# Scared of other dogs



## serrahserrah (Mar 5, 2013)

My 8 month old pup has started showing fear towards other dogs. She was socialized young, and never had a problem until recently. Lots of trips to visit friends and walks at the park( Which she loves). However, the past few weeks she has been barking like mad at other dogs. It's not aggressive, and she usually warms up once they can sniff and say hello. I am concerned because it intimidates people and they look at me like I can't control my dog. We just had her spayed so I was hoping she was just warning off unwanted attention, but I have not seen a difference. She has a few friends she plays with regularly and never displays this type of behavior toward them..I am wondering if it can be situational. Seems to be when she is caught off guard by another dog she wants to dominate them. I have been practicing with her, doing the "watch me" command, and redirecting her attention and saying AH when I do so. She seems to respond sometimes but its not always. I hope that with time and patience she can overcome this..


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

Could just be frustration at wanting to meet but being held back on the leash. Hard to say for sure without seeing it first hand. 

If you have her on leash and can physically hold her back I wouldn't be terribly worried about what other people thought of it if I were you.


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## serrahserrah (Mar 5, 2013)

Yes, I always have control of her. Just worried if she does encounter an aggressive dog, how it will play out. Really, she is very playful and very well behaved for a puppy. I feel lucky this is the only behavioral issue we have had thus far


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

If she encounters an aggressive dog it probably wouldn't matter if she was well behaved or not, but I know what you mean. 

Does she lunge towards the other dog when she has her episodes? Try to be descriptive about how she acts when she is doing the barking.


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## serrahserrah (Mar 5, 2013)

Not usually lunging. She seems to get excited and then scared. She will mostly bark like crazy and kind of cling close to me. Her hair stands up, but then once she is away from the situation or can meet the dog she calms down. I notice stress signs after, if she is worked up..yawning, itching. Some other dog owners I have encountered don't even let their dog near her, so it's frustrating. She is just a puppy and still learning her manners


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## serrahserrah (Mar 5, 2013)

I should also mention I have a 3 year old daughter and it upsets her so much. Luna is so well behaved with her and dogs she knows so she is not used to seeing her act that way. So I'm dealing with her reaction as well. Basically I am training them both


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## lalachka (Aug 13, 2013)

My dog (8 months) acts the same way. I'm being told by multiple people (trainers included) that this is fear aggression that will escalate into fear biting if not dealt with. 

I've been trying to deal with it but it's not easy. Someone can hopefully give you some ideas but it's a long road. 


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## Dudes mom (Apr 25, 2013)

I was gonna reply to this post but I noticed that Cassidy's mom gave the same exact advice on another thread that I was gonna give  Check in the training and behavior section, how do I teach my dog to? and advice needed. Couldnt figure out how to post the link LOL!


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

If you are already having semi good results with the watch me command you might try to combine that with high value treats. This would mean you needing to have high value treats on you when you could run into a situation where your pup could run into other dogs, so it does require a little forethought, as well as a pair of pants or a treat pouch you don't mind getting steak or something like that on. 

The idea is basically this. Whenever you and your pup encounter another dog what you want to do is find the distance at which your dog starts to show stress. It sounds like you are already pretty good at reading your dog. That will be the threshold distance you will be working at. You get your dogs attention with watch me or the look command and take a treat in your hand and lure her around with it. If she is fixated on the other dog or won't take food just back away from the dog until she does and work at that distance. Another trick is to make the food "run away" from her when you lure. It will stack her prey drive, her play drive, and her desire to eat and have a better chance of breaking her fixation on the other dog. Eventually you want to decrease the distance at which she can get near to other dogs while still paying attention to you and your treats. This is a gradual process, but the end goal of this kind of training is to get the dog to start looking to you for high value treats when other dogs are around. This will prevent the fixation on the other dogs and the escalation to the kinds of behavior you are worried about. 

I do know a trainer that will take dogs with that kind of issue and make that kind of exercise the only opportunity the dog can eat until its issues are resolved. If the dog gets reactive after the basic rules of that situation are communicated to the dog then he will pull the dog away from the other dog and not feed the dog that day until they try the exercise again. The dog figures out really quick he needs to show manners if he wants what the trainer has. That said, he does purposely set this situation up with other dogs multiple times per day and that may or may not be an option for you. You might try a petsmart or petco in the evenings. If you find someone nice enough you can ask to use their dogs in the exercise. You have to work at multiple places though or you might end up with the dog just not being reactive at petsmart or wherever it was you trained.


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## Dudes mom (Apr 25, 2013)

Please don't let your pup go hungry for being afraid... Set up the scenarios carefully with people you know who's dogs you don't. Stay away from petsmart or petco for a while until your dog is socialized to ignore other dogs! It will take time but with patience it is possible. It's not necessary for your dog to want to be friends with every dog, just to be neutral to them.


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