Dog barks and shrieks non-stop at strange dogs

[girllilikoi]

I am having a huge problem with my eight-year-old Miniature Schnauzer's social anxiety, and I have no idea who to turn to for help- multiple internet searches and books have offered little to no useful advice. His whole life, he has almost always shrieked and barked when he saw a strange dog, but lately, it has gotten WAY worse. He used to just bark and shriek a few times, and I could get him to calm down after a minute or two. Now he flies off the handle, and I literally cannot get him to calm down or pay attention to me, even if I have treats and try to distract him by making him sit. It is becoming incredibly stressful to the point where I DREAD taking him outside our apartment, where he is always extremely well-behaved and genteel. It seems like the minute he sees a dog he doesn't know, he no longer listens to me.

A little background information: I took him to puppy classes at PetSmart when he was little, and he has been around other dogs his entire life. He has ALWAYS behaved like this around strange dogs, no matter how much I have socialized him. He isn't aggressive, with the exception of two or three dogs, all of whom were unneutered males. He himself was neutered a little over a month ago now. I know the barking is not due to a medical problem- my veterinarian said he is in fantastic health. He also gets regular exercise consisting of about four fifteen minute walks per day.

A professional trainer is not an option, as there are no positive reinforcement trainers in my area. A PetSmart trainer who saw me struggling with him in the store last week told me to turn his entire body around to face me and not allow him to look at the trigger of his barking until he has calmed down and then repeat as needed. This does NOT work- when he really flies off the handle like he did twice already today, he just wiggles out of my grasp and is impossible to hold in position. Additionally, I would also like to teach my dog that POSITIVE things happen around other dogs, and this does not seem like the logical way to do so.

I would vastly appreciate any advice. I am getting so stressed out and upset. I love this dog, and he is PERFECTLY behaved at home, but this whole situation is making taking him outside a complete nightmare.

[FlaKiwi]

I have the same situation, so I hope you get a response soon.

[jacksdad]

First, welcome to the forum. Second, this is generally fixable if your willing to put in the time.

First thing you need to do is stop taking your dog around other dogs. This is a first and temporary step. Your dog is clearly stressed around other dogs and while there are many possible reasons for this, generally the most common is a low confident and or fearful dog. Don't let confidence in other situations or the appearance of "aggression" when they are acting up fool you. Generally dogs like yours (and mine) are coming from a fear/low confident place or have just never recovered from a bad experience when this is happening.

right now your dog only knows one thing....AAAAAAAHHHH DOOOOOGGG. what you will be doing is teaching your dog, two things. First, you (the dog) do not have to deal with the other dogs, I (human) will. Second, you (the dog) have other options beside "AAAAAAAHHHH DOOOOOGGG".

So, to start teaching your dog this, you first have to let your dog start to de stress. It is very hard to teach a stressed out dog. You do this by avoiding other dogs. If on a walk you see a dog coming towards you, you turn and go the other way, or cross over and pass on the other side of the street, or maybe duck behind a car/dumpster/tree/bush.

You can also start walking at odd times when the chances of running into neighborhood dogs is slim. Maybe going places other then your neighborhood for walks, someplace with low chance of running into another dog.

When you do see a dog, try and put your self between your dog and the other dog no matter the distance. Or even if you are passing on the other side of the street.

All this adds up to your dog will soon learn that you (human) will deal with "scary" and I (the dog) don't have to anymore.

There is more to it than this, but I don't have time right now to post. I will finish up later today. The most important step right now is to just avoid other dogs, and start looking for the distance you need to be away from other dogs that allows your dog to be calm. can you be 10 feet from a dog, but not 9 feet. Or is it safe to be 10 yards from a dog, but not 9 yards.

also try to avoid restraining your dog. ie petsmart trainers advice or picking up your dog when it's freaking out. sometimes you have zero options to get away from a dog, and because you have a small dog, picking up and walking away is tempting...but highly risky. when your dog is freaking out, it's wiggling and such and could "pop" out of your hands/arms and seriously injure it's self.

anyway I got to run, others may pop in and pickup where I left off before I get back. But rest assured, what I describe is just the start, next is step is reinforcing for your dog that you will deal with the other dogs for him, and starting to rebuild the association from "strange dog...AAAAAA" to "strange dog...hummm where is my treat, did someone say a dog was near"? in other words a calm dog around other dogs.

[Pawzk9]

Two books: "Click to Calm" by Emma Parsons and "Control Unleashed" by Leslie McDevitt.

[jacksdad]

Avoidance is just a first step and one you will use a lot from now on. but will over time become less and less a first option. next you will need to start teaching your dog other "tricks" for when you encounter other dogs.

to do this, you use things like the "watch me", "name game", "look", "U turn" and I am sure other people will offer additional options. Each dog is different so you might have to try a few different "tools". Generally though, things like "watch me" to give your dog an option for focusing on you rather than the other dog, then later "look" to teach your dog it's ok to look at strange dogs AND be calm work pretty good.

However, do not use these behaviors unless you know your dog will respond. this is why you need to know your dogs "calm" distance. this is closest to another dog you can get and your dog remain calm. I was never able to figure out a calm distance for my dog. One day he would freak over a dog 100+ yards away, while being "ok" with a dog 10 yards away. so I just chose 20/25 yards and it seemed to work ok. don't worry to much about knowing literally the distance, just estimate, you will eventually learn to read your dog and worry less about literal distance anyway.

