I am starting to make some progress -- albeit in baby steps -- with desensitizing my dog to some of the situations that in the past have resulted in her being extremely anxious and agitated. Thanks to this forum, I now have a much better understanding of Lenney's reactivity in many situtions and how to deal with it. Recently, however, I've hit a bit of a bump on the road to progress... it seems Lenney has a nemesis.

We live on a fairly well-travelled country road. A few houses up from ours lives a young Golden Retriever named Rosie. And there is something about Rosie that sends Lenney into a tizzy. The instant Lenney sees her, even if she is several hundred feet away, she gets extremely agitated -- lunges, vocalizes, hackles and tail up, etc. I always do a 180-turn when I see her, but if Rosie and her owner just happen to be coming around a bend in the road, sometimes Lenney and I see her at the same time, and it's already too late to avoid a reaction. If I am walking between our house and theirs, I always know if Rosie has been there recently because Lenney tracks her scent and, again, gets all riled up. When that happens, I now break into a trot and practice the "look" command -- that helps a lot as she focusses on me (and the treats!), not the scent.

Because there are not a lot of dogs living nearby (at least none, whose owners take them for walks along our road), I guess I don't really know if Lenney would react similarly if it was another dog. When we walk in town, she does react to seeing other dogs, but not with the same intensity -- I have had better results with redirecting her focus back to me when we are in town.

Do dogs sometimes take an instant dislike to each other -- even if they have never been closer than a several hundred feet apart? Is this maybe a territorial issue (ie. Lenney feels that stretch of the road is "her" territory)?

I am at a bit of a loss as to how to approach the desensitizing in this situation, as just catching a distant glimpse of Rosie -- or even just her scent -- is enough to set Lenney off.

Just a bit of background info: I hardly know these neighbours -- just enough to nod a greeting if we see each other in town. I am usually too focussed on controlling Lenney to pay much attention to what Rosie does in these situations, but I have, out of the corner of my eye, seen her pulling, with head and tail very erect, so she is also reacting to seeing Lenney. When I've been outside and the owner walked by with Rosie last summer, it seems he was always giving her a non-stop verbal tirade (presumably for pulling on the leash). This doesn't give me a very good impression of him, and I wonder if Lenney isn't perhaps reacting as much to the owner, as she is to Rosie.

I wonder the same thing about instantly not liking another dog. This week at school, a huge german shepherd was next to Bindi (at the next station in the room) and Bindi who is usually very friendly growled at him when he looked at her. She usually never does that with dogs. THis is the second time she has seen him and she still reacted. He is a very laid back dog, and was a little shocked, and just ambled back to his owner.

I wonder too what sparks something like that.? I didn't notice any aggressive or dominant behavior in the male shepherd at all.

On the other side, a lab/pit mix does not like Bindi at all. WHen she sees her she stares and has to be corrected by her owner. If she passes by Bindi she will try and lunge at her. So, I wonder why she doesn't like Bindi. As far as I can tell, Bindi has done nothing.

Sharon

There's always some reason...I worked at a kennel and had some rescued DS....there were 2 GSD bitches that HATED each other. I speculate that it stemmed from both of them claiming the stud as THEIRS. But who knows...I doubt they had any leadership set boundaries when one of them first reacted.

Also back then, a mixed breed (same size as my mix) took an instant hatred to her. The dog (male too btw!) was in an exercise yard with 3 other dogs. They all appeared mellow. This is why dog parks are stupid and it was customary to just throw dogs together at the kennel (I bought into that at first). I let Sport into the yard and the mixed breed jumped on her no warning!!! I was pissed and separated them and shoved him into a run. Then I though, this is really stupid!

But anyway, I think when she showed teeth at a buddy of her to get through, that set it off, but still...I was not sure what it was. Then later he reacted to other dog when the other staff out him back out against my warning.