[bkummer]

I have a 2 1/2 year old Yellow Lab Mix Male Dog (we think he is mixed with a Great Dane, but we are not sure). We got him from a shelter and we know that he has been around other dogs both at the shelter and with a previous owner. He has been neutered. He loves to go for walks on a leash, but his problem is that when he sees other dogs while we are out walking him, he goes crazy. He whines, howls, makes god awful noises directed at the other dog and tries to aggressivley get at them. He will also do this when we take him for car rides and he see other dogs in other cars. His behavior when meeting or being introduced to another dog is driving us crazy. He is great with people and once he gets to know another dog, then he is fine. It is just that first meeting with another dog and he goes nuts!! Also when he is on a leash and another dog approaches him in a friendly manner, he becomes defensive and aggressive towards the other dog. It makes us nervous to take him out for walks in fear that he will run across another dog. I have read a lot about socializing puppies with other dogs, but I can't find much about socializing an adult dog with other dogs. Do you have any advice? We have tried spraying him with a water bottle, but this does no good. It is almost like he is in a trance when he sees a new dog.

[grammadidi]

I would strongly suggest you attend obedience classes with him. Also, if you know people with dogs, I would purposely set up 'chance meetings' while you are walking him. As the other dog approaches, I would have both dogs commanded to sit. (By the way, the sit command well-learned with no tolerance for disobedience is a great tool.) I would then actually drop the leashes (I would use long leashes for this exercise) and give them the command 'Okay! Go play!' and just let them sort it out for themselves. If either dog becomes aggressive, you have the leashes available to control it, but I would only use them if there is true violence. Often dogs meeting each other and trying to establish some kind of dominance will make lots of noise, but usually it results in play.

Hope this helps.

Hugs, Didi

[grammadidi]

Oh, I wanted to add... usually it's the owner's own fear that can cause a dog to react aggressively. Really, though, obedience training will help socialize him AND deal with this issue. He really needs to know that you are in control and he doesn't have to worry.

Hugs, Didi

[RubyPitbull]

Well bk, now you know the reason why your dog was surrendered to a shelter. He obviously has an aggression problem with other dogs. Didi is right in that the more distressed you get by this, the more it will heighten your dog's aggression. I would suggest that you speak to either the shelter, your vet, neighbors, friends, pet store,. and gather the names of trainers who have had success training dogs that exhibit aggressive behavior. It is much easier to be shown exactly what you need to do to correct this negative behavior than to try to put into practice what any of us might try to explain to you. I personally would direct the dog into a (lie) down position rather than a sit and force him into focusing on me. You want him to get to the point where he will completely ignore distractions and just focus on you when you are walking him. Being in the down position, with you standing over him, will reinforce your role as the pack leader. Labman has some good information regarding leadership that I am sure he will post once he sees my response. You also might want to invest in a Gentle Leader Easy Walk Harness. It gives you much more control over the dog's movements than a regular leash and collar and won't choke him. You can hook the leash to both the harness and his collar to ensure that he doesn't get loose. The harness puts him into a permanent heel position.Easy Walk Harness

[bkummer]

Thanks for the response. He has been through a Beginning Obedience school and he did great. He was much better by the end of the classes, but the class was more focused on teaching the dog basic commands and not socializing with other dogs. Do you know if a lot of obedience schools offer classes that focus on dogs socializing with other dogs?

[RubyPitbull]

I would suggest speaking with the trainers at the obedience classes what they offer. They may suggest a specialized one on one training session or they may have classes directed toward this particular problem.

[bkummer]

He was originally brought to the shelter as a puppy by someone who found him, his mother and his litter mates in a ditch on the side of the road. He was then adopted for a year by a single woman who lived in an apartment and already had one dog. We were told that she surrenndered him back to the shelter because he grew to be a big dog, too big for her small apartment and had too much energy for her to give him a lot of attention because she worked long hours. We try to get him to focus on us or something else if we see the other dog before he does, and this works if he never sees the other dog. But if he does he goes into this state where he does not listen to any commands that he knows, completely ignores us, and yelps like crazy.

