Leash Aggression

[SmartMoth]

So I have 2 dogs. We recently rescued our husky from a neglectful situation. The other dog is just a puppy and is starting to mature. We used to take the dogs on walks down town where there are a lot of other dogs and they would be very well behaved, paying the other dogs little mind. Awhile back some people moved in across the street. The house has a strange lay out, and the front yard is fenced off. They keep their dog outside in the FRONT yard (I'm assuming there's no backyard). Of course, since the dog was just sitting in the yard, it would bark at any living thing that was around it. Birds, bugs, etc. After a few weeks of this, our puppy started barking back at the dog. (We leave the front door open and the screen closed, so we get fresh air in the house) This made our husky get restless. Soon they both began freaking out every time we passed a dog on one of our walks. We socialize them regularly, taking them to dog parks and meeting up with friends who have dogs.

I started making the puppy do tricks for treats whenever she would act up. Hoping to distract her. It works inside, but on walks she just whines like I'm beating her. It's ridiculous!

I was wondering if anyone else has ever dealt with barrier frustration, and what I should do. I don't want to make this worse by punishing them. Help?

[Bec]

What exactly do they do when they pass other dogs on a walk? Is it all dogs they react to when walked past them? What body language do they display, are they confident or nervous or excited? etc

Generally when we work with aggression the main aim is to teach the dog that they have options other than aggressing, have you done much one on one training with them?

[SmartMoth]

What exactly do they do when they pass other dogs on a walk? Is it all dogs they react to when walked past them? What body language do they display, are they confident or nervous or excited? etc

Generally when we work with aggression the main aim is to teach the dog that they have options other than aggressing, have you done much one on one training with them?

Kaidin (Husky/2 years) just gets antsy, he wiggles back and fourth crying a bit. He'll eventually sit down and just wiggle around a bit more. Mainly excitement. Where as Eris (Pit/German Shepherd/9 months) gets frustrated. She lunges forward and makes this deep bark / scream. When she realized she cant go further, she jumps back, then jumps up on me. Cries more. Usually a couple barks.

I do one on one training with them for about 15-30 minutes daily. But it's all commands. "Leave it." "Sit." etc.

We're going to be taking them in for obedience training in the next week or so since classes by the reputable trainer in this area start up again soon.

[Bec]

Great to hear you are going to start classes - I was going to suggest this is a problem best tackled by getting an experienced and reputable trainer to help you - it's too hard to really know what the problem is over the net.

If your puppy was the instigator you might also find that your husky is picking up her unease.

I would be walking them individually to start with so you can tackle the problem with them one on one and if you hadn't already, see if there is any difference when you walk them separately as opposed to together.

For now, when you are walking your 9 month old and she starts carrying on near another dog, I would turn and walk her away until you are far enough away that you can calm her down. Get her focusing on you and reward her for that focus. Anything like this is always about time before distance before distraction, which means you need to start training her to focus on you on a command word (like look) in low distraction environments, then once she can maintain that focus for a decent amount of time slowly decrease the distance you can get to another dog while still maintaining that focus. Teach her it's more rewarding to look at you than it is to look at another dog.

[SmartMoth]

Oh! Also, I forgot to mention.

Whenever they're on leash and we pass a yard where there's a dog inside and it barks at us, they pay it no mind. UNLESS we're inside the house. They bark at the dog that lives across the street.

They also don't bark at dogs that are being walked WITHOUT a leash. (some people in this area just don't, for whatever reason) I'm assuming it's because the dog can come up to us and introduce itself to us. However, if they see another dog on a leash, they flip out. Every single time.

[SmartMoth]

Great to hear you are going to start classes - I was going to suggest this is a problem best tackled by getting an experienced and reputable trainer to help you - it's too hard to really know what the problem is over the net.

If your puppy was the instigator you might also find that your husky is picking up her unease.

I would be walking them individually to start with so you can tackle the problem with them one on one and if you hadn't already, see if there is any difference when you walk them separately as opposed to together.

For now, when you are walking your 9 month old and she starts carrying on near another dog, I would turn and walk her away until you are far enough away that you can calm her down. Get her focusing on you and reward her for that focus. Anything like this is always about time before distance before distraction, which means you need to start training her to focus on you on a command word (like look) in low distraction environments, then once she can maintain that focus for a decent amount of time slowly decrease the distance you can get to another dog while still maintaining that focus. Teach her it's more rewarding to look at you than it is to look at another dog.

Thanks, that sounds like a good idea. It's usually my boyfriend and I that walk them. So we could just take separate paths. We usually stay distanced from the other dog, and I carry treats on me, so it shouldn't be too hard to walk her the other way.