How I put these to practice with my dog was, when we saw a dog, U turn for distance, then asked for a sit, watch me, then move for more distance. If I missed my opportunity to reward for calm right of the bat, ie my dog saw the other dog and freaked out, i would U turn, get distance, soon as other dog was out of sight and my dog could focus, I asked for a sit and watch me. Why even after dog was gone? at this early stage getting him to refocus on me, helped him calm down some quicker then if I did nothing. Though, sometimes I couldn't even do that, it was just a U turn and move on and do nothing and let him calm down on his own. No additional training was possible, and any attempt would set you back. it's a judgment call, one you will learn quickly.

The ideal is if you can get your dogs attention before he freaks out and get him to focus on you. this way you build a new habit...see dog, look at you, receive treat. However, treat for calm, if your dog isn't calm, move for distance and try again. only treat for calm.

I botched this up a bit because I tried it too early before my dog was ready. I didn't do the avoidance to let my dog calm down some once I understood there was a problem. I just jumped in and tried to get his attention in the middle of a "freak out". At that point I didn't understand you can not train when the dog is that worked up. So, I have been working on looking at dogs and remaining calm rather then using watch me. For this, I use a combination of the name game and look. My dog, Jack sees another dog, before he freaks I say "jack" he whips his head around to me, I treat. I then either say "look" (saying look and pointing at dog) or just letting him look at the dog on his own, when he does, I say "jack" again, when he looks back to me treat. At first it was literally just a second of looking, then we would move for some distance, go through it again, then move on. Now, I am slowly increasing the time he looks before I call his attention back to me.

I am planning on going back and trying to rebuild the "watch me" option in the near future. The more options I can give Jack, the more choices other then "AAAAAHHH DOG" he has. and believe it or not, the last few weeks I have been seeing him make choices other then "AAAAAH Dog" or "AAAAAH Scary thing" (he is reactive to more then just dogs, though dogs are the worst).

Once your dogs starts responding and you begin having calm dog/dog encounters, you can do one of two things. start inching closer. this week you stay 10 yards away, two weeks from now you try 9 yards and so on. Or you can just let dog/dog encounters happen and watch your dog closely to see how he is doing and if he looks to be getting stressed, go for distance as calmly as possible. At this stage when I refer to dog/dog encounters, I am still referring to just being near, NOT actual meet and greets. If a meeting and greet happens, it happens. If your dog stays calm....lots of treats, if your dog can't handle it, move quickly for distance. You don't actually ever have to take it to the meet and greet stage, but if you do want to, be sure you work with someone who as a VERY calm dog and will listen to your directions exactly. If you want to try this and when you think your dog is ready, come back and get advice on how to proceed.

When things go wrong.

Sooner or later you will run into a lose dog. you can try to tell the dog to sit and stay. or you can try a "treat bomb". this is just throwing a handful of treats on the ground in front of the loose dog and you and your dog u turn and leave quickly. sometimes the dog is friendly, but just curious, even still it's too much for your dog. If this appears to be the case you can just body block the dog from yours. I had to do this about a week ago. we were on a walk and a loose dog came up to us, Jack got very tense, and I just moved between him and the other dog, tossed some treats on the ground, body blocked pasted the dog and continued on. Jack got a bit stressed a little overwhelmed, but held it together. with in minutes his body was relaxed and back to sniffing and enjoying his walk. If the dog's owner is close, don't be shy about asking them to take control of their dog, I am becoming less and less shy about this my self.

If you have a lot of lose and truly unruly dogs in your area and it's legal in your area you can carry things like pepper spray. just be sure if you do, just carrying it does not negatively affect your dog.

another situation is being surrounded. Dogs on all sides. just do the best you can. if this happens, don't try to "train" your way out. just move out as quickly as possible. If your physically able to, turn it into a chase game. get your dog to chase you. Many dogs like this game and you will have a fairly good chance this will work.

This should get you started. If you have additional questions please ask away. I am also sure others will chime in soon, there are many of use floating around who have reactive dogs and are in various stages of the "reeducation" process.

[emmabeth]

Seriously - jacksdad and his dog Jack are like the poster guys for this stuff! Read his two posts through a few times and then ask us if you have any questions on what he describes.

Away from the actual situation of 'argh theres another dog' - back in your apartment - have a go with clicker training and also puzzle solving with toys like the Nina Ottoson range.

This may not SEEM like it is going to help but believe me, it will. The better the bond between you and your dog, the more he is going to trust you to handle any given situation.

The better his confidence is, in himself and in you, again the better he is going to trust you to handle things.

And with clicker training you can really work on self control, which reactive dogs really lack. You can play specific games that involve him having to think things through, wait rather than act on impulse, listen to you instead of acting first.

This will REALLY help him.

Also, if you do take him out - how does he walk on teh lead? Does he tank ahead pulling or does he walk beside you on a loose leash? If he pulls, have a read through the thread about Loose Leash Walking which you will find in the Dog Training Articles section of the forum (there is also one there about clicker training, and on that note also join www.clickertraining.com, its free to register and has a ton of information).

It is HIGHLY likely that his recent neutering has resulted in a drop in confidence, which means he fears other dogs approaching even more than he did before. Being on a leash also increases his fear as he has no 'run away' option, so he has gone for 'defend at all cost', and for whatever reason he believes this approach works so does it again and again. The more he has to do it, the better he gets at it, the more he will do it - so thats why avoiding it until you have gradually changed his association with strange dogs is key to fixing the problem.

You are absolutely right that getting hands on with him and forcing him to look at you rather than at whatever is 'coming to get him' is not going to help and is going to make matters worse! He needs to trust and choose to look at you, and you cant teach trust by force!