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ASK THE TRAINER ARTICLES [click here to see a list of all articles]

Excitability Around Other Dogs  [Print This Article]. Published in the October 2008 Colorado Greyhound Adoption Newsletter.

Rather than responding to a question in this article, I will discuss one of my own dogs. I adopted a Smooth Collie in October 2001. He had a myriad of issues, including: a severe sensitivity to high-pitched noises, which included squeaky toys; fear of children, particularly several, noisy, and/or fast-moving children; fear of any and all types of balls; fear of anything dropping or flying through the air or moving over his head; excitability around other dogs to the point he was nearly unmanageable; stereotypic behaviors such as obsessively grooming/licking his front legs, particularly when stressed; general inability to completely relax; barking/stress response to anything in his environment that was novel or seemed out-of-the-ordinary to him. Whew! I think I covered all of it.

In this article, I will discuss his excitability around other dogs. We walked twice a day. Whenever we would encounter another dog, he was completely unresponsive to me. He shut out everything in his environment except for that other dog. He was not aggressive, but simply wanted to meet the other dog. He could put a lot of force behind his seventy pounds! Although he was friendly and an adult, his dog social skills were completely lacking and he behaved very much like an adolescent dog. Unfortunately, many dogs will react badly to these poor social skills, since they can be interpreted by other dogs as confrontational. His body, head, ears and eyes were all directed straight forward at the other dog and his weight was leaning forward as a result of pulling on the leash. From the other dog’s perspective, this looks a lot like a dog who could be looking for trouble. It didn’t matter that my dog didn’t want a fight, because he could easily cause one to start depending on how the other dog reacted to him. 

We started by working without other dogs around. He learned to check in with me, sit, and walk beside me. When we were ready, we started working at a considerable distance from the other dogs so that I could still maintain his attention. It helped that he was highly food-motivated! He learned to check in and focus on me, and walk beside me so there was no straining on the leash. As we gradually were able to approach other dogs, I used what he’d learned to help him make more appropriate approaches toward other dogs. Rather than walking straight at the other dog, we walked in an arc with his attention on me rather than staring at the other dog. Sometimes we sat with him facing to the side or away from the other dog, but never directly facing the other dog. When we were able to start greeting other dogs, I helped him to keep some focus on me as we angled in from the side, so they could sniff butts first and not meet face-to-face initially. Face-to-face contact can be a bit too much for many dogs until they’ve had a chance to check out the other dog first.

After quite a bit of work, he became my demonstration dog in my training and behavior consulting business. He was the dog who came with me to work with clients whose dogs also had poor social skills or were even aggressive toward other dogs. He would not react to aggressive displays by dog-aggressive dogs. I could call him away from a group of class dogs. I could ask him to come, stay, and walk nicely with me among other things in a class setting with several other dogs watching him. They all thought he was such a well-behaved dog that had no issues with other dogs. Little did they know how he started out!

Sometimes the issues we face with our dogs seem overwhelming. There is so much work to be done that it seems easier to just keep them away from other dogs, strangers, or whatever other issues they have trouble handling. But if we build a positive, loving relationship with them, and do not resort to punishment out of our own frustration, we can accomplish great things. And they will love us all the more for it!

This article is dedicated to Joxer. Due to his rapidly deteriorating health, we said goodbye on August 9, 2008.

PRODUCTS [click here to see all items on our Recommended Products webpage]

Katie's Bumpers - STUFF 'N FETCH IT! and Bottle Tracker. These toys are not made for your dog to play with by him/herself, but make great toys to interact with you. Their products are made from Tough Fire Hose from Pre-consumer Recycled Materials. These two products have a velcro closure so you can put treats, scented material, or - in the base of the Bottle Tracker - a plastic bottle. Dogs seem to love the crinkly sound of plastic bottles but this allows it to be safely stored in a toy so your dog can't chew up the bottle. I like being able to put smelly treats in these to work with dogs on leave it, loose leash walking past distractions, or as a tossed reward to chase over an agility jump - but the dog can't get the treats out, only you can open it up and reward your dog.

OTHER

It's Me or the Dog TV Show on Animal Planet. Looking for something to watch on television? The TV show, It's Me or the Dog has moved to the United States and is now an hour-long show addressing problem behaviors in dogs. Victoria Stilwell, the trainer on the show, uses primarily positive reinforcement methods to help people address their dogs' problematic behaviors. If you're looking for something to watch, give this show a try! You can find more info on the Animal Planet website.

Please remember that we have a search engine specific to dogs, including training and behavior, events, pictures, and more. It will only search the web sites that we consider to have relevant and quality content and we will continue to add more sites as we find them. This tool is located on our website. Click here to use it.

Sue and Ed
720.279.4663
http://www.lovemydogtraining.com