Expert: Delores Beck - 9/13/2010

Question
QUESTION: Hi
I have a 2 1/2 year old cocker spaniel bitch which I homed
from a shelter 6 months ago. She is fabulous, clean, doesn´t
destroy anything, great with children and the most loving,
cuddly cocker I have ever had. I have had 2 in the past but
Billie is my first rescue dog. The only problem I have is
with her aggression towards other dogs. She has no
preference to sex, breed or size she goes for them all and I
don´t just mean barking I mean the full snarling and
spitting, fangs showing. There are rather a lot of dogs
where I live and I have now taken to dodging from one side
of the road to the other and walking her really early and
really late to avoid other owners with there dogs and you
can see the horror on their faces when she starts. She does
actually have a few ¨friends¨, a red setter, a springer and
a cross which she met the first day we brought her home.
Another springer and a cocker which it took a few meetings
for Billie to stop attacking them. All these dogs however
belong to friends. I know you should socialise dogs but
people I don´t know won´t give me the time of day and
believe me I have tried. I had a run in with a neighbor and
her dog last night who thinks my dog is mentally disturbed!
I love her so much and love to go walking but I now dread
taking her anywhere.

Please help, many thanks

ANSWER: First of all..relax..this is not so hard to handle.  And a couple of interesting positives are that she does have a "few friends" and, as you've noted, it took a few meetings.

So now you have to give her a very different message and try some very different tactics.  What I need to know is precisely what happens when you're walking and she sees another dog.  You KNOW what she's going to do - so what do you do?  This is the key.

And has she ever bitten?  A lot of barking/snarling & fangs "can" be a lot of show from a fearful girl.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi

Thanks for your speedy reply.

When she sees another dog she usually first stops dead then
starts pulling on her lead barking and snarling her hair on
her neck standing on end. Sometimes she gets down low really
close to the ground and starts creeping forward like a gun
dog does, then she tries to pounce. I used to pull her close
to me on shorter lead so I could walk past the other dog
trying to act as normal as possible now as I mentioned I
cross the road but if she sees the other dog she just starts
snarling etc and I end up dragging her away on two legs. I
have tried also introducing her to the other dogs but she
just goes for them. I have to say that when I eventually
manage to get her away and she is surprisingly strong she
just wags her tail as if she thinks its funny?
She has never actually bitten but I feel if she got close
enough she would or that another dog would bit her. She was
nearly bitten by a large dog a month ago, she started it as
usual and I managed to get her away but the other dog was
about an inch from her throat.

Thanks  

Answer
Okay..so you're basically doing nothing but trying to hold her off.

What you need to do is this:
1.  You see the dog coming
2.  Ask her to sit (when she does - reward)
3.  Block her view by standing in front of her..STAY! Treat.
4.  Keep moving in front of her and giving a command.
5.  Have treats ready - make her concentrate on YOU!

This isn't easy the first few times and I'd recommend trying it with one of her chums - the message to her is "I've got this and this is how we handle this".

Stepping in BEFORE the behavior begins is key to training.  There's no point in allowing it to accelerate and then start trying to command..drag..yell.  They're then paying no attention at all and are in full flight, so to speak :).


She thinks this is the way things go - it's your job to teach her otherwise.  And I do think it's a lot of show (and fun) for her.