How to stop a dog from being aggressive towards other dogs :(

[Mocha&Leroy]

Leroy is afraid of everything (including his own shaddow). If another dog runs up to us when we are on a walk, Leroy will get very aggressive biting growling etc. In the past few days 2 diferent dogs have run up to us off leash. I can grab leroy and prevent him from grabbing the other dog. It is a struggle but I manage (I also have our other dog to control). Well last night another dog got loose and ran towards us. Leroy started barking and biting and growling, but the other dog wasn't scared and kept coming at Leroy. The other dog circled Leroy several times and I heard it yelp a few times (this whole interaction lasted several minutes). I even stepped in front of Leroy to try to seperate them (learned that from a training book) and it did nothing, Leroy even lunged forward to get the other dog. I didn't see any blood, and the dog seemed unaffected, so while it is possible that leroy just stepped on the dog or scared it is more likely that one of his bites made contact. Even after the yelps, the dog still continued to circle Leroy, so whatever happened didn't scare it/make it want to run away. Either way this has been a wakeup call for us.

We think he is trying to protect us. Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone have any suggestions or good training book recomendations to help us with this. I will call a trainer we used for Mocha, but I am not sure if she can help. But anything I can start doing now would make me feel sooo much better.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Christina

[Novel]

Christina, this is a common problem that owners have with their dogs.. even experienced owners, and it is often a communication problem.

A good friend of mine just asked me last night almost the very same question.
I recommended getting the following book to her: Click to Calm:Healing the Aggresive Dog by Karen Pryor

http://www.amazon.com/Click-Calm-Hea.../dp/1890948209

[Carrie]

Click to Calm is an excellent book. But the author is Emma Parsons, just in case you have trouble looking it up or there's any confusion. It's a step by step counter conditioning program that will take work and some help from a friend. But very good.

Try keeping your dog at a distance where he's more comfortable for now, until you get the book. When he shows less arousal and is relatively calm, give him a treat and praise him. Don't come up to dogs face to face. Keep distance between you and them. If you see a dog walking down the road, try walking behind them going the same direction. In the meantime, at home start teaching your dog to look at you. Reinforce everytime he looks at you. Praise and treat while he's looking at you. It will help. But ultimately, you'll want your dog to be able to look not at you, but at the other dogs and be Ok with it. But he can't do that or think at all when he's in that fight or flight mode. You must get at a comfortable distance to start desensatizing him. Anyhow.....enough. Get the book. It's really good.

Another fantastic book is Fight, by Jean Donaldson. Very good for the treatment of dog-dog aggression or fear around other dogs.

It's a process...won't happen quickly. Best wishes.

[Novel]

thanks Carrie... That's right, it's from a series by Pryor, but written by Parsons...

Jean Donaldson is excellent and I second that recommendation as well.

[Sophie45]

Also keep in mind that dynamics are very different when one dog is on a leash and the other is not, and then add you into the mix, it could make a lot of dogs aggressive! That being said, I agree that getting training, contacting a behavior specialist and reading up on it is a great idea.

The Cautious Canine by Patricia McConnell is a good booklet, too.

[c0_re]

To me dog aggression is one of the most difficult\dangerous things to uncondition\untrain.

The only technique I've used in the past takes a very focused\disciplined dog. When I'd introduce her to new\other dogs I'd make her sit at attention(or lay down in a submissive position but this was even more difficult for me) while the new\other had a go sniffing her. ONLY after she’d submitted to the new\strange dog would I allow her to sniff in return.

Eventually it turned into an obedience exercise, even though she never attacked or showed outright aggression to another dog I still would not have labeled her as “dog friendly”