Hi all,

I have a young border terrier, and a westie cross who is 16 months. When we go out for walks my westie cross walks perfectly nect to me, hardly pulls, if i stop, he stops and hell wait perfectly when we cross the road etc.

On the other hand, I have my border, who is the complete oppisite! As soon as he spots a dog, no matter how far away it may be, he begins to cry and scream, and gets very anxious, or it may be described as excited (part of the problem is that i dont really know what the noise he makes means!) As we get closer to the dog, he will be pulling, and the noise getting louder. When we are within 25 feet of the dog, he just goes crazy! He is barking, growling, jumping, you name it!

It is not being done in aggression, he is not an aggressive dog, which makes it more frustrating! When we are at home, he is the most laid back dog i've ever come across, he is more than happy to lay on your lap all day and night, and just plays nicely with my westie cross. The problem is, to the owners of the dogs he is barking at, he must lok terrible. He has never had a response from another dog, which makes you think that he would have given up, but, sort of confirms what i'm saying about him not being aggressive with the sound effects, as whatever he is saying, doesn't seem to bother the ant other dogs!

The problem then, is that hes wound my other dog up, and they start to bark at eachother, or join forces and bark and jump at the poor dog on the other side of the road. I hate to think what it must look like to the other owners - they must all dread seeing us! for that 1 minute i have no control whatsoever, and that is not a nice feeling! As soon as we are past the dog, everything goes back to being fine, no pulling (unless he sees a tree or lamppost he thinks were going to miss). Then, it starts again when the next dog comes along.

Im completely out of ideas. Ive tried to stop and calm him down, hold him so that he can watch the dog and see that there is nothing to be mad/upset/excited about. Ive tried to just keep walking and ignore him, drag him along the pavement until were past the dog. This is not a problem with people on bikes, people on foot, buggies, children.... and believe it or not, he doenst even react like this when we see a cat... he is quite happy to walk straight past a cat! Ive had them both from 7 or 8 weeks old, and they havent had a bad experience.

Does anyone have the same problems, or any ideas that could help me... and keep my blood pressure down while we walk!??!

Thank you in advance!

Do you ever walk them separately? I just wondered how he reacts when he's on his own.

Yes, I've tired waling them seperatly, he is exactly the same! And, my westie cross (Taz) is fine, he doesn't give a reaction to anything when he is on his own - but if my border (Barney) is with him, he seems to join in!

Hello !

I also have a BT, and have experienced similar problems (although I'm sure it's not exclusive to BT's!!). Off lead he is wonderful, ignores other dogs even if they knock him over having a chase, he's very laid back about it. However, on the lead has had it's trials. He was fine up to about 18 months of age, but after that began to behave badly towards other dogs we met (not all but most - he's always had a fear of GSD's but that's another story). He would bark and pull and although I don't know if it was out of aggression or fear it wasn't acceptable behaviour. It got to the stage where I would get butterflies in my tummy if I saw another dog because I knew what was going to happen. After months of panicking everytime we went out I asked advice. It turned out to be quite a simple thing to control, but one which I still use. It was pointed out to me that everytime I saw another dog I would automatically tense up which my boy could sense through the lead, of course I would also pull him back to me. All this was telling him was that the dog coming towards him was one to be afraid of. This in turn would worry him and he would decide to 'get in there' and show that he was the boss. Now though, when I see another dog coming towards us I just chill !. It probably sounds funny to people nearby but I just talk to him very calmly, telling him about the 'lovely dog we can see' and instead of pulling him back, I offer him a treat as soon as he sees the dog, which means the lead slackens as he turns to me to get it. I keep doing this until the dog has passed and if he ignores the dog completely he gets tons of praise afterwards. Sometimes I'll even stop walking and just calm him, 9 times out of 10 he's just interested in the treats !.It's got to the stage now that when he sees another dog he'll turn and look at me first and I can reassure him that it's ok. I sometimes explain to the other owners why I'm doing it and they then quite often make sure their dog doesn't get too close.
I know not all dogs are the same and your boy may be doing it for another reason. It's worth a try though and if he's anything like my BT the treats will always win !.

Val.

