Any advice on how to stop my dog barking at other dogs on walks?

[GentlyGentlyOhDear]

My shih tzu has had a couple of incidents when he was a puppy and more recently where another dog has gone for him or really spooked him. First one, he was on lead and an off-lead great dane came over and picked him up by the neck and started shaking him, the second, about a year ago, both dogs were on lead, but the on-lead staffy suddenly turned and snapped at him as we were walking past and ripped some of his fur out.

I think both of these incidents have made ddog (and ME!!) very anxious when he's out on his lead. He used to crazily bark and whine at any dog in sight, trying to get to it. I've been trying to desensitize him by giving him treats and distracting him as soon as we see a dog, which has worked to some extent. He is absolutely fine with some dogs - will have a sniff and quietly walk past, but other dogs, he will sniff, then suddenly 'jump' at them in the head and start barking. He doesn't seem to be trying to attack them, but I've never seen another dog do the headbutt thing, so not sure what that is about. And it seems quite random to me which dogs he is ok with (very few!) and which he will take exception to - except black dogs he seems to have a great dislike for.

I let him off-lead and let him play with a couple of dogs I know are ok and he gets on with and he is absolutely fine, running around chasing and playing, but I am on edge the whole time in case an unknown dog comes along and I need to swiftly get him on lead before he sees it.

Any wise mumsnetters have any advice on how I can gradually socialize him and make our walks less stressful and more enjoyable?!

Is he on lead when he does 'the headbutt thing'? If he is then he could be just frustrated that he can't get 'out' of the lead to play. My dog does this. She can meet one dog off lead and be fine, meets the same dog on lead and decides to kick off with high pitched barking and snapping until she's let off lead and goes merrily into play.

Interested to hear what people have to say about this as my dog is similar, but more nervous excitement rather than aggression. If she's allowed to say hello she's ok, as long as the other dog then doesn't pester her, but if she isn't allowed to approach she barks and whines. Sorry I haven't got an answer for you though op!

Yes he is on lead when he does it - then starts barking and a very high-pitched whine - very embarrassing. I was a bit concerned that it was a 'warning' or something to the dog, but he doesn't seem to do it off lead at all.

Sounds similar to mine, much worse if she's on her halti (which she often is as I'm not supposed to walk her without it). I think it's because she feels constrained and can't play and rather than blame me, blames the other dog. We're quite lucky though in that I only have to put her on lead for about 20m (to get past shouty school children) before getting onto a huge field where she is let off so encounters on-lead with other dogs are rare. If anyone has any advice though, I'd love to hear it!

When I got my rescue dog he was very barky and growly at other dogs even if they were a long distance away. The rehoming centre advised to give him a treat every time we saw another dog to give him a good association, but I never found that helped as he was always too wound up. What they did explain which I found helpful is that the dog has a physical comfort zone for any thing; dog, unknown person etc- a minimum distance they are comfortable with something which makes them nervous being to them. As they become acclimatized, the size of circle decreases. So the aim is to keep the "thing" outside the zone, and then gradually the size of the zone will reduce, until there is no zone.

What I found worked was to take him to a doggy place with a big open space and play with his ball (off lead) with dogs at a distance. I would have to ask people to keep their dogs at a distance at this stage - most did so as soon as asked, if they didn't I didn't worry about it if their dog got barked or growled at as I had explained that they should not let their dog approach mine. Then gradually (over several weeks) I allowed other dogs closer until eventually dogs were coming up and sniffing my dog and he ignored them and just kept playing.

At some point he then stopped ignoring the other dogs and now approaches them and interacts happily, on the whole - sometimes there is a bit of a skirmish but nothing more than a bark, and in fact now he is very sociable with other dogs when he hasn't got his ball and runs around playing with some - if he has his ball he would rather just play with me.

This worked because he is so obsessed with playing with his ball, but I suppose anything else your dog loves might help (game, food). I think it helped that I did it intensively every day for a while. I never did anything specific with him on his lead, but found one I had done this off the lead, he was fine with other dogs on the lead most of the time, although I still try to make sure dogs off the lead do not approach him when he is on his lead, as he is definitely more nervous in this situation.

Thanks thirteen, that's really helpful. Good to hear of success stories!

My dog does this too. It's called lead anxiety. Have seen it be cured by using treats to divert dogs attention, ie as soon as your dog looks at the other dog you turn around, make a big, exciting fuss and command, then offer the treat once he's changed his direction, then keep walking in that direction. Looks a bit weird but works.
I haven't bothered too much with mine because I just let him off the lead straight away and he's fine when not restricted.

Thanks misspilly I will try that. I used to do it a while ago, but got quite slack as it is a pain turning around all the time with a toddler in tow

No gain without pain though, so need to get back onto it!

Search for mikirin on YouTube (I'm on my phone and links are beyond me). She has a video on her channel on reactive dogs. Her dog training tutorials are brilliant.

not mikirin, Kikopup sorry

Search for 'Kikopup'.

Sigh, got there eventually.

Never heard of her so will give it a look. Thank you!

The treats are not used to distract or divert the dog. The treats are used to make a positive association with seeing dogs. So dogs equal good things.

When the dog goes, the treats stop.

If your dog is too stressed to eat the treats then you are too close and you just need to move away and then treat the dog whilst they can still see the dog at a comfortable distance.