New and Seeking Advice

[faithpeace]

Hello everyone. I posted the other day in the Puppy101 subreddit about my reactive dog, and was directed here. I have a lot to read, but was hoping someone could help me out with the basics. Here’s my situation:

My dog is a ham. He loves other people and dogs so much that I don’t think there’s a food in this world that will redirect his attention away. I have tried sitting in a big field and rewarding him for being calm. I put him into a heel for him to break it as soon as another dog passes. Same with sitting/laying down. He wants to play and say hi so badly. He is 8 months old and I’ve had him for about 4 months. He’s a mixed breed, best bet is a medium sized terrier and husky. He’s 45lbs. I have tried so much over the last 4 months, and I have seen almost no progress with him. At best, if another person passes without acknowledging him he can move on. But, he’s a cute little guy who gets stared down from a block away and he’s ready to say hi and refuses to acknowledge me. I guess I’m asking: what can I start doing differently on our day-to-day walks to make him start seeing me as more rewarding than someone else or another dog? I’m dead serious that a piece of chicken, that he was given for being good with no distractions and he knows I have, in his face on a heel, is not enough to get him to stay in a heel while walking past a dog. I just want to get on his level, figure out his threshold, and figure out how to make myself more rewarding than his favorite thing of being with another dog.

Some side notes: we do have a trainer who is going to start working with us outside of the house in the new year. He is like 85% good on loose leash and recall. It’s 0% if there’s any distractions, like squirrels up to other dogs. He will scream and cry to greet them up until they are out of eye sight. They can be 3 blocks away and he’s still screaming to say hi.

Thank you for reading and any insight you have. I have another post on my page if you feel kind enough to read it to get more insight. I think I got the gist of it.

 

[bushido8000]

@faithpeace First, you have a young, adolescent dog. There are certain things that go along with that, including having a dog that has not yet mastered impulse control. So, much of what you are seeing is age related, and as the dog matures, some of that will likely abate. Which isn't to say there aren't things you can do now. You can work on impulse control - start in the house with minimal distractions. Have your dog wait before entering or exiting the house. Have your dog wait a few seconds before he can eat. Etc. Etc. There are lots of options for working on impulse control generally. When you do move to working on impulse control outside of the house, it has to be very gradual in building up the level of distractions.

Same thing with exposure to other dogs. You have to start by working at a distance where he's below threshold, which may be very far to start. Also, IMHO it's really helpful to have trained a behavior that is incompatible with reacting, such as touch (nose to hand), and then train the living daylights out of it until it becomes completely second nature to your pup. The easier it is for the pup to perform the behavior (because he knows and responds to the cue that well), the more likely he'll do it when distractions are present.

Management is a big part too. Try to walk where triggers aren't abundant. Do things like hide behind a car to break the line of sight until the other dog passes, or "find it" (treat scatter) to keep your dog busy sniffing out treats on the ground (although from the sound of it, your dog may not go for that one). Train an about face, so you can go the opposite way when needed.

I hope something in here helps.

 

[bushido8000]

@faithpeace

I’m just seeing no progress outside of the home.

I can't say with any certainty because obviously I'm not familiar with all the details of your situation, but you may need to take a few steps back and really baby step your way through things. Working through distractions is hard, and just being outside, not confined within 4 walls, is a whole heck of a lot of distractions. Sights, smells, etc.

When I start to work on training outside, I start literally right in front of my front door. As in, one step outside of the house. We work on all the things, proof them standing in front of the front door, before we move on. Then it's on the walkway to the driveway, work on stuff, proof it, then we move to the driveway, etc. Baby, baby steps. I also like parking lots of places that have huge parking lots, like Home Depot. I park wayyyyy far away from the store and work on things there. But even that isn't until after a lot of work near the home.

 

[faithpeace]

@bushido8000 You know, I’ve seen and read a lot about this and thought “he understands thresholds and knows loose leash (until he doesn’t care anymore)”, and thought we were past that. I’m going to try some front yard training sessions with him. I bet just the distraction of continuing our normal walk will be huge. Thanks for this!

 

[faithpeace]

@bushido8000 Too add, I feel like things he knows so well, with distractions, such as sit, still does nothing. I started making him sit and stay as other dogs pass and even that he breaks while he does so well with crazy distractions in our home. I almost need another dog in our home to work on it. We have regular walks with a friend’s dog and they have a little wrestle session to say hi and walk well the rest of the time. But, another dog passes, his friend dog is cool, and he freaks the f out.

 

[faithpeace]

@bushido8000 Lastly, his other dog threshold is literally within eyesight. I’ve had dogs way across the park that are 8lbs and tiny specks and he is lunging to go say hi. I have no idea what to do. He sees them and it’s over.

 

[faithpeace]

@bushido8000 4th comment lol sorry, but I will try treat scattering. It’s the only thing you’ve mentioned I haven’t actively been working on, so I appreciate it. I really appreciate you taking the time to spell this all out to me.

 

[bushido8000]

@faithpeace Treat scattering is a fantastic tool. You want to be sure to put it on a cue (I use "find it" but you could use literally any term). You'll need to acclimate your pup to the game, by using it at times when there's no need for it, but over time your pup should come to understand the cue. For my reactive pup (and in fairness, we've been doing "find it" for years now), I literally just have to say "find it" and he diverts his attention away from the trigger and looks to the ground or to me to toss the treats down. So even if I'm not 100% prepared to toss treats at a particular moment (e.g. we are surprised by a dog coming around the corner), the verbal cue is enough to break his attention and give me a moment to pull treats from my pocket and scatter them.

 

[faithpeace]

@bushido8000 Love that! I’ve found that my pup is picking up on terms (finally!) that get him going. “Treat” “you hungry?” “Lunch” “dinner” “walk” are the ones that get him amped up and paying attention. I use them to get his attention sometimes, even if I’m not ready in the moment, and I get the desired outcome. Sometimes I hate that I have to say “treat?” to finally get his eyes on me, but I figure getting the attention, doing the actual command, and following through with the treat at least gets desired results. I don’t do it often, just when I absolutely need his attention. I like to have it in my back pocket. So, I like the idea of adding another word that means “big reward that I love” lol