How to deal with over-excitement around other dogs?
How to deal with over-excitement around other dogs?
Hi,
I have a nine-month old BC. Whenever we see another dog on the horizon, he gets out of control, meaning he is focused on the other dog, wants to go to them and pulls the leash to do so and doesn't listen to me. In the interaction with other dogs he is a ball of energy that doesn't come to a standstill, which eventually exhausts other dogs until they turn aggressive, because he doesn't leave them alone.
- What did I do wrong?
- How can I get him to be more calm?
- How can I get him to acknowledge boundaries, when other dogs signal their annoyance?
He also nips other dogs during play (herding behavior?). How can I get him to stop that and play with other dogs without using his teeth?
Any help is much appreciated :)
Hey! Best of luck to you here as this is definitely going to be a journey. I have a rescue husky that also deals with this issue.
One of the main things we have been working on is being able to just acknowledge that other dogs exist. This is helpful if you have a friend with a dog to work on this task.
You need to find his trigger point, basically how close can he get to the other dog before he starts getting excited? Once you have a baseline of how far away you need to start you can really start working on this. My dog and I play a distraction game (i.e. "find it" - throwing small treats in the grass) before he gets over threshold. Mind you this is still like 20 yards away from another dog, but you just have to do this and slowly work on getting closer.
Redirection is what Ive heard it called.
acknowledge that other dogs exist
This is what a trainer suggested and we are working on that. But once we are close enough he is out of control. How do I get him to interact more calmly with other dogs?
Thank you for sharing your work flow with your dog, this helps!
This is the hardest part, you have to find his threshold point. It might be a football field space away from the other dog. Playing games like "find it" help, or if you have your dog trained to "look", because then you can say "look at the other dog". Once he will look and not react you walk away and then next time move.slowly closer.
Acknowledge the other dog exists and reward him when he doesn't react.
You are dealing with what a BC was bread to do.
Go on YouTube and watch a few videos on redirection training.
Also, does your dog have a favorite activity? My GSD loves balls, so if I need to redirect her I can pull out a ball and she will focus on that. My dog is trained to sit and stay, so I will take out the ball, make sure she sees it, then I have her sit down or lay down. Only after she is in a down will I give her the ball.
Dogs don't need to play with other dogs, they really want to be with their people. They can be very enriched by playing with you and interacting with you in a positive manner. So if you take your BC to the dog park, plan to do activities with them that they love. They will.want to do that activity and will eventually ignore the other dogs.
Redirection Training
Thank you for the term! Now I know what to even look for :)
Dogs don’t need to play with other dogs, they really want to be with their people.
I've never viewed it like that. This is eye opening. Thanks!