Territorial Aggression directed towards neighbor's dog, Help, anyone?

[JackHeather]

Hey, I'm knew to this forum and I'm getting a little frazzled by my dogs behavior. Hes about 9 months old and hes a small dog, meaning his training as already been more difficult, but so far I have felt like I've done an ok job.

He does get territorial over the front porch that my neighbor and I share and which my dog spends a lot of his time on. About 2 months ago my neighbor get a puppy himself and my dog cannot stomach it. I've tried having us both just spend time on the porch together and trying to get them used to eachother and tried to scold him when he reacts in a way I find unacceptable. I do not hit him and I try to find out what will set him at ease but he still gets very agitated when this puppy is around on the porch and he has tried to attack her.

I make sure to not let anything escalate, but he needs to learn that other dogs on the porch are ok. I've tried giving treats but maybe I haven't done it consistently enough. Perhaps if I just tried to make him respond to commands when she is around and rewarding him with treats when he does what I ask?

Has anyone had this problem and if so what have you done to rectify it? Any suggestions?

Thankyou in advance for any help you can give!

[Doberluv]

First of all, by punishing him and trying to make him cognitive of your human view of "acceptable," you have probably, inadvertantly caused the situation to worsen. When you scold your pup in the presence of the other pup or his owner, you are essentially telling him that the neighbors are awful, bad, scary and he should make them go away by acting like that. Whenever you use punishment, you run the risk of the dog making an association to whatever may be in his environment. They do not think on our terms as far as our morals or values. He's a dog and learns and thinks like a dog.

What you need to do now, is turn that bad, rotten puppy and his owner into the most fantastically great guys to have around. You'll need some distance at first. Ask your neighbor to help you. He can stand away as far as it takes to stay under your pup's threshold. That is...enough distance that your dog doesn't react. Don't wait around for long to see if he'll react. If he can see the other pup without a big hullabaloo, even for one second, mark that second with a "yessss!" and give him a high value treat...something he loves. (Google clicker training to find out what I mean about marking behavior) When he is accepting this pup and his owner at that distance, have them move a little closer, but not coming head on at you.

If you have lots of space, like in a big field, you can stand far apart and walk parallel, back and forth, in opposite directions, gradually closing the distance, marking the good behavior and treating him very, very frequently as he looks at the other dog but doesn't react too much. Reward even for improvement. Keep him below his threshold for snarkiness. Don't rush ahead and set him up to fail. Set him up to succeed. The more chances he gets to succeed and be reinforced, the better he'll learn.

You can also take both dogs for a walk on leashes where you two humans are in the center and the dogs on the outside. Can you get your neighbor to go for a walk with you? Walk briskly, give treats for nice behavior and have fun, relax and don't punish or get uptight if he misbehaves. Often, walking somewhere together parallel really helps. The dogs get interested in new sights and smells and get so they can tolerate each other.

Spend weeks working on this. It won't likely turn around right away. Consistency... lots of reinforcement (steak, hot dogs tid bits, chicken...tiny pieces and lots of them) and if I were you, I'd get a book on behavior and how to work through these things. Click to Calm, by Emma Parsons is a good one.

It may be that your pup didn't get enough socialization around other pups or people. (?) Get him out more, but make absolutely sure he has no frightening experiences. If you frightened him by scolding him around other dogs or people, this can be part of the problem.

Not all dogs are going to love all dogs. That's just the way it is. You can't expect him to get along with every dog. But try to select dogs that are tolerant and gentle for him to get together with. Don't associate with unknown dogs who may be dangerous to him.

That's all I can think of for now....Let us know how things go.

[jschofield09]

About aggression, I have also experience that to my dog. I think its normal. I have seen a video in you tube talking about how to stop dog aggression. Check out!

YouTube - How To Stop Dog Aggression

[JackHeather]

I see what you're saying about taking walks with my neighbor, and I could arrange that and will probably try it, but it isn't about the specific dog, it's about the specific place. He reacts fine to the dog and the neighbor off of the porch and he reacts happily to the neighbor all the time, even on the porch. I have tried out just distracting him and giving him commands and treats while they are on the porch and that seemed to work out really well...

[Doberluv]

Well good. Just keep trying to make your dog see that his dog, even on the porch makes treats, toys and all good things drop from Heaven. And when his dog isn't on the porch, it's not that fun of a place. There are no treats or anything that exciting. In other words, tie together his dog on the porch and good times. And no punishment because that tells your dog that his dog on the porch equals a really rotten time. I think with good handling, he'll get use to the other dog on the porch.

[Dekka]

Originally Posted by jschofield09

About aggression, I have also experience that to my dog. I think its normal. I have seen a video in you tube talking about how to stop dog aggression. Check out!

YouTube - How To Stop Dog Aggression

umm NO that makes things worse in the long run. to the OP please don't try to do it this way. All this does is suppress the reaction till the dog is so upset they then 'bite out of nowhere' or redirect to you or another person.


Doberluvs advice is awesome!