Dog Carrying On Like Pork Chop

[toy dog]

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Edited October 14, 2009 by toy dog

[Jigsaw]

You're probably better getting in contact and working with a trainer on this one. You need to find the point where your dog sees the other dog but doesn't loose it and then ask for a sit and calm behaviour. It's no use asking for a sit when the dog has lost it, not much is going to go into his brain at that point as the other dog is infinitely more attractive than anything you can do! A trainer would help you find the critical point and give you some other things you can do to help stop this sort of carry on.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I have done two things that I saw on a dog training show:

1. Turned and walked in the opposite direction

2. Turned meeting another dog into a positive experience - distract your dog by instructing your dog to sit, reward the dog and keep him occupied.

I had a dog that was on-lead aggressive but would also bark like crazy at buses, trucks, cyclists etc. The second method above worked beautifully for him and he started to be fine with these situations. Sadly he passed away soon after we were working on this. He was also super smart - a foxy cross.

[toy dog]

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Edited October 14, 2009 by toy dog

[persephone]

so i said that i would come over and watch and see what the trainers suggestions would be.

not a silly idea--- BUT the dogs are NOT clones, so may be exhibiting a similar behaviour for very different reasons :rolleyes:, and what works for her dog may make yours worse!

If your dog is large- then having a trainer to work with YOU is a very good option- they can assess the dog, and give you some sound strategies ,tailored for that particular dog.

[Littlebullydog]

Sounds like your dog doesnt see you as the 'leader', by the way he is ignoring you when you ask him to 'Leave It'.

The way in which you ask him to leave it, needs to more dominant -such as a lower, maybe even growlier voice.

Rather than putting your dog in a Sit position, try a Drop position - just by doing this you are asking the dog to be more submissive....do not stay down on the ground with him, stand up, if he gets up, put him back into the Drop position, stand up- but this time try putting your foot on the lead, so that he may only raise his head enough to be comfortable (so say 10cm for a small dog, 20cm for a medium and around 30cm for a large dog) You will still be holding the lead with your hand. At some stage he may lift his backend off the ground, pop it back down with your left hand, and tell him 'Leave It'. Let other dogs pass you by, only when he is relaxed then walk off...if he looks over his shoulder at the other dog, don't stop just keep walking straight ahead. If he gets excited by dogs behind fences that bark, walk past these houses and get him to 'Drop' again, only leave once he has relaxed and caled down. With each lesson, you should notice a slight difference, and before long you will find him taking less interest -as its not so much fun being the submissive one, when you want to meet other dogs :D

Also remember PRAISE, and the correct time to give it.

Edited July 11, 2008 by Littlebullydog

[toy dog]

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Edited October 14, 2009 by toy dog

[valby]

I've been doing alot of watch with my AmStaff. It seems to work well. He is very responsive to the treats. As soon as I see another dog approaching I ask Halston to watch and he sits and watches me (well the food held near my eyes). I keep his attention as long as I can, sometimes this means giving him the treat and asking for another watch, until the dog/person/thing has passed.

I'm trying to teach him that he doesn't get to stop and play with every dog going past.

[toy dog]

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Edited October 14, 2009 by toy dog

[toy dog]

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Edited October 14, 2009 by toy dog

[dee lee]

Sounds like your dog doesnt see you as the 'leader', by the way he is ignoring you when you ask him to 'Leave It'.

i don't know whether that can be related to submissive and dominant behaviour as he is very obedient and does what he is told, at home, i have a series of commands, back, drop, food (he eats his food when i say and not before) sit, bed, mat (to sit on the loungeroom mat not allowed to wander around aimlessly in the house unless we are there to supervise).

i think with him and alot of other dogs as im talking to other owners and it seems its a common problem, that they just focus on another thing and just forget you and anything else is there, nothing you say and do gets through.

Big Dog, my dog behaves like this.

She is a staffy x and is OBSESSED with other dogs, will leap towards them excitedly, is totally focused on them. Yet at home she will do anything I ask of her.

