Does your dog have a particular dog in the neighbourhood that it hates?

[SirChenjins]

If so, how do you manage their barking and lunging when it meets the other one? And how do you manage off lead dog walks if it’s fine with every other dog it meets but you’re always worried it will meet this one other one?

Im just waiting to hear back from a behaviourist I messaged earlier after an incident that’s shaken me this morning.

That’s really reassuring - I have a meeting with an experienced trainer and the other dog owner to talk about exactly this!

Working with a behaviourist is a good call. In the meantime, I would carry high-value treats whenever out and the second your dog spots the other dog give the treat then turn and walk in the opposite direction.

The idea is to give the treat just before your dog reacts, so after he spots the other dog but before he descends into barking. It should work to countercondition your dog so that he starts to see this dog as a precursor to something good happening rather than a potential threat.

Well, in my eyes it's still a relatively new piece of legislation that lots of people seem to be unaware of.

The point is that there are posters on this thread saying it doesn't matter because there were no injuries - I'm just trying to point out that a dog doesn't have to cause injury to be considered dangerous and/or out of control.

My MIL who's had dogs and horses all her life and is a good authority on this says all dogs have one or two dogs they just hate, it's normal. My very sweet docile dog hates the collie mix that lives across the back lane and the sausage dog at the end of our street. She also has some kind of lottery system where 19 out of 20 dogs she meets she ignores or likes, but the other one she decides is Satan and pulls, barks, appears to be totally crazy. The ironic thing is, she's loads worse on the lead. I think dogs feel vulnerable tethered by a lead and react more.

Anyway- I am incredibly strict with keeping her on a lead anywhere near the 2 neighbour dogs could be, or anywhere there's a risk of the 1 in 20 satanic confrontation. So that really means on a lead in town, paths, roads where other dog walkers might pass. We live near woods and fields where she can safety go off the lead daily and then back on the lead coming back toward civilisation.

It's incredibly embarrassing when she does the hell hound barking. Some owners laugh and say oh glad it's not just my dog, ha ha ha and others take massive offence and act horrified.

Regarding the new laws about dangerous dogs- sadly they are absolutely useless for far worse dogs than yours OP.

Our next door neighbours had a hare coursing lurcher (illegal in the first place) that escaped from their yard and attacked 2 people, one needed hospital treatment and police involved. It was out of control on the neighbours property and causing a severe noise nuisance and anxiety that it would harm people as soon as it escaped again.

I tried every route police/ council/ dog warden/ landlords and there was nothing any of them could do even with the newer laws.

I am certain no one will do anything about your dog being reported OP. Even dogs that have killed other dogs or cats don't get anything done about them. It's sad and they should, but they don't!

How well the law is enforced really does seem to depend on the area rather than the severity of the behaviour sadly.

I know people on here have had police visits because their dog has jumped up and scratched someone, but a dog near us was killed by a pack of lurchers and nothing was done about it.

My girl has a few she hates:
Italian Spinones ( they are lovely but she met them when she was tiny and I think their size scared her)
Anything flat faced
Anything that looks like her (so large, fluffy)
She's not keen on spaniels either.

Though weirdly she is besotted with an Aussie Shepherd that is...large and fluffy

I just turn, treat and walk away if we see any of her 'nope' list and make sure she's on lead if we are out on the fields and spot an unknown dog (which is a pain as she's much more reactive ON lead)

I used to think that dogs liked other dogs... but the more experienced I became the more I realised that for many many dogs this is NOT the case!

Yes the XL bullies at the end of our street, with good reason! He’s scared of them though so will hide behind me rather than react.

He has a child he hates though and will go out of his way to ignore her when she tries to come and say hello to him. It’s so embarrassing!

We have a border collie, black labs don’t like him, just black ones, others are fine. He doesn’t like tan coloured dogs, particularly boxers and one large dog that gets 2 x 15 minute walks a day past our house. My dog has never attacked any dog, but he hates this dog so much that I would hate to think what would happen if he wasn’t on a lead. Unfortunately we keep him near and only gets long runs in a secure dog park which has 2 exits, so if a dog comes in we know that they don’t get on, we leave. He loves small dogs, particularly young females and lets them jump all over him, but it’s the older males we have to watch, although he has male dogs that he’s known all his 5 years and they are fine.

