Any leash laws in your area of in your trailer community?

You wouldn't like to start fights with your neighbors,but.... If you have spoken to them about this problem & it continued I'd call animal control..because if something happens (Muzles like prongs can occasionally come off) & your dog should happen to get away & take one of these dog out, it is going to be your dog's fault, not their's, unfortunately.

Also, if you are on your bike & this happens,(his lunging etc)you could be seriously injured.

Oh, there are leash laws but animal control has to catch them with a dog at large and my child doesn't exactly count as a 2nd witness as they'll try to say she'll say whatever I tell her too. I have told my neighbors and asked them to please give their dogs leashed and out of my yard however these two seem to be clueless. I guess i'll have to start reporting them. Hobbes's outbursts were starting to decrease both in freguency and intentisity until this starting happening.

 Quote: sarah pope

Whenever your dog gets a little carried away or scared reassure him that nothing will happen.

Trying to verbally tell them that "everything is going to be alright" actually reinforces the aggression. Making them turn around can be an effective way to get them to chill a little or you can walk a short distance away but the other dog needs to stay where it is or you reinforce that aggression causes the other dog to go away. In his mind he won.

I'd suggest pepper spray but in that close of quarters and with the fact that people are most likely going to see their dog get sprayed I'd be a little nervous about using it. Maybe buy some of that cironella spray and see if that works? If the owner gets upset the stuff is harmless. The dogs just don't like the smell of it.

Hi, Thanks to everyone for the great advice as the citronella spray worked really well although I have started carrying pepper spray for the times we go on bike trails or not in such close quarters. However I did get Hobbes to calmly lay down within 20 feet of a confined barking dog today. I was so proud of him that I bought him a Mcdouble on our walk. It has been the first time he has been so close 2 a strange dog without losing it for a very long time. He has also gotten better about ignoring dogs in our nieghborhood as any outburst from him makes me suddenly stop and enforce a sit or down until he calms down before we continue on.

Hi Dawna, Good work with Hobbes and dealing with ignorant neighbours!

I'm using the moving Down to help Jethro deal with things that he finds overwhelming in the environment. We had a bad charging incident last week, so now his prong collar is his ticket to the outdoors. He seems to be getting that and lining up willingly for his collar to go out on walkies. I have the same situation, though, he does not respond well to corrections when he is reactive. And there are lots of times I just cannot get him turned and moving in a new direction. My solution has been to work everyday in numerous situations for an moving Down (not Sit / Down). Once he is Down I can step on the leash and he knows he isn't going anywhere (and that nothing is coming near us). We don't move forward again until he gives me a nice Focus (eye to eye) and I can see that he has switched back to 'normal' and I click and treat for that.

The gist of my program with Jethro is that I appreciate that he is a big, powerful dog and will protect me in an instant. My point with him is that I will let him know when those services are needed. Many times, his reaction is completely out of proportion to the situation, so I feel comfortable forcing him to calm himself down rather than letting him maintain an over reactive mind-state. What amazes me is how quickly he is getting at shifting out of the reactive and back into normal mind.

We practice on every walk in many situations, always starting when there is absolutely nothing around and Jethro is in a relaxed state of mind, sniffing and enjoying the walk. This way, the Down is coming from nowhere, with nothing from the environment triggering it. It means he is going to get a treat and praise, so he is happy to comply. I do avoid trouble spots whenever possible, and steer a wide berth from any potentially upsetting situations, and then we practice our Down from a distance and he is happily munching treats and giving me Focus while the Little White Dog passes across the street.

I empathize with your efforts. We have been working with Jethro since he turned 6 months and this reactivity started. We figure we have a couple more years until he fully matures and we are keeping our fingers crossed that he will age out of the worst of this.