Does Anyone Have A Dog Reactive Doodle?

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Those in the training group know that Murph is very dog reactive.  It's something that we've been working on for over a year.  Today we were talking to our trainer about what may have caused this initially and he mentioned that he's now working with quite a few Doodles and none of them have the same type of reactiveness that we see in Murphy.  He said they are usually excitable and "react" when they see another dog because they just want to get to that dog to play.  There is nothing dominant of aggressive in this....they are just pulling or lunging out of pure excitement. With training he said this is very easy to correct.  Murphy's reaction is completely different....he is fearful of the other dog and so he has been reacting negatively and even with aggression.  He has no interest in getting to the other dog to "play"....there is no wagging tail. Over the past few weeks he's been able to walk by other dogs without a reaction but it is so apparent that he is very afraid.  He tries to get as close to me as he possible can....which I can't allow because that won't help his confidence at all in the long run.  He is great in Daycare which is a whole different context for him.  Most importantly I am not there, and there are lots of dogs so he can't fixate on any one.  We've been trying to determine what happened to Murph to cause this, and maybe there was nothing....it could just be "hard wired".  We'll probably never know.  I'm just wondering if anyone else has a Doodle with this problem.  I'm putting the discussion here versus in the training group just to try to get a broader audience.  After our discussion today with the trainer I started to think that I've never heard of another Doodle here on DK with the same problem as Murphy. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I almost didn't come into this discussion because so far this does not pertain to me.  But I did have a dog who was reactive with people.  I had no idea what person or when.  Just suddenly something set her off.  It could be instant or hours later.  Was it the smell, the hand movements, the voice, the heights or sex of the person?  Or was she sick?  Maybe even sick and  had aversions to smells or sounds?  Dunno. Impossible and frustrating to work with sometimes.

I do know, that once it started, it was entirely impossible to change the dogs mind.  They do not reason.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

On another note, I noticed Jane mentioned Murphy did not like sounds~ music.  Starlit did not like sounds or lighting and often motion.   Does this push some dogs over the edge?  Their heighten senses?

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

You're right Joanne.  He's very frightened by some sounds.  He acts like he's having some kind of "fit"...running around and shaking his head. I know not to get near him when he's like this.  I wonder. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

With Jack, if the other dog coming down the street on-leash ignores him, he will often not react at all. Worst cases are where the other dog barks first, or stares at him.

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

Ollie is the same way.  It is almost like he won't back down from a challenge (bark or look from the other dog) and like he is saying "hey, yeah, I'm here...you want a piece of me?" but if the other dog is quiet then Ollie will only stare and walk at attention (head held up high and body kind of stiff) but at least then I can keep him moving.

[Joanna, Zoe & Bender]

Hi Amy, I know this is an old discussion but I wanted to read more about Murphy and discussion comments concerning his behavior.  Bender does the exact thing that Ollie does on walks and only barks at the other dog if they bark first.  Has he improved since you made this comment?  If so, I would love to know how and what helped.

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

we now have him wear a pinch collar on walks to help with his leash pulling and a quick correction on the collar also helps to get his focus off the other dog much more quickly. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I really wonder if Starlit's fear of being alone in the car may have triggered a protective instinct in Spud and that's why he's reacting this way now.  I do think that there are some dogs who emit an energy that other dogs don't like....the problem is Murph doesn't like any of them (unless he's in Daycare).

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

When Ned is in the car by himself (and us) he never barks at people or dogs he sees, but when the other dogs are in the car also, he does - just protecting the pack I guess, but I still do not like it.

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

Hunter is somewhat opposite in when she is reactive but she is also reactive and fearful.  On a leash she is normally fine, very excitable, wants to get to another dog or person to greet or play.  Only once has she been aggressive on the leash when we were camping and the person walking towards us had 5 (yes 5!) of those bald Chinese Crescent dogs and they were extremely aggressive and reactive pulling towards anyone and everyone.  

However, the dog park is another story.  If there are several male dogs she will get very fearful and aggressive, its gets worse when the number of dogs increases.  If we go to the dog park and there are say 3 or 4 other dogs and females with the males she is totally fine.  We didn't go to the dog park that often to begin with and honestly, bad of me, I haven't done much about it :-(  

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I don't know how Murphy would react in this situation...it's something I've avoided.  I'm guessing it would be pretty ugly though, since he won't let another dog in our house.

[DeeDee and Sheila]

Does Murph enjoy doggie daycare when you aren't there?  Sheila is reactive to dogs and people.  I think she has PTSD from her leg operation soooo early.  7 mos. remember.  Sheila will play for a little while w/ my dads Silky (who is now also dog reactive and just sits on Elaine's lap when they go to dog park).  I socialized the hec out of Sheila, had a trainer come in, etc.  But she is what she is.  Luckily, she likes doggie daycare and I take her once a week to KEEP it that way.  She even wants to bark (not nicely) at children in cars that are waving at her.  I think that something happened to Murph before you got him, when he was very young.  Didn't even have to be another dog.  Fear is fear.  Just my two cents.