Posted about her before..
My dog is not comfortable around other dogs, on sighting them she becomes very ‘alert’, tail up, ears forward, very still.
Or sometimes alternatively will lie down.
Will try very hard to approach normally, lowers her tail, goes for a normal sniff greeting but freaks out and starts growling at them, but is capable of being nice, playing, has a few doggy friends.
My dog walker has no concerns either.
After a few nipping incidents (mostly against her friends!) I researched her bad behaviour more thoroughly and contacted a behaviourist.
financially I couldn’t afford what the behaviourist was asking for but I bought a muzzle and have been mostly avoiding contact with dogs opting to walk past them while eating treats instead and calling her for treats the second I see the tail going up.
She has made great progress in that she now spots strange dog, returns to me for biscuit and walks happily munching even with strange dog right up next to her.
Today though....
We had an ‘incident’.
She found a ball and we met a young puppy in the field which had LOTS of dogs in it socialising nicely.
Puppy behaved, like a puppy, racing round, trying to pull the ball out her mouth and she behaved like she usually does when she has a toy and completely and utterly ignored puppy except for a few growls when puppy was trying to rip ball out of her mouth.
All very good.
Then it happened, there were lots of dogs on the field, pup had got her ball and she was following him to get it back when a big white dog approached her.
They went to sniff and for no apparent reason she freaked out, loudly!
So loudly and suddenly that other owners gasped and the puppy owner who was talking to me stopped abruptly.
She didn’t nip or bite him or anything, just noise but it’s so embarrassing and frightening in case she does, god forbid bite one day.
I already have a few owners who actively avoid us due to her bad behaviour...
She just can’t handle such close contact.
Even when she plays (rarely) she will only play chase, dare her playmate actually touch her she will freak out.
If I keep on doing what I am doing, with the treats will she eventually be able to greet normally do you think??
I don’t need her to be a social butterfly, I am happy to mostly avoid other dogs but it would be nice for her to be able to encounter another dog without growling or snarling...
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The doghouse
Reactive dog at close range
10 replies
Snappymcsnappy · 04/10/2018 00:06
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