That's excellent advice, Val, and I'm delighted it's working. :)

My 14 month old GSD is exactly the same. People look at you as if to say, you should not have that vicious dog out. Unfortunateley my dog will not be distracted with a treat. She is so wound up that nothing will distract her. Walks are now very unpleasant always with the dread of meeting another dog. No one seems to have the answer. We had a one to  one session with an experienced handler from our training club He took over and at first passing of another dog, she still created like she does with us. He gave some sort of correction with the lead and the second time dogs passed she stayed in the sit position and just gave a low growl. I would be happy with this but we must be doing it wrong. Will have to have another session and ask him to see what we are doing wrong.

My BT is the same as all of these dogs - when it comes to other dogs in the street or on walks he can't be distracted.  If he sees a dog he wants to go for it.  The only thing I can do is keep him on the lead full time, which he doesn't actually mind although he does prefer to run around off the lead when the situation allows.  He is a fantastic dog in a small family environment, couldn't fault him.

He's been trained one to one - perfect.  He's been to classes - perfect and got a prize.  Goes out with me - horrible.  So I accept he sees me as I don't know what but a passport to misbehave.  I personally am "managing" my own situation by driving to the wilderness for walks, but that is not the solution.  I don't know what the answer is with my own dog but be assured you are not alone and I for one sympathise :)

CG

I had a similar problem with a foster dog and solved it by training him to stay at heel no matter what!  I used to take him to a local park with a flower garden where there were lots of paths diverting through flower beds and rose gardens but luckily not many dogs!  I would start walking and everytime we came to a fork in the path or change of direction would hesitate just slightly to see which way he would go then I went the other way.  He learned to follow the path of my chosing not his.  i did this relentlessly adding a 'this way' command with every change.  Then I started back in the park where other dogs were.  If he got excited by an approaching dog I gave my 'this way' command and changed direction.  He soon learned that the only way he got to meet other dogs head on was by being  calm and under control.  He went from a monster that I walked on two leads (one clipped to his collar and one to a harness!) to the most well behaved dog who socialised with other dogs beautifully.   With him his lunging, barking and pulling was excitment at wanting to get to the other dogs but from a handler poiht of view it is irrelevant what the motive is - the dog needs to learn a more managable approach.

Had to reply to this post as exactly like my border...  With her it's absolutely excitement and not aggression.  Off the lead she doesn't scream, but she still gets v excited and can't be trusted not to run off to join other dogs.  She'll then wriggle up to them on her belly before jumping all over them, whether they want her to or not (growling at her seems to make her even more crazy!) - so I tend to keep her on the lead unless it's a dog we already know.  I also sometimes get her to sit by my feet and talk quietly to her til the object of excitement has passed.  However this doesn't really work as she only stops screaming because I'm holding her.

Sorry not to be more encouraging.  She has improved a bit since she was a puppy.  If you find the answer, let me know!

No answer to our problem then, no more advice? Have tried rescue remedy spray in an effort to calm her down before walks but made no difference. In any other situation she will do a down/stay for up to 20 mins, even if I leave the room and I'm out of sight but when another dog is in sight I've no chance. Unfortunateley our one to one trainer is on hols at the moment so will have to wait for his return for further tuition. As you can appreciate people are scared when she does this (picture in your mind a sixty one year old lady hanging on like grim death to a large german shepherd, and only just managing to hold her whilst she is barking and growling). I feel so sorry for her as she is obviously distressed. If we had a large garden I would be inclined not to take her out attall and just play and exercise in our own garden but we only have a small backyard so this is not an option. She does have doggy friends however, my daughter has a german shepherd x dalmation, and she has played with her since we brought her home. She did have a phase where she would play far too rough with my daughters ageing dog but has seemed to calm down now and will play gently under supervision. There are also a few doggy friends at the park and so long as she is off lead she will play chase with them, no problem. Her problem is only on lead.  

Hi Gaby

I would recommend changing trainers because the one you have won't have helped any esp. if the dog's problem is due to fear and she has learnt to scare others away and each time, in her eyes, that appears to work. The trainer telling her off with a collar jerk wont help her (the most it may do is stop her reacting but then you have a dog who is unpredictable).What you probably need is someone with well trained stooge dogs or who runs a rehab group - not sure where you are, but take a look at www.dog-partnership.co.uk to start. I've also PMd you.

Hth
Lindsay
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