weeks ago I got him neutered. I'm not sure if that's made any difference or not, I believe it takes time for the testosterone to subside in the system.

Anyhow, we have this male dog that the neighbors on the corner tie out in their garage/driveway. When we walk past that dog (a golden) jumps around, barks, growls, and snarls at us when we pass by. My dog would always stand up tall, ears up, tail up, hackles up, let out a growl and try to bolt to that dog to fight. I had been correcting him with a pop on the collar. Anyhow in the last week I used the dominant dog collar on him. As soon as he'd stiffen up and get ready to try and pounce, I lifted his feet high of the ground and held him there for 15-30 seconds - looking him straight in the eye and saying quitely - NO.

Well the last two times we were approaching this spot at the end of our walk, I noticed him lagging in his heel. He starts slowing down and looking over at the house where the dog is, he looks like he's looking to see if his nemesis is going to be there harrassing him or not. His ears were down, his tail flat instead of up (not way down as in submissive), and he was slowing down and lagging behind me.

So, I quickly reacted by giving a little nudge on the lead, sped up, and pulled some treats out of my pouch. As soon as he started speeding up and focusing in me is said GOOD and slipped him a treat. Suddenly he starts wagging his tail, ears up, kind of doing the wrap around heel, focusing on me. So I kept up rapid fire treats while I had his attention. We got all the way by the barking snarling dog, and Ace never looked at him once.

The same situation has now happend two nights in a row. I'm trying to figure out if the dog is slowing down and acting somewhat submissive because he is afraid of getting the correction or if he might be actaully afraid of the dog and was being reactive when going into defense before - looking to attack. I wonder if he's focusing on me because I'm so interesting with those treats and praise, or if he's looking at me to avoid looking at this barking snarling dog that he's afraid of.

Is this the type of reaction I am looking for in this situation, and should I keep approaching it the way I am? Does the reason for this reaction matter? Sould I care if it's interest in me or avoidance of the other dog? Would I handle it differently if it was one situation of the other?

Thanks!

Sounds perfect. Good work!

with only your post to judge from, it sounds like he now associates that particular location on your walk with the hard dominant dog collar correction. you've taught him that when he reaches that location, he could get a hard correction.

it sounds like what you are doing with the treats is perfect. good job.

Just a quick thought,

Have you trained him to be submissive when you get to that spot on your walk, to get treats? I'm not emotionally attached to that idea, just tossed it out there.

I think you're basically doing the right thing, although I would not be giving treats, when I walk past a fence or a yard with a barking agressive dog I give a correction as soon as my dog breaks heel. I think giving a treat after the dog returns to heel is confusing things. In the dogs mind it should be I broke I got a correction. Nothing more or less.