@houseprayer Just be wary you have a dangerous dog and it’s your responsibility to take absolutely every precaution to make sure everyone around you is safe when you take the dog out. Muzzle muzzle muzzle! That will be your best line of protection is things were to go haywire
@houseprayer You’re saying that your dog reacts badly to other dogs so my guess is she’s reactive. I have a reactive dog. She’s reactive to other dogs but sometimes bikes or loud noises trigger her too. From my understanding, you cannot fix reactivity, you can only manage it. So what we’ve been doing is working on her impulse control (commands such as wait, leave it, place, sit (we make sure to work on duration) and of course recall). We heavily reward for the correct behavior.
When we’re walking I make sure to give her enough distance from the triggers. If we see another dog in the distance, we cross the street or go in a different direction as I know that getting too close would trigger her reactivity. It’s all baby steps. We have good days but sometimes we have really bad days. It can be frustrating and leaves you feeling like you’re a bad owner but you’re not. You’re trying your best!
@houseprayer you've gotten some great information- do you have a friend with a dog you can meet up with at a large park or field, be on the phone with, and use them for training? you can be in control that way and work on exposure while ensuring the other dog is far enough away that the reaction can be managed
@houseprayer Another possible causation loop. She senses you tense up around other dogs and that puts her in a more guarded protective state which causes you to tense up even more ,etc etc. Do an experiment and let some experienced third party handle her and see what happens.
@chris1987 Hi! Yes, this has crossed my mind too. Dogs are seriously great at detecting emotions.
I'll see how she reacts with someone else. Also I'll work on calming myself down.
