Long story short, Strider was attacked by two dogs in the same week a few weeks ago. One was another service dog in a store.
Since then, he has been reactive with certain dogs in certain situations. Mainly, if the other dog barks, or is posturing aggressively, Strider believes it is a dangerous threat and he will growl, bark back, and sometimes lunge if the other dog is straining at the end of it's leash trying to get him. He ONLY reacts however, if he is on leash and I am at the other end. I can turn him loose in the playfield with strange friendly dogs and he is totally fine just as he was before. My husband can walk him, and he doesn't do anything. Which at first was strange because he never listens to Robert. Robert is totally inconsistent with him and Strider doesn't have much respect for his leadership.
The conclusion we have come to is that Strider feels that:
A: posturing dogs are a threat
B: The baby and I need to be protected from that threat.
So, how do I go about teaching him that he doesn't need to protect us? He doesn't try to protect Robert, just the baby and me.
So far I have been taking him out just by myself, and working at a distance with other dogs. Redirecting aggressive staring by having him watch me, and doing little distractive obedience drills with really high value treats while other dogs approach. Then when they start to cross his tolerance threshold, I have him follow me the opposite direction with a "watch me" and "heel" with a fantastic toy/treat.
What else can I do? He has made a little progress, but I am so worried that one little setback will cause it all to backslide to where he gets even worse than he was before? Is there anything I am missing? Help!
Since then, he has been reactive with certain dogs in certain situations. Mainly, if the other dog barks, or is posturing aggressively, Strider believes it is a dangerous threat and he will growl, bark back, and sometimes lunge if the other dog is straining at the end of it's leash trying to get him. He ONLY reacts however, if he is on leash and I am at the other end. I can turn him loose in the playfield with strange friendly dogs and he is totally fine just as he was before. My husband can walk him, and he doesn't do anything. Which at first was strange because he never listens to Robert. Robert is totally inconsistent with him and Strider doesn't have much respect for his leadership.
The conclusion we have come to is that Strider feels that:
A: posturing dogs are a threat
B: The baby and I need to be protected from that threat.
So, how do I go about teaching him that he doesn't need to protect us? He doesn't try to protect Robert, just the baby and me.
So far I have been taking him out just by myself, and working at a distance with other dogs. Redirecting aggressive staring by having him watch me, and doing little distractive obedience drills with really high value treats while other dogs approach. Then when they start to cross his tolerance threshold, I have him follow me the opposite direction with a "watch me" and "heel" with a fantastic toy/treat.
What else can I do? He has made a little progress, but I am so worried that one little setback will cause it all to backslide to where he gets even worse than he was before? Is there anything I am missing? Help!