Jumping, unable to calm down, lunging at other dogs

[Breanna D]

Fitz turned 1 year old in May, so I know he is still young, but I also expect more out of him based on the many hours of work I've put in. He is very food motivated, so it was very easy to train the basic commands. He had these commands fairly well, but I enrolled in an obedience class because I knew he needed distractions and I wanted us to have some socialization.

When we entered the class, you would have thought he had never seen another human or dog. He just completely lost his cool. After about 15 weeks of weekly classes, we finally started to make progress with the lunging at the other dogs, which was done in playfulness, but still inappropriate, but no progress with staying calm when approached. We are on hiatus right now with his class until the fall. He actually passed the CGC test, but I am still not comfortable taking him to busy places and I have to be very aware of where we are walking and if there are people and other dogs around. I have noticed without being around other leashed dogs weekly, his lunging is coming back.

It is very hard to have people over because he does not calm down with people in our home. He jumps on them lime crazy off leash and lunges for them and about rips my arm off on leash. If we crate him, he barks insanely and at a constant rate (3 hours once), which is very odd because he is crate trained and we only have issues with him being in it if people are here.

I really need some advice on what to do to help him and myself overcome our issues. It's very heartbreaking to have such a sweet, lovable, easy going dog that is a joy with my husband and I, but a mess with others. We honestly have no one that believes us when we talk about how calm he is on the norm.

[Judith and Addie]

Breanna,

Right around the time my girl turned one yo, she became leash reactive to other dogs. She is also a fearful dog and reacts/ is frightened of things that change in her environment, like a traffic cone, garden statues, etc. Someone here suggested that I look at another group on Facebook for reactive dogs;  https://www.facebook.com/groups/reactivedogs/

I suggest you take a look at it and see if you can find some help there. They are a very supportive group.  One suggestion I have is that until you get a handle on his reactivity, you do the best you can to keep him away from things that cause him to react. You might also look at "Fight" by Jean Donaldson, or look into the books, etc.  by Dr. Sophia Yin.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

First of all, I can truly understand how difficult and frustrating this is.  I worked with various trainers and methods with my Murphy, and we had many of the same problems on walks.  In the house we had a plan which worked really well with visitors, but he was highly dog reactive on walks, and I always worried that I wouldn't be able to hold him.  I know for many people collar corrections have been effective in training the dog to walk well by their side even around distractions.  That didn't work at all with my Murphy.  With every different collar he became "collar wise" and the self-reinforcement of the reaction was more important to him than the correction.  We eventually learned that the only way to control these reactions was to prevent them.  I try to walk in places where there won't be a lot of dogs...especially unleashed.  When we're walking and see another dog I watch his body language and the minute I see him start to get excited I turn him around, put him in a sit, and we wait for the dog to pass.....of course he knows the dog is there but if he can't see him he doesn't react.  I hold a treat the whole time and when the dog has gone by without a reaction he gets it  I'm always walking two dogs together, so initially it was tricky to pull this off but I worked with a trainer who really helped me to stay calm and in control, and we haven't experienced a dog reaction in close to a year.  I had to give up thinking that he could ever calmly walk by other dogs and go to places like Petco....he's not that kind of dog.  I now accept that....he's an awesome boy in every other way.  As for people coming into the house....if I'm expecting them I put both dogs in a down/stay about 12 ft away from the front door.  When the visitor comes in if they "break", I take their collar and put them right back and we start again.  The visitor is told not to look at them or acknowledge them in any way.  I don't release them until the visitor is seated, and then I watch for excitement which means they go right back to their down/stay.  If I'm expecting several guests I leave them gated upstairs until the visitors are in and settled.  At that point when I release them they're usually fine....they've learned if they jump or get too excited they'll go back upstairs.  In spite of all of this Murphy also managed to pass his CGC, but that is because the testing environment was so controlled and it was in a place he was used to training.

[Theresa and Doodle Dagny]

Excellent advice!  Thank you Jane!

I do the same with guests at home.  She has to be in the down position in her crate.  I leave the door open.  If she comes out without being "released," I put her back in and we start over until she becomes uninterested (maybe 10 minutes).  But, the hardest thing has been the walk.  She's worse on a walk than she is when she's loose in the dog park.  She tries to jump on everyone while on leash and wants to play with every dog that goes by.  Thanks for the great tips!

[Christy&Riley]

I completely relate to your last paragraph! Riley is 2 and goes nuts when we encounter people and dogs. Not aggresive mean...just aggressive to greet them and lick them to death. Our family and friends have seen her eventually calm down in our house but the neighbors we pass on walks never see it. Some even walk on the other side of the median to keep their distance. I feel like the parent with the out of control kid in a fancy restaurant sometimes. :-(

My guess is that she might do better if she had more play time with other dogs but we just don't have time to take her to day care. For now I try to avoid people on walks (or at least keep my distance) and try to keep using the stuff the trainer taught us (stay calm, don't let people pet her unless she sits, etc).

One thing that sort of works is if I have Riley sit when the people are still a good distance away. Of course when they reach to pet her she jumps up and goes nuts but at least I'm not dragged to them. I'm hoping she grows out of this but I'm starting to accept that this might just be her personality. And as I type she is sprawled out at my feet like a nice sweet dog. If only they could see us now! (Well, that is when I'm not in my pj's still. LoL)

[Jen]

I can so relate to this! Our little guy is such a sweetheart and well-behaved at home with us, but in public, he's out of control! He just gets so overly excited. Definitely lunges and now that he's bigger and stronger, we worry that he could unintentionally hurt me or others. It's hard for us to avoid people and dogs since we live in NYC and they're everywhere. The few tactics I've tried have had a 50% success rate - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Turning and walking away sometimes works, but other times, he will practically break his neck trying to slow down and look back. It's kind of funny/pathetic. Making him sit and attempting to block his view of the other dog also sometimes works, but again, there are times when he just won't listen. Going on walks with him is rarely relaxing or enjoyable because of this :(

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Oh I can understand your frustration.  I have the benefit of having lots of places where we can walk with little chance of meeting other dogs.  It must be very difficult living in a major city.  If we do see another dog and he starts to react I also will turn and walk the other way...I quickly grab a treat from my pocket and hold it until we get away.  That breaks his focus on the other dog and when we're at a safe distance I give it to him.  That works unless the other dog is also barking and lunging.