Please can someone help me out here.

My 6 year old highly strung, JRT bitch reacts to some dogs and more so when owners put their dog on a lead. She will pull on the lead, then start barking and squealing as they go by and goes into a complete frenzy and heavily panting, which then sets my other JRT dog off. This can occasionally escalate with them turning on each other. On rare occasions I have let her say hello to another dog and it looks as though she is telling them off (all teeth, but has never bitten). This has led me to not completely trusting her, so often I do not let her say hello, as I'm unsure as to how she will react. This is worsened when people just walk by, but is often diffused when we stop and chat. She is fine with smaller breeds and it's often larger dogs that appear to be really calm and friendly. I don't know whether she's pulling as she just wants to say hello, as she is very sociable. If she sees a dog in the near distance she goes into high alert, on her back legs, taking on the form of a meerkat.

But this is becoming rather a concern, as I don't want her to ever hurt another dog or for a dog to turn on her one day.

I have tried coaxing her with treats, trying to distract etc, but am now at a loss. I even got my friend to take hold of her today, when another dog was going past and she still over-reacted.

You are too close to other dogs to make any progress, whatever approach you use.  Her stress levels are high, so you need to address that first.  Get to grips with trigger stacking: every exposure to other dogs brings a chunk of stress with it, and each chunk of stress builds on the last and takes time to dissipate.  That time can be hours, days or longer for a particularly stressed dog.  Different dogs will equate to different amounts of stress (e.g. typically, a bouncy puppy is MUCH more stressful than a sedate oldie).

With that in mind, the first thing you need to do is give her a break!  A week or so without meeting dogs, or as few/far away as possible, to allow her stress level to drop back down to normal levels.  Then she (and you) will be in a much better place to begin work.

Step one is keeping her at a distance where she is not concerned about other dogs.  It might take a bit of experimentation to find that distance, and bear in mind the different type of dogs thing: she might cope at 50ft for a pup but be able to get to 20ft for a sedate oldie.

Then, you begin counterconditioning: pair the appearance of dogs with something great (play or fuss can work, but food tends to be the most effective and quickest).  Every time she catches sight of a dog, start delivering the great thing and stop as soon as they are gone (known as the open car/closed bar method).

At some point, she will begin looking to you for the great thing when she sees other dogs and now, you can begin to move closer, keeping an eye on her body language.  All the time she is happy and relaxed, reward her: now you are starting to reward her for being calm and relaxed around other dogs, so that is what will continue.  If at any point she tense up or begins to react proper, back off and try again later.  Reward literally anything that isn't a reaction: sniffing the ground, turning away, looking away, watching without being tense, looking at you, etc etc - anything.  It's all good!

Have a look at the BAT method of rehab for reactive dogs and teach yourself about counterconditioning and desensitisation.  These work whether she is over excited or scared - both will help teach her to calm down and relax around other dogs, without putting any dog at risk.  It's all about working at her pace, at the distances she is happy with, and not pushing her too fast so she feels she needs to react.

Another useful tool is 'click the trigger' or the 'engage-disengage game', both of which I believe are included in the most up to date BAT book, although they've been around for a while - I use both for all reactive dogs I work with, as well as in foundation work for recall from other dogs and animals.

Hi Nikita,

Many thanks for the good advice. I will certainly look into the BAT method that you have recommended.

Hi Nikita,

I just wanted say how well it's going with the BAT technique that you recommended. It's very early days, but already I have noticed an improvement. I've cut their food in half to compensate for all the treats they're now receiving.
It's been tricky avoiding other dogs, but I'm trying hard to give as much space as possible - I just cannot believe how well she's responding! Black Labradors send her into one of the biggest frenzies and she didn't bark or squeal at the one we passed nearby today.
I've also bought them both Thundershirts. When I first put it on her she laid flat out on my Mum for almost 2 hours and didn't move a muscle. It's so wonderful to see a more relaxed dog. Has anyone else purchased these shirts and if so, what results have you had with them?

Many thanks again.

Fantastic!  So glad you're having such great results already

I'm not a huge fan of thundershirts personally, I know they can be immensely helpful for some dogs; I just haven't seen those results myself.  The velcro is the issue for me - so much of it and so noisy, I've known dogs with zero noise sensitivities freak out the first time the shirt is removed and that's any usefulness done with.  Before I took Phoebe on we tried one in her last home and the difference was startling - until we took it off!  She's never let me put anything on her except a harness since.  She just gets super anxious.

If a version was made without a ton of velcro then I would look at them again I think.  A friend was working on one with the same material but with ties, I must check in and see if she got anywhere with it.

I do agree that there is an immense amount of velcro and is very noisy when removed. However, both of mine are not so noise sensitive, so I'm fortunate. The ties sound an excellent idea though.
My friend's Black Russian Terrier is extremely sensitive to noise and was thinking of purchasing one - she may need to think again!

Hi,

Well, a few weeks on and my highly strung JRT is responding so well. Most of the time she is now running back to me, will look up at me and appears to be asking my permission to go and say hello to other dogs. The results have been amazing, so thank you for the excellent advice. She hasn't gone for another dog since this training and is now responding well to larger dogs. I just cannot believe the difference.
We've had a couple of set backs with large unruly dogs running full pelt at us, but fortunately this doesn't happen too often.

One question however, is with regard to my other JRT 'food obsessive' dog, who has been getting the same treats during this training. He has a tendency to put on the anchors when he feels he would like another treat. This happens on the morning walk and in the exact same places. I thought at first that he may not like walking through the dewy grass at 7am, as he's not like this in the afternoon, but I'm suspicious!!! I don't want to pull him, but can't think of how to coax him forward without food.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.