I struggle to understand how to assert MORE leadership. Personally Im working towards getting to obedience classes (easier said than done ), bit concerned that her behaviour might just escalate there though.

Anyway, no tips, Im in the same boat- just wanted to add my support. :D

[toy dog]

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Edited October 14, 2009 by toy dog

[toy dog]

*deleted*.

Edited October 14, 2009 by toy dog

[Wobbly]

My girl is obsessed with other dogs too, if I play with her and generally carry on like a pork chop myself, she will find me more exciting and ignore other dogs, but it's tiring for me to pretend to be a pork chop every time we see another dog, so I've got an appt with K9Force (omg it's the week after next, yay finally!) to effect a miracle or two.

Edited July 15, 2008 by Wobbly

[toy dog]

according to the program "its me or the dog" which is one of my alltime favs i have to add she advised someone to do that. mainly to recall the dog back though but it did work.

is it working wobbly being a pork chop? :cool: i did that at the last DOL meeting and i felt like a ninny but i must admit it did work somewhat.

[alanglen]

Perhaps a headcollar and a one on one training situation would be best, best wishes, I lived for years with an overly excited boy - you get some strange looks that can be hard to deal with.

[toy dog]

hi, yes, i do get him to wear a "halti" actually thats a headcollar. it does serve as a good tool to get him to heel nicely by my side. but others have said that you aren't training the dog. the minute the halti is taken off he starts pulling again, so i've trained him to "heel" and he will step back and if he goes ahead too much i stop and make him sit and we start again.

worked a treat. usually if he has his halti on and he sees another dog, he will still go nuts and try and get out of the thing.

[persephone]

BIGDOG- I will suggest that advice given on here- without anyone seeing the body language of your dog- or how you and the dog communicate- is only guessing.

You and your boy would , I believe, get a lot of benefit from a good trainer visiting you, and working thru the problem.

You are trying to sort it- which is good- so why not arm yourself with the knowledge and experience you will get from a 'real-life' trainer?

There are so many variables- dog-distracted dogs are all individual, and should be worked with as such.

I almost said a big dog who is so distracted could be a cause for accident- but then I realised he is 'only' 25 kg- not a big dog at all,really! :cool:

Edited July 15, 2008 by persephone

[Wobbly]

is it working wobbly being a pork chop? i did that at the last DOL meeting and i felt like a ninny but i must admit it did work somewhat.

Yeah it totally works - it reduces the critical distance right down to about 5 metres if we're really caught up in a good tug o war, but it's very labour intensive - I have to really work the tug toy and use a lot of voice to keep her focus on me & the tug instead of the oncoming dog/s. It's reliable but too tiring so it's not my ideal solution.

I would really like for her to be completely indifferent to other dogs, because the dog beach is only 5mins from my house and it's a lovely spot, but our walks there are too exhausting because there is so many other dogs - either I play with her to distract her, or she pulls and lunges toward other dogs like a locomotive, and she is STRONG - either way is equally tiring, although the playing is fun, it's irksome to HAVE to do it whenever there's other dogs.

[denis_c]

"Yeah it totally works - it reduces the critical distance right down to about 5 metres if we're really caught up in a good tug o war, but it's very labour intensive - I have to really work the tug toy and use a lot of voice to keep her focus on me & the tug instead of the oncoming dog/s. It's reliable but too tiring so it's not my ideal solution. "

I think that there are some interesting keys to solving this issue. First one is to learn to relax, and often the heavy talk of leadership and how or how you aren't being a leader can send anxiety levels very high and make the situation even worse!

There are several ways of solving this issue. Most involve some reading of pretty subtle body language from the dog. It is really important to make contact with a good trainer either privately or at a club. Personally, I think it is counter productive to solve these kind of issues over the internet. Vcitoria Stillwell when she is working the dogs is intervening just before the behaviour happens. Most novice trainers don't.