I'm hoping you guys can help me out. It seems we're having some dog reactivity issues with Sierra.
She used to love all dogs, a little pushy when first meeting them, but never anything snarly or snappy.
Keep in mind while I'm explaining the situations, that this is only with dogs her height or taller. She LOVES small dogs, and immediately goes into play mode with them.
Anytime we're out on a walk, if there is a dog around and she can see it, all bets are off. I pretty much have to drag her in the other direction and even then she's turned facing the dog barking like a maniac. If I take her out to pee and there is a dog in the park across from our building, she focuses in and refuses to do anything other than stare and bark at the dog. I've tried bringing high-value treats, toys etc to distract her with, but she ignores EVERYTHING for a dog.
Meeting strange dogs is also getting precarious. At the store (I'm considering not bringing her to work anymore unless this can be resolved), she goes to greet a strange dog, and is fine for the initial sniff (though her hackles are up and her tail is out straight, so she's tense) and then she snarls and snaps at the unoffending other dog and I end up having to drag her away and tie her up.
Out on a walk, I get the same thing. Today we were run at by two off leash dogs, and she was NOT happy about it. They obviously just wanted to play and she was a snarly snapping beast. (Well, I wasn't too impressed that two dogs came running up to her either way, and the owners were completely dismissive, but what can you do).
With dogs she knows, no problems at all. And after the snarly snappy behaviour she settles down most of the time and accepts the other dog but not all the time. In daycare, she has a blast! So I don't know how to address this issue.
She used to love all dogs, a little pushy when first meeting them, but never anything snarly or snappy.
Keep in mind while I'm explaining the situations, that this is only with dogs her height or taller. She LOVES small dogs, and immediately goes into play mode with them.
Anytime we're out on a walk, if there is a dog around and she can see it, all bets are off. I pretty much have to drag her in the other direction and even then she's turned facing the dog barking like a maniac. If I take her out to pee and there is a dog in the park across from our building, she focuses in and refuses to do anything other than stare and bark at the dog. I've tried bringing high-value treats, toys etc to distract her with, but she ignores EVERYTHING for a dog.
Meeting strange dogs is also getting precarious. At the store (I'm considering not bringing her to work anymore unless this can be resolved), she goes to greet a strange dog, and is fine for the initial sniff (though her hackles are up and her tail is out straight, so she's tense) and then she snarls and snaps at the unoffending other dog and I end up having to drag her away and tie her up.
Out on a walk, I get the same thing. Today we were run at by two off leash dogs, and she was NOT happy about it. They obviously just wanted to play and she was a snarly snapping beast. (Well, I wasn't too impressed that two dogs came running up to her either way, and the owners were completely dismissive, but what can you do).
With dogs she knows, no problems at all. And after the snarly snappy behaviour she settles down most of the time and accepts the other dog but not all the time. In daycare, she has a blast! So I don't know how to address this issue.
Bring a dog or two (she'd be fine with the JRT's or whippets, they're smaller than her).
