Some of you very kindly posted advice for me a while back reguarding my little 8 month old Staffie Ruby. You may remember we had a problem with her being aggressive towards other dogs following her being attacked at a training class.

Well I thought I would post a follow up to let you know how she is getting on. I am SOOOOO pleased with her! We took her last week to see a wonderful trainer/behaviourist called David Appleby. I cant recommend this man highly enough, he was superb. Ruby arrived at his clinic ready to do battle, as it is held at the RSPCA in Leicester and there was lots of dogs about. She barked for England and was totally stressed out, but after an hour with him she was chasing a ball and wagging her tail!!

He taught us some techniques to try with Ruby when we see other dogs approaching and so far its working a treat! A tiny Yorkshire Terrier appeared from no where outside our house yesterday and ran up to Ruby, it even tried to follow us in to the house! And what did Ruby do?...nothing!! She sniffed it and went into the house! Then on her walk she had to walk past an off lead poodle, she got her heckles up and looked ready to bark at it, but I distracted her as Mr Appleby had shown me, and it worked!

I know its early days and I doubt if Ruby will ever REALLY love other dogs but this is such amazing progress, it really gives me hope. A few days ago we couldnt even walk past another dog without Ruby barking and growling so I cant tell you what a relief it is to see some improvement.

So, light at the end of the tunnel :) My little dog who has always been so perfect in the home now looks like she may be a pleasure to walk outside the home too. I was starting to think we would never be able to enjoy our walks, but now I think it will be ok if we keep up her training. Many thanks to all of you who offered such great advice to me when I needed it most. :D

Helen

Brilliant news, Helen! I couldn't be more delighted for you - especially as it's "one in the eye" for a certain poster!! ;) :p
:)

Lolololol...now I wonder who you could possibly be referring to!!

Yes, thank you, it is such a relief. He was expensive to see, almost £100, but worth every penny :)

Helen

Really pleased for both of you Helen :)
Well done Ruby !!!

Thanks lel, I havent forgotten all your good advice either. :D

Helen

Well done, it;s nice to see a positive post. Good luck to you and Ruby.

Karen

Im so pleased for you and little Ruby, long may it continue. :D

I'm delighted for you and this has given me hope. I will certainly enrol my dog into a class (my vet has recommended one) as he has these aggressive tendencies. If I could just walk past another dog without mine throwing a wobbly it would make my day. Most other owners are very sympathetic but some are more aggressive than my/their dogs!! I'll let you know how I get on.

CG

Oh well done - i am so pleased you have posted about your visit and have been able to prove that owners don't have to use harsh corrrections to see a great improvement with dog aggressive dogs :)

So often it is understanding what the dog is thinking, why it is reacting, and how to train that underpins all the success. And then owner committment and faith and sticking at it (as there may be the odd bad day, we all have them!)

And isn't it great for Ruby :) - yay, she is learning how to behave, what you want of her, getting rewards in the process and is experiencing so much less stress :)

I hope things continue to improve for you and Ruby :)

Best wishes
Lindsay
XXX

Please do let us know how you get on Copper Girl.

I really thought that Ruby had little hope of changing, I had tried so many things and was quite depressed, I even started to dread walking her which I feel sure she picked up on, now I cant wait to take her out :D

We just got in from the park a few minutes ago and Rubys crashed out on the setee ( I know but I hadnt the heart to move her :) ) she is knackered from chasing her ball. There were two other dogs close by, she looked at one of them and started to get a bit nervous, but I tried the distraction exercise and she just ignored the other dog totally. Because of this I am also becoming more relaxed on our walks, so it is better for both of us, and she wont get nervous signals from me. Prior to this I was so stressed even my hair was clenched! lol...

She wagged her tail and carried her ball all the way home looking all pleased with herself, it was a joy to see. She has really turned a corner, and hopefully will continue to improve every day.

Thanks all :D

Helen

Ladymojo

My entire male dog has also come through a dog aggression problem but still can't cope with seeing a couple of specific male dogs in the area so we have to avoid them like the plague.

I would be interested to hear more details on the distraction exercises you are using? :)

e.g. is it just squeaking a ball; getting dog to look at you etc or is there something more comprehensive? Have you been using a Gentle Leader/Halti?

What have you been doing if your dog has already seen the other dog and gone into posturing mode? ie gone DEAF?? Presumably you get her away quickly but were you advised otherwise?

many thanks
Cissy
PS if you are with PetPlan they should cover the cost of the behaviourist less the excess.

Hi Cissy

What it involved was doing an exercise many times with Ruby on the lead in a controlled environment. We had 2 balls, a 'rogue' one and her fav one. One of us would gently roll the rogue ball in front of Ruby, and as she lunged to get it the other person would hold her still on the lead ( not pull her just hold steady) whilest quietly saying the word 'off' until she turned away from the rogue ball to face him. As soon as she turned from the rogue ball she was rewarded with a play with her fav ball. We repeated this alot until Ruby automatically turned away as soon as the word 'off' was used.

Eventually she even turned away from it before the word 'off' was even used! She then progressed to standing in front of a window where dogs often walked by...as soon as she barked or lunged at passing dogs, the word 'off' was used again, causing her to turn away from the other dogs and look for her ball, which she was then rewarded with. The idea being that she will eventually associate othe r dogs with fun and potential reward for good behaviour. So far it has worked exceptionally well. I feel sure you could try the same exercise with whatever treat your dog favours, not neccessarily a ball, which happens to be Rubys favourite treat :)

Hope this helps.

Helen

thanks Helen - that sounds pretty good.
We've used "off" with treats to stop him scavenging when he was a pup and it worked then [though on rare occasions he will still pick up something dodgy, give me a cheeky look and run away with it :rolleyes:].
I was trying to use "leave" for other dogs but it just hasn't had the same impact as "off" so we will try using that from now on even if it is multipurpose.
His recall from running up to dogs [i.e. pre-emptive] is getting quite good so I'm pleased. However, I would love to get him to stop lungeing at this lot of specific hated dogs - don't hold much hope though as they are dogs that kicked off at him first so think he has remembered them all as things to be feared. Otherwise he is a lovely good-natured dog [corgi].

Best wishes :)
Cissy

Hi Cissy

I think you may be plesently suprised at how effective it is :)

Believe me, only a couple of weeks ago I was very uncertain that Ruby would ever be able to walk past another dog, the change in her is quite unbelievable. We went to the park again today and Ruby was off lead playing fetch, there was a collie dog playing the same game near by, a big Lab walked past her, and two other little dogs on a lead went past and she didnt bat an eyelid. She looked once at the collie then got on with her game, it is as if something inside her just clicked.

I also feel certain that my being more relaxed has something to do with it, I no longer tighten the lead and tense up when I see another dog coming and Im sure she senses that.

Perhaps you tense up (understandably) when you see the other dogs you mention approaching? Your dog will sense that and react accordingly as mine did. Try the exercise and stick with it, practice it daily as I am doing and I feel sure that it will help.

Good luck :D

Helen

Hi Ladymojo

So glad you got the help you were looking for for Ruby. I find it really interesting that the method used to counter condition her aggressive behaviour is one based on 'positive reinforcement'. I gather from another thread that you are using distraction = reward. Well done - and if you had followed a certain piece of advice you would no longer have a dog at all. Isn't it wonderful when you persevere with your gut feeling and it starts to pay off!!

thats great news:)just goes to show theres nothing better then hands on training:) well done xxxxladyxxx