Teaching Dog Avoidance

Ok this is what I teach my students when they have a dog that is aggressive towards another dog. Or my own dogs when I want them to know that they are not allowed to pay attention to other dogs. I teach dog avoidance, this teaches your dog to ignore other dogs and to only pay attention to you. They are corrected if they even look at another dog. But if they pay attention to you then they get rewards with both praise and treats. They teach this in my Shutzhund class and the AKC Club I go to. The reason why are, if you dog is busy on a sleeve for protection or on a scent track and a dog breaks out of their crates you can have big problem. Or if they are so busy worrying about the other dog they are not doing the job they are supposed to do. Now dogs do not normally accept other dogs from out side their pack. They are considered a threat either to the pack as hostile invader, wanting to breed with the female in charge, a threat to the food source or to the stability to the pack. And since you and your family, whether that means skin members or fur kids are members of that pack your dog esp. if he is guardian type dog will not want to accept other dogs around. But you being the Alpha of the dog's pack will let him know he is not to pay attention to the dog in question. They are not a threat because you say so. And it is threw your leadership that he will follow your rules.

You either must have your dog on the choke, prong collar or a halti. A choke collar is a good choice as long as you understand its usage and proper methods of using it. The prong get excellent results in getting your dogs attention, this duplicates the mothers correction of the dog when he was a pup. The prongs which are not sharp but dull, give the dog the reminder like his mom of teeth on the back of the neck like she did. You must have a good control over you dog in order to get and keep his attention for this exercise. You must have lots and lots of small, very moist treats. Be it string cheese, hot dogs, have them be cut in long thing strips, but very small. The idea is for the dog to swallow the treat fast, and not be busy chewing a hard treat, so the lessons go on. ( I use chicken, string cheese, or left over dinner). Have the dog hungry and bored, let him skip breakfast or dinner so he works on an empty stomach as dogs work better. And you have his attention on you where it belongs. So your walking your dog, and you notice a dog near by. You know your dog is going to act up so be prepared. It is your job as his leader for his protection and safety and you must step in when need be. As soon as you see your dog noticing the other dog, and hopefully before he goes into physical action, say in a firm and deep voice, LEAVE IT, and give a good correction with a snap of the leash. Remember a snap release works best. Your dog will pay attention to you better if you leash is loose. While if it is tight he knows exactly where your at, and does not have to look at you for guidance because he know right where your at. If the leash is loose he has to pay attention to you, to Know where your at and what your doing at all times. So have the leash loosely draped over you left knee. Grab the leash snap it and release it. It gives a better correction if the leash is loose while being tight it is harder for that snap that we need. Now that you have stopped his behavior you will want to redirect his bad or unwanted behavior to what you want him to do. So go in the opposite direction of where the dogs attention was while saying watch watch. You will have the food or treats hanging from your mouth so he can look up and see it. As soon as the dogs stops his attention on the other dog and looks up at you. You will give lots of praise and treats, ( you will drop the food at him so he can get it.) Hope fully you will get good enough at this, that it drops right into his mouth. Now as soon as he looks again at the other dog, again tell him LEAVE IT and snap the leash firmly and then releasing it, you will again change your direction to any where you want to get his attention off the dog and back onto you. Again telling the dog to watch watch while you have the food hanging from your mouth. The whole idea that your getting across to your dog is to pay attention to you, and not the other dog or dogs. Now add the watch command on to it. Tell you dog to Watch! watch! the dog should be watching you and not the other dog, shove the treat into his face having it go back to your face, the dog is to not stop looking at you. Make sure you tell your dog good watch, good watch and also good leave it, good leave it. So if your correction is not working then you need to UP the correction, almost lifting the dog off of his feet. When your praising your dog, you must make sure your praise is very up and happy make it very very up. So the idea is to Get dogs attention by saying his name, give both voice and physical correction, (saying leave it, and snapping the leash) and then give the dog a job you want him to do. Telling him to watch, sit, or down, or heel, or what every command you give. Then most important thing is to give the dog lots of praise, treats and tell the dog he did a good job. Like Good leave it, or good heel, or good watch, ect ect. The dog must get more praise than correction. Also practice your watch at home, sit in a chair, having the dog on a leash, right in front of you, have the soft treat on you. Tell your dog to Watch, watch, and have the treat in his face bringing it up to your face. Have the dog looking at you, as soon as he looks away again tell him NO, watch, watch, bringing his attention on to you. When he gets good at this, use this command for longer period of time,. Then have your kids or someone be a distraction. Once he is really good at this, then go outside and use all the distractions you can find to get his attention. Which you bring back to you. Good luck this should help you with this problem with a dog aggressive dog.

For me the decision to use a prong, choke or Halti collar is actually the dogs. What I mean is what works best with that dog. For some dogs, a choke is fine, (If you have a good timing with it). If not then I would try a Halti, if your dog responds well with it. For some dogs this works wonders. I really like the Halti as I get the dogs attention on me, where I want it. But for others the prong works great, ( if your dog is a harder dog), the prong might actually bring out more aggression in the dog with this type of correction. I like to think of this type of command of having and keeping your dogs attention on you in the most difficult and trying times. Is the idea of what a dog should be doing during the heeling command any way. Now walking your dog does not mean you heel him all the time. Only when your need your dogs attention on you, and not on his surrounding environment. The rest of the time he gets to sniff, pee, and be him self a dog. But IF I decided its time to watch me then its time to watch me! Other wise we go no where and work on his problem of not listening. I think of it as, My dogs are sentry dogs, Ok their job is to bark and let me know something is in the air so to speak. It is my job as their leader that when I get the information that something is not right, i.e. dog barking, or reacting I then make the decision, of what the dogs behavior should be. Whether its to continue barking or to be quiet and allow me to handle the situation. . Good luck this should help you with this problem with a dog aggressive dog.

MAY THE GOOD LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU SAFE LIKE A GSD.