[grammadidi]

I would suggest speaking with the trainers at the obedience classes what they offer. They may suggest a specialized one on one training session or they may have classes directed toward this particular problem.

Your vet could be a valuable resource too. Usually they know which trainers are best suited to handle different types of issues.

Didi

[RubyPitbull]

Bk, the shelter told you what the woman told them. It may be that he became aggressive with her other dog or she had the issue that you have with other dogs and she found it easier to just give him up rather than work on correcting the issue. Whatever the reason, she surrendered him, and he has a problem. Patience and determination to resolve his issues are the key. Every surrender that I deal with has an issue. If one training technique doesn't work, I look for the one the does. That is what you need to do. Try, try, try. Forget about the water bottle. It is a negative correction method and will only teach him to be fearful of the water bottle and very likely the hand that is attached to it. Establish yourself as the leaders of the pack and don't give up. As I said, if Labman sees my posts, I expect that he will give you his info on establishing yourself as leader of the pack. If he doesn't show up by tomorrow morning, I will search for it and post it here for you. Something to keep in mind that is very important in training -- if one trainer's technique doesn't work, find another one. The biggest training problems I have had were with my own rescue. She was a nightmare. A 5 or 6 month old pitbull without any training whatsoever. Sometimes I felt that I would never find the right corrections but I was determined to unlock the puzzle and resolve the issues with positive reinforcement only. I didn't want to correct the negatives with other negatives and have an unstable dog. I went through 5 different "trainers" took what I felt I could use from each one of them and when I hit an issue that the trainer of the day couldn't help me with, I found another one with another method. Now, she is over 5 years old and people stop us all the time and comment on how well behaved she is. She is currently in training to be a pet therapy dog. At the moment, I am dealing with a very stubborn Jack Russell that was dumped on my property. So, my time here lately is limited. My point is that you now have the dog and you have made a commitment to him. Don't worry about what you were told and what happened in the past. Work on finding the best solution to the current problem at hand.

[labman]

The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete For more on being top dog, see Establishing and Keeping Alpha Position, Letting your dog know you are the boss

It isn't uncommon for a dog that did well in an obedience class to still feel it is in charge. What they learn in some classes is how to manipulate you into giving them treats. Classes need to be about the owner, not the dog. I first learned this years ago when my daughter took our second dog to 4-H. Although it was the dog's first year, the leaders put them in the second year, because my daughter already knew the first year stuff. Of course, we had the dog for about 5-6 months, and he already knew most of his commands.

One thing that any obedience class does help is staying on task around other dogs. I would think the class would have helped more. Think back to what you did in class to keep him on task. Often when you are walking, you can spot the other dog before your dog does. Give a mild pop of the leash and start talking to him. Keep his attention on you. Then if you can't keep his attention, stop and down stay as in the other answers. If he remains quiet until the other dog passes, lavish praise on him and maybe a treat.

[jillianleab]

bk I just wanted to post to tell you you are not alone with this problem. My mom has a dog (a lab) who is a rescue and she reacts the same way to other dogs as you mention. When you say she goes nuts and won't listen to commands, I know what you mean! It's like they are in a trance and nothing will bring them out of it. My mom's dog has pulled her over, ripped the leash from her hand and run clear across the park to go after another dog (she just chases, she has never bitten). If she sees me coming with my dog and doesn't immediately know who we are she gets into an aggressive stance and charges. You aren't alone, but hopefully you will be able to fix this problem (my mom just gets mad and won't do anything about it, but that's another story) with the advice given above. Regardless, you aren't the only one with a dog who behaves this way! Best of luck to you.

[froggy7]

I am going to second everyone else's suggestion to find a good trainer. In this particular case, you may even want to look into a behaviorist instead of just a standard training class. What you want is someone who will analyze your interaction with the dog, and see what you are doing to reinforce the aggressive behavior (probably without even realizing it), so that you can figure out how to change it. And they should be able to give you some suggestions about how to socialize the dog.