Need A Trainer For A Puppy With Dog On Dog Issues

[Doomsdad]

Hi everybody, long time lurker, first time commenter...

I have an 11 month old Aussie bulldog puppy who has been having trouble getting along with other dogs. When he was very young, I mostly tried to keep him focused on me at all times when around other dogs because right from the start he always would get overly excited and start going crazy when around other dogs.

When he was about 5 months old, I went away for a few days for work and my flatmate took him to a friends house that has two young Staffies. He and the staffy were trugh housing and apparently it turned to a fight where my pup was bitten on the ear (it broke skin). When I got back from the trip he wasn't his usual happy go lucky self and he moped around the house for a few days. Since then, whenever I take him anywhere, he absolutely flips out the second he sees another dog. It starts with him getting excited and going into absolute tunnel vision, and then he just fixates on the other dog and starts barking and trying to either run over to the dog or lunge at it. Sometimes I can tell that it's just excitement rather than fear but his inability to control himself seems to rub most dogs the wrong way and it can lead to some tense situations.

I've tried a few different things to try to fix this problem from clicker training, tiring him out before walks, trying to desensitise him on leash at the dog park, distraction with his favourite toy or food, the "open bar" approach among others. I would like for him to learn how to be calm and focused around others dogs and also to learn to "speak dog" when meeting strangers. At this point I think he just lacks any dog social skills and it's severely limiting my ability to get him the exercise and fresh air he needs. I should also mention that I live out in Bondi and there are dogs everywhere so I really need him to be able to act normal.

I've thought about doing some boarding and training for this issue because I thought that maybe spending time with a pack could allow him to be desensitised to being around other dogs because it won't always be so exciting if he spends a couple of weeks around lots of dogs. He spent a week at Lamarra Kennels a couple of months ago when I was overseas but he didn't seem to come back any better with other dogs.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to deal with this issue? I'd like to either send him off for a week or two to get some proper socialisation or get a private trainer to come work with us for a few sessions.

Again, I don't believe that it's only an aggression thing. He's a huge softie but I think sometimes he can be a bit anxious and overexcited which can quickly set him or other dogs off. Somewhere along the lines allowed him to develop some bad habits and I want to get this under control now so that he can have a nice, stable social life.

Thanks for any suggestions,

Doomsdad

[persephone]

Welcome to you & your boy.

Well Done on dropping by to seek advice - a very sensible decision , given you have a young ,strong male with which to deal.

first off, I will suggest you contact one of the best ! k9 pro . CLICK HERE

excerpt :

The following is from Steve's Website .

Socialisation? What is it exactly?

13/02/2013Aggression, Dog Behaviour Articles, General Dog Related Articles, listed, Obedience Training Articles, Puppy Development38 Comments

Thirty years ago I remember being told that if you wanted a good guard dog, you don't let anyone near it, you start with a territorial dog, don't socialize it and it will be a fierce guard dog.

If you looked at that dog as an adult, it would be a mix of fear, territorial aggression, rank aggression and uncertainty. It probably has learned that being aggressive and biting gets rid of people, maintains territorial control and relieves pressure.

On the other end of the scale, the responsible dog owners and breeders of that time were pushing "socialisation" to ensure your dog was friendly.

So when people got a puppy they were told to socialise it. When they asked the breeder what that was, the common answer was to take the dog out and expose it to everything.

Make it love everyone and everything including other dogs.

Lets understand that this era was predominantly governed by training styles that reflected Bill Koehlers methods. Many check chains / compulsion / pressure methods were floating around then so whilst people may have been openly socialising their dogs, the training of that time was designed around correcting drive out of the dog.

Come forward 30 years and the common message of "socialise" is still going strong, but training methods have certainly changed. Many people no longer suppress drive in their dogs and many more select dogs for higher levels of drive.

So now we have dogs with more power, speed and determination but no suppression methods in sight.

Right or wrong?

Well I believe training in drive is the best training method world wide, and this means preserving all the drive you can and using no suppression at all. So training I believe has definitely evolved the right way, but what about "socialisation"?

Is exposing your dog to everything and every dog still the way?

For a long time I have believed that it isn't, but that doesn't mean I think the dogs should be left unsocialised either.

First let me explain what I think socialisation is: -

In my view socialisation is: exposing your dog to something new and assigning a value to it.

Value? What does that mean ?

So look at this scale below, it shows the value system I use to rate values of experiences.

Socialisation Value Scale

When a dog has been exposed to other dogs and has been allowed to gain a high emotional value for them, they become a huge distraction that can be hard to compete with or even maintain control around.

Another consideration is that when you are taking your puppy to places to actively socialise it you may strike an aggressive dog that will attack your pup. Other than the risk of physical damage the psychological damage that can occur can be impossible to totally rectify.

When your puppy matures it will likely be fear aggressive toward other dogs due to having a high negative emotional value for dogs.

So again, what is the answer?

For many years I have been advising people to neutralise their pups.

In actual fact neutralisation IS socialisation, just not aiming at the high positive emotional values many people do. I call it neutralisation to pull people up and get them to pay attention to the differences in my programs.

I advise "controlled exposure", aiming at a low "rational" value of others dogs, adults and children.

This controlled exposure also applies to the owner. The dog learns the highest value for the owner via games and bonding that encapsulate the dog's genetic attributes whilst including some training that includes the dog being somewhat independent and not anxious when the owner leaves for work.

I have designed this program after doing hundreds if not thousands of Behaviour Consults in which the problems have been created when unlimited exposure has been allowed.

Having a dog that has a low rational value for other dogs, people and children, makes maintaining obedience around these distractions much easier. There never is a desire for your child loving dog to belt up to a child and inadvertently knock the child down or frighten them.

If you are not aware, an action such as this can see your dog be Declared Dangerous (read my article on this topic here), no matter how well intended your dog may have been. Rushing a person or animal is enough to put you on the wrong side of council and your dog can end up on the wrong side of a life sentence of heavy restrictions.

Edited July 6, 2014 by persephone

[Staffyluv]

Great advice Pers.

I have used Steve's services for training issues and Zig did hold other dogs in high value - until we used Steve's methods.

Now we can go to the dog park and Zig is happy to play with me - he only wants to play with me now.

I was amazed at the change from a dog that had iffy recall and if other dogs were running, I had no chance of getting him to come back. Now I have a dog with very good recall and he is happy to say hello to dogs that come up to him but he is more interested in what game we are playing next.

I am down near Canberra and we drove the few hours to Steve's place in Sydney. We also had an 8 week follow up program.

Using Steve's program changed our lives with Zig.

[Doomsdad]

Thanks.

I actually read Steve's article there a few months back. I've lurked on the forum pretty much since I got him and the consensus seems to be that he's the guys to see.

The only issue for me is that I have no transportation out there. I guess I would be possible to maybe rent one of those share cars and take him out there...

Is there any chance one of you could share the costs of using Steve's services? I'm committed to doing whatever it takes to help him through this but having spent many thousands the last few months on various training sessions and tools, a ball park figure would be nice so I can se e if it's within my budget before contacting Steve.

Does anyone else have any experience with other trainers that can do in-home training? Because we're always out in the neighbourhood (a very high distraction environment given how busy Bondi is at pretty much all times), I think it could benefit us both to get some guidance while working under in that environment. Plus given my lack of transportation options it might be more sensible for me to that that route.

Thanks again!

[persephone]

How about contacting Steve - THEN you will know costs and difficulties ..and can make plans based upon that info ... :)

[Doomsdad]

Thanks I will contact Steve.

If anyone else has any other recommendations for in home training that would be great so I can weigh up my options.