Distracted by other dogs - Page 2

Furthermore to my topic, my boy at 8 weeks old when we first picked him up from the breeder was scared of adult dogs. We have also a Golden Retriever who is now 6 years old and is very placid, gentle and friendly. The first moment our little GSD puppy layed eyes opon our Golden in the back yard, he dropped to the ground squealing in fright as if someone had chopped his leg off which was unusual. He cried like that for about two days anytime our Golden looked at him???. This behaviour soon passed, and our two dogs are the best of friends. Our Golden is the boss and keeps our GSD inline if play becomes too rough. Our GSD has never shown any aggression towards our Golden. If our Golden has had enough of playing and bears his teeth, our GSD backs off and quietens down.

At about 4 months of age, the breeder came to visit our GSD to see him. She called him to her where he responded and just before he reached arms distance for her to pet him, he stopped in his tracks squealed at the top of his voice and ran back behind my legs shaking and was sick (vomited). He has no stomach issues, he's perfect in that regard???. It seemed he had recalled some bad experience connected with the breeder and the kennel perhaps???. She had his mother and another five or six aldult GSD's at the kennel with 30years of reputable breeding experience with GSD's. Finally he allowed her to approach and pet him, but he was nervous and wary unlike his reaction to anyone else. Did perhaps one of the breeders adult GSD's attack him as a tiny puppy where she intervened???. She didn't offer any explanation for the behaviour/incident that occurred,

At 6 months of age, he slipped out of the car when arriving home once, chased a girl on the street with a Beagle on a leash, knocked the Beagle over and stood over it growling and barking. It was a scary incident confirming that he didn't like other dogs which didn't encourage us to socialise him with dogs properly as we probably should have, but we have no reason in our lifestyle for a necessity for him to accept other dogs as he doesn't come in contact with them, other than walks on the leash which we thought we could train him out of the pulling and lunging etc. There has been a few occassions where unleashed dogs have approached him/us on walks where  pure luck in chasing away the other dog prevented our boy mounting a serious attack on them. 

The best to date we have achieved is to make him sit when a dog approaches which he does until the dog is about 20 feet away then he lunges barks, pulls ignoring every command he has learned. Food treats won't distract him either, as his mind is fixated on the other dog. There is a distance away probably 200 yards where he will watch another dog in the distance but will respond to commands and behave, he won't take off and chase it, it's a closer proximity thing. He did the same with other people for a while, but trained that out of him completely, even off leash now with a "leave it" command, he will walk by our side, cats, birds he would love to chase, but he responds to commands excect for other dogs.

Strangely, the only time "ever" he didn't react badly towards another dog was another GSD that was approaching on a leash. Both began to pull towards each other initially, then stood still staring at each other at 20 feet distance. My boy responed to the "leave it" command and continued on as he does when people approach. It's the only time we have ever encountered another GSD on a walk, I don't know if dogs recognise same breeds in their mentality???

 











 

Thank you to all who provided some advice it was very much appreciated.

Just as an update, we have taken several walks since I posted this question and the with the "leave it" command and swiftly moving in another direction just as he is about to pull on the leash is working well with an good improvement. This afternoon walking, a lady with another dog was walking about 50yards in front of us where he pulled forwards for a short time as I expected and with the "leave it" command and sharp snap on the leash a few times, he eased off on the leash and walked properly by my side. We followed this woman for about half a mile where he lost interest in the dog up front and settled down.

I think previously I had overly avoided other people with dogs to prevent him from misbehaving making another dog a novelty for him to come in close contact with instead of accepting that dogs are members of the community. The command and correction seems to work best at the moment the distraction catches his attention and he moves off his path of travel. Catching him at the"exact" moment he intended to pull away seems the best correction.

For some reason, he is more controllable off leash than on, not that I intend to try and completely trust him off leash yet in case it all turns bad and he takes off to chase something. At times he has been off leash and a dog has unexpectedly appeared, he saw it, began to move and stops in his tracks with the "wait" command for me to clip on his leash. Soon as the leash go on and he is restrained, he would immediately pull and bark ignoring every command he knows???. It's like the more he is leash restrained and pulled back, the more he want's to "get em" so to speak???.