# Reactive on her leash



## Sarah1555maya (Aug 14, 2014)

Hi there,

I have been on this forum before reading various situations and advice, and decided I should see what advice I can get about my dog Maya. Maya is a 3 year old German Shepherd, not sure whether she is a mix or purebred, we did not get her from a breeder. We have had success training her inside the house and I feel confident in our skills to teach her new things and correct behaviour inside. Our issue is when we walk her we never know what dog she is going to bark at or lunge at. So far we have tried treating, averting her attention, making her sit and wait and countless other variations of those same ideas. She pulls regardless if she is straining herself too much and almost howls she whines so much. I don't want her to hurt herself, or us when we are trying to restrain her. I have tried reading up about this but all I find are very conflicting methods on how to address this behaviour. 

If anyone has advice or personal accounts of how they overcame this type of behaviour I would love to hear it!

Thanks again!
Sarah


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## Mary Beth (Apr 17, 2010)

For the pulling and lunging, I would use a front ring harness. It doesn't hurt her but works on the principle that dogs like to pull but not push against something. Also try keeping her more on a heel position, when you see another dog, immediately turn suddenly even right into her, zig zag, so she has to keep her attention on you and not the other dog. For the whining and barking, put your hand gently over her nose that has a quieting effect. It does a lot of time and work, but with consistent practice she will gradually improve


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

I have no idea what a front ring ring harness si?? But I do "know" you can't control/correct a dog on a harness! 

Personal I don't do any of the "stuff" your doing, I had people issues myself, my solution was "move on and ignore" and dogs/people are not your concern dog! 

That approached worked just find with my Human Aggressive GSD we ignored people ,we ignored other dogs! 

"Who pets..." it can be found here:
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/5296377-post8.html


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## Mary Beth (Apr 17, 2010)

Chip18 said:


> I have no idea what a front ring ring harness si?? But I do "know" you can't control/correct a dog on a harness!
> 
> Personal I don't do any of the "stuff" your doing, I had people issues myself, my solution was "move on and ignore" and dogs/people are not your concern dog!
> 
> ...


I use a front-ring harness on my Sting who is dog reactive. The harness works by pushing him back when he wants to lunge. That gives me control to then proceed with the command to either sit and watch me, or to heel and go around or in a different direction totally ignoring the other dog.


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

Mary Beth said:


> I use a front-ring harness on my Sting who is dog reactive. The harness works by pushing him back when he wants to lunge. That gives me control to then proceed with the command to either sit and watch me, or to heel and go around or in a different direction totally ignoring the other dog.


 I had no idea what that was...so:

The Pros and Cons of Different Dog Harnesses

I train my dogs the "loose leash" way. I can walk dogs at rescue (pullers ) with a flat collar or slip lead...doesn't matter to me. And my dogs can/could walk in a harness or with nothing at all.

Sorry if I offended! In the future I'll just say if it works for the handler go for it.


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## David Taggart (Nov 25, 2012)

"Front ring harness" is "no pull harness". It's when your dog, if wants to dash suddenly, reverts like a sport car on ice: no pull harness video - Bing Videos


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

David Taggart said:


> "Front ring harness" is "no pull harness". It's when your dog, if wants to dash suddenly, reverts like a sport car on ice: no pull harness video - Bing Videos


I see...now I'm being challenged to see if I'll keep my word??


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Sarah1555maya said:


> Hi there,
> 
> Our issue is when we walk her we never know what dog she is going to bark at or lunge at. Sarah


If she doesn't react to every dog she encounters, I suspect she is only reacting to dogs who engage with her first, even if it's just eye contact. If you could get her to focus on you with each encounter, you'd have this licked pretty quickly.


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## Sarah1555maya (Aug 14, 2014)

Thank you all for that input! I will give some of these things a try and report back! I had never heard of that type of harness either so I will have to check it out! thanks again


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