I need a new way to build Whippy's confidence and solve her fear aggression.

[D0oinMeCleanin]

Background: She was very well socialised and perfect with other dogs until around two or so months ago when she was attacked, quite violently by a JRT. Fortunately she suffered only minor cuts and puncture wounds and did not any vet treatment.

Since then she has been very nervous around other dogs, particularly dogs who are smaller than her and especially small white dogs. If another dog approaches her when she is on lead she will snap towards them but not actually make any contact.

She is okay off lead. She will run away if another dog comes at her too quickly but she always runs to me where she feels more confident and is able to greet them or run again if they're too excitable for her.

What I am doing at the moment is distracting her by feeding her treats as another dog passes giving her the command look at me. When other people ignore us and take their dog past close to them it works a treat. Unfortunately at least once a walk someone will see fit to let their dog approach her regardless, which means she snaps and her training is set back. This way is taking far too long because of that. There must be another way that does not rely on the common sense of others?

Don't get me started on common sense of others

Put yourself in her position. You are frightened and anxious in a certain situation.

Lets say you are frightened by men wearing a red coat. We go out for a walk together and you get a glimpse of a man in a red coat. I instantly tell you not to look, don't look at the man in the red coat, look at me, don't whatever you do look at the man in the red coat. One of two things usually happens, either you think told you men in red coats are really scary see you won't even let me look at him or you will imagine the man in the red coat to be much more scary than he actually is. So all that tends to happen is that if I am with you when I see the really scary men in red coats I will look to you for reassurance but will not get over the fear of men in red coats.

If you where to reward calm mood when she sees the dogs, then she will realise that the dogs are not anything to worry about. so either work on look dog if she is not totally stressed by dogs or work on BAT if she is so upset she can not function close to dogs.

By encouraging her to look at dogs and then reward the calm behaviour that will actually changes her emotion to one of confidence and calm.

The fact that she is ok off lead shows that if she feels safe to back off she has no worries so her reward for look dog would be to walk further away from the dog and then treat.

When dogs approach you just look dog and walk away. You can teach a stop command. Which is a fab command for reactive dogs and will mean something different to the approaching dog. Most dogs if you put your hand up in the air and take a step towards them will stop. What you need to teach your girlie is when you put your hand up and say stop to walk behind you. Clicker and treat for this

So dogs approaching off lead and too close to your dog. You put your hand up and say stop, your dog moves behind you, the approaching dog will pause enough for you to turn and walk away. I just love that command

I've read about BAT but I am not completely confident that I understand it.

What happens is when she spots another dog, her attention is immediately on the dog and nothing else but she remains fairly relaxed until the dog starts getting closer.

Once within a few meters she starts slowing down but her body language remains fairly neuteral, although not relaxed, she gives no clear "I'm not happy"signals at this point. After a few seconds of this she will freeze totally. Her body drops low to the ground and her head and tail are held low. She will start walking in arch, with her ultimate aim being to come up behind the other dog and sniff it's behind, after which she calms down again.

Obviously I can only let her do this if I know the other owner and I know the other dog and owner well or if she is off lead.

If I try BAT am I right thinking I'd treat just before she freezes and then turn and walk away until she seems relaxed again?

Atm once she freezes I step to the side of the path, call her close to me and then loom dog and treat as the the other dog passes.

The other dogs who approach are on lead, their owners just let them pull towards us. More often than not they're on extendable leads and so reach us a good few feet before their owner does.

The stop tip was really good. Thanks. I'll be using that from now on.

Have you tried catching it before she freezes, i.e. as soon as she has spotted the dog? (or maybe that's the same instant?). I do look dog as soon as Dog2 sees the other dog, and sometimes repeat it as the other dog gets closer. It's great because it breaks his stare. Also now that he knows a treat is coming and will turn to me for it, I sometimes drop the treat on the floor 'accidentally' so that he has to hunt for it. Several small treats work best. It provides a bit of extra distraction, and keeps his focus away from the other dog for longer. Also, seeing him sniffing the ground helps the other dog to calm down too.

I gave up trying to teach him to sit nicely while another dog walks by, because where I live, there are too many dogs that have to do that - and you can't both stand there, so I prefer to be the one who can walk by. Also that's ultimately what I want Dog2 to do. He is loads better but he still has a problem with the dogs that want to kill him.

Cuebill, that's a great idea with the stop command.

I am teaching 'look horse' at the moment.

With BAT you need to turn away just before threshold. Your dog will give very subtle signals before she freezes.

You may find it easier for someone else to hold her an you watch her reaction. (or get someone to video her reaction).Look for a very quick lip lick, she may try to avoid the dog and look everywhere else but at the dog, she may sniff, twitch her ears. It is a that point you instantly turn then when you have turned you can treat.

So the instant reward for the calm behaviour is increasing the distance.

If she goes to freeze mode you have left it too late but still turn away but maybe not treat.

You will begin to see her very subtle calming signals early on. BAT works very quickly as the dog begins to feel they have control in the situation which builds their confidence

Thanks Cuebill. I will try that tommorrow.

I tried something new today. We went to the off lead park and waited until I saw dogs I knew but she didn't. And waited. And waited. And then we stalked them and continued stalking them gradually decreasing the distance I was keeping until she felt confident enough to go over and greet.

When they left we stalked them again but on leash this time and she was fine.

I will try BAT for dogs she does not meet off lead.

She actually played with a JRT today and did not panic when another three came over, so hopefully we can build on this.

This is a really helpful thread. I'm trying to help foster dog with his fear aggression, and it's so ingrained that he whimpers and raises hackles when passing fences where "shouty dogs" barked at him and startled him two weeks ago even when the dog is no longer present. When he meets an actual dog, he's just beside himself. (But not all dogs. I can't work out why some dogs are triggers and some aren't) I've been practicing Sit - Down - Wait during walks and including places where he's reacting to the location or can hear a dog barking from a distance. I'm hoping that rewarding a relaxed posture in the presence of dog stimulus will help chill him out in the short term. But I need to look into BAT as well.