07/12/2024
This is humorously exaggerated, but it is an excellent representation of what our dogs deal with from other dogs. Sometimes, our not is not the perpetrator but is simply reacting to the energy from the other dog. I worked with a client who was experiencing this exact thing.
Lucky, the golden retriever on my page from before, had no issues with other dogs and would pass them on the street with no problem. As we worked through our sessions and worked through Lucky's anxiety in the world, his confidence started to come up, and he began acting like a normal dog rather than an anxious and scared fella.
As Lucky's confidence rose, so did his personality, and he started to develop some growling (and I think barking) at certain dogs. It was not universal; only certain dogs triggered the action (or in Lucky's case, the *reaction*).
With the owner's permission for the exercise, I brought Athena to a training session with me. Even at less than a year old, she is very trained, balanced, and stable, making her an excellent control dog for evaluating dog-to-dog behaviors.
I started at a distance with Athena just walking by across the street- no reaction. Then I walked down the road, closer to Lucky and his owner- no reaction. Passed on the sidewalk- no reaction. Played follow the leader- no reaction. We even changed locations and tried all of these things again- absolutely no reaction. Lucky was calm and stable the whole time.
While I was talking with the owner about the evaluation and results, we had our dogs in a sit-stay and a down-stay by a parking lot. Without either of us noticing the approach, a lady with her German Shepherd approached from behind and walked around us at about 15 feet away. No reaction from Lucky happened at all. The German Shepherd was calm and stable just like Athena was in our exercises. Lucky didn't mind it at all.
Putting all of this together, I concluded that Lucky had not developed dog-aggression or territorial guarding. Lucky was simply responding to the energy from the other dog. Rather than always backing down and cowering away, Lucky had reached a state of confidence in himself that he was now telling mean dogs to buzz off. If a dog was calm and stable, Lucky had no care in the world about it. If the dog was giving the middle claw to the world like in this video, Lucky would respond back to it.
The owner and I agreed that after the evaluation and conclusion, the best thing for Lucky and his owner would be for them to use a structured walk to maintain control and avoid the problem dogs on the world.
Could we have trained a more neutral state of mind for Lucky? Yes, that would be possible. Do I have an out of control dog who gives the middle finger to everyone that I could use as a control dog for that type of training? No. Am I willing to hunt down those dogs amd use them as training aids while in the hands of the unequipped owner of said problem dog? Not at all. The risks of that are not worth the small reward in training.
This was one of the very few- and very specific- times I recommended avoidance over training. Lucky had made great strides in his leash-walking skills, so I knew if the owner gave him the "Sco" (let's go) command and turned away from the problem dog, Lucky would follow right along- and he does.
The point of all this is that we can't fairly expect our dogs to enjoy every dog they come across in the world when dogs exist like what the guy in this video is doing. After all, do you want to be friends with a guy who walks around the neighborhood telling everyone to F-off? Our dogs done either.
Thank you for your time.