Our previous dog disliked just one other dog at the daycare she went to twice a week. With the staff’s excellent management they learned to avoid each other. Both well socialised, friendly bitches, but would never be best mates. It wasn’t a breed she was generally wary of either (GSDs, Huskies, due to bad experiences as a puppy) - she played happily with those. Just this one smaller, generally inoffensive bitch. Nobody knows who started it and it never went beyond a swerve and a lip curl. So it is possible to carefully reintroduce dogs who don’t get on, but it would probably take careful handling with decent behaviourist. As the couple in the OP have demonstrated they aren’t particularly reasonable people and have little understanding of dog behaviour I think that’s a non starter tbh.

We've tried giving him treats immediately we see the other dog, but unfortunately he reacts (barking and lunging) sooner than I can give him the treats - and he's not interested in them anyway, he's in Tasmanian Devil mode the instant he sees this other dog. Weirdly, he calms down immediately and as soon as we're past he's fine - we can see another dog a few seconds later and he'll trot past like nothing has happened, although I turn and go the other way whenever I can. He's usually kept on a fixed lead to heel (apart from this time when I completely misjudged him - a long walk with no reaction to other dogs whatsoever made me too complacent), so lesson learned - he will remain on-lead unless I have long clear sight.

Interestingly, the report to environmental health has been made because the bloke said he works from home and he can hear our dog barking all day long. I've no idea which dog he's hearing, because it certainly isn't ours - I work at home most days so I need quiet from him and he goes to day care the days I'm in the office. Our cameras will prove this. The frustrating thing is that I don't think they would be amenable to our behaviourist reintroducing the 2 dogs - I could be wrong, but DH said he got the distinct impression from them that we were just supposed to stay out of their way completely.

Other dog owner is being a vengeful twat then, reporting you for noise nuisance. Easy to disprove and it will make them look stupid and malicious to Environmental Health. I bet they didn’t even mention “that dog BARKS at my dog!” because they know it would make them look foolish.
Carry on as you are, see what advice the behaviourist has in general about your dog’s reactivity and how to reduce it and ignore the asshats.

Thanks @SpamhappyTootsie - DH has said pretty much the same, but as I come from a long line of worriers I've been awake since 2.50am worrying about visits from the police and my dog being put down/being on the receiving end of more grief from them if I meet them in the street on my own/never being able to walk him off lead ever again/etc.

I gave a lab, and one that likes to say hello to everyone, human or canine. However, for some reason, he never took to a pet-loving neighbour until fairly recently.

Oh I get that, I’d be exactly the same! I go through a list of all the times my dog has been an absolute ⭐️ when the Worry hits. All the times she’s played nicely, been complimented for her behaviour, ignored badly trained dogs annoying her off lead…… but for some reason the odd incident of troubling behaviour sticks in your mind way, way more, doesn’t it?
There’s no way anyone is going to take your dog, order him to be leashed and muzzled outside, not from what you’ve said. I understand the thinking behind the bit of legislation that says “If a dog causes you to think they will harm you” but it’s latched on to by ridiculous people like the couple near you.

That’s a great way of looking at it, thank you, I really appreciate that 😊 I shall spend the next few days focusing on the things he’s doing well because there are far more of them - eg I got a lovely text from the day care saying that he has settled in so well and is interacting really well with all the other dogs there, he certainly seems delighted when they come to pick him up and from the videos of him that they send me. Lots of other positive interactions, really good recall, loves his dog walking gang…if only I could get him to like this one other dog 🤷‍♀️

Yes! We call the other dog 'Chester's nemesis'. It's only this one dog.

There is a perfectly inoffensive Dalmatian my little Border hated for no reason. I still feel irrationally angry with him every time I see him-poor thing!

Sorry- posted too soon. I talked to the owner and I apologised-my dog just used really bad language-she didn't lunge or anything. We agreed that we would both put our dogs on leads whenever they met.

I have lots of serious talks with my dog along the lines of just because other doggies are badly behaved it doesn't mean you have to be.
I also say keep walking and be the bigger dog.
She gives the impression she's listening and maybe even understanding but all rational thought flies out of the window when one of her enemies appears!

Whippet owner here. He HATES collies, especially one with dark fur. Never figured out why.

Apparently collies are often unpopular with other dogs because of their stance (they often go low and sort of crawl along) and have a tendency to try and herd - understandable really, given they are intelligent working dogs who need more exercise and stimulation than many of them get.

Mine did. It was a parsons terrier and a gobby little thing. Clearly whatever he was barking about upset her and she hated him. If we walked by the road he lived in she would try and drag me down there to see if he was out. They’ve both passed now but she really did not like that dog.