Meghan Posted January 3, 2022 Report Share Posted January 3, 2022 Our Bailey is 16 months old now and has recently regressed in terms of his leash reactivity. We're hoping this particular bad patch could be in part down to adolescence? He's always been a bit leash reactive, our fault for mis-socialising him as a pup. Due to covid and lockdowns, we over did it trying to make sure we socialised him and let him greet every dog on lead. From there he became a frustrated greeter, very overexcited amd wanting to meet every dog. We worked with a behavioural trainer at engage-disengage/look at that with good results, although it's still a work in progress. But, over the last few months it's changed from what seemed like overexcitement to becoming very barky, with some growling or lunging. He's not an aggressive dog at all, and if he was allowed to meet the dog on leash he'd sniff them and then be fine, but it comes across horrible. Unfortunately our trainer has not been able to work with him the last few months, although we're seeing her again soon. We have been a bit slack keeping up with engage/disengage training so we're picking that up again, and keeping our distance from other dogs on lead to try and keep Bailey below threshold. As we don't have a nearby dog we can practice with, I plan to take him somewhere where we can sit at a distance and see dogs walk past, and reward him with high value treats, then slowly decrease the distance. Similar conditioning training to how we made him comfortable with traffic. Otherwise, he's a really wonderful and affectionate dog (other than alarm barking at the door, and horses, which we're working on). Off lead, he's great with other dogs, no issues whatsoever. We'd really appreciate any advice to help us and him work through this We're planning to have him neutered in the next couple of months, do you think that could help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted January 3, 2022 Report Share Posted January 3, 2022 No idea if neutering would help, but I wouldn't count on it. And Bailey might be a dog who just isn't comfortable around other dogs. Or might like some and not others. My personal belief is that dogs don't need to play with other dogs. Border collies in particular are bred to work as a team with a human. You can try doing more with him yourselves, (trick training, add some more manners in there, etc). Try letting go of the expectation that he would needs to play with other dogs. We've bred dogs for centuries to be companions to humans. Focus on that. Ruth & Gibbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meghan Posted January 3, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2022 Hi Ruth, To clarify, Bailey LOVES other dogs, and will happily run around a play with them when he's off lead. He's never snapped at another dog and will just walk away if he's had enough. The only issues we have are when he's on lead and we're walking around the neighbourhood. It's purely leash reactivity, not reactive to dogs in general. He is our companion, but walking can be very stressful if he reacts to another dog while on lead, for both him amd for us. We avoid it as much as possible and turn around/go a different way if we see another dog coming, but sometimes get caught out. Meghan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted January 3, 2022 Report Share Posted January 3, 2022 Thanks for the further info. Is there a trainer in your area who could help you? Ruth & Gibbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albuquerquedan Posted January 3, 2022 Report Share Posted January 3, 2022 Meghan -- I have complete sympathy with your situation. I have an 18-month-old who does perfectly well off leash, but is a bit of a nightmare on the leash when we walk by other dogs. The only way that I can keep my guy focused on me when we're walking past other dogs is to have a pocket full of treats that I generously dole out when he's walking by my side and making eye contact with me. Maybe try distracting him with treats like I do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Elle Posted January 8, 2022 Report Share Posted January 8, 2022 I know I am coming in a bit late here, but just want to say that KIKOPUP has some very good training videos on YouTube that deal with on-leash reactivity and also reactivity in general. I highly recommend her. The videos are clear, concise, include demonstration, and she doesn't ever waste your time with chatter or promotion, but gets right to the point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meghan Posted January 9, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2022 Thanks all! We saw our trainer last week and have another session this week. Typically he was an A* pupil didn't the session, and didn't react once...! It was good to remind him, and me, of the reactivity/desensitisation 'game' we play and we're putting it back into practice again on our usual walks. He's not a particularly treat orientated dog, but he's responding well to the game/success as the reward, rather than just food. I'd say he's currently reacting to 75% of dogs we see at night, and maybe 40% during the day. Although, we went for a run today and he only reacted to 1 dog out of 6 We're working towards a 75% success rate (ie, 25% reactivity only) to help reinforce the training. Still a way to go yet, but seeing as he was reacting 95% of the time (on lead) before, we're on the right track again! And I'll be sure to check out Kikopup, thanks for the tip! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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