# Fearful or Reactive to dogs?



## Boogs (Feb 12, 2016)

I have a 6-month old Hav puppy named Boogie. He came from a highly recommended breeder and was well socialized when we picked him up (he was about 4 months old).

He normally walks great on the leash, and listens very well. He is probably the most food-motivated dog I have ever known, which means training and motivating him has been pretty easy...for the most part.

Ever since we have had him, he has been reactive to dogs. Whether he is in our front yard and a dog walks by, or if he is on a walk, if another dog walks by he starts barking and pulling/jumping around like crazy, to the point where he starts gagging and coughing. I usually have him on a harness when walking him. At our family's Easter dinner, he was barking and growling at our inlaws' dogs (a shih-tzu and a lab) as soon as he saw them or if they were anywhere near him.

He is not aggressive, he doesn't bite, but I'm concerned that this may turn into aggression. He is reactive towards dogs of every size. When another dog reacts back at him, for example by pulling towards him, the barking and jumping gets even worse. With dogs he knows, he will quiet down once he is nose-to-nose with them. 

I am OK with having a dog that doesn't want to play with other dogs, and I understand him being afraid of big dogs and wanting to avoid them. However, most of our family and friends have dogs and I can't have him acting this way every time we see them. Redirecting him with treats only works about 30% of the time.

Any thoughts on why he is behaving this way, and what I can do to stop it? Is he afraid, reactive, aggressive, or something else? I didn't expect to see this kind of behaviour from this breed, and especially this dog because he was playing with his siblings non-stop every time we saw him at the breeder's.

Any advice or insight would really be appreciated!


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

this is aggression. for sure. Let me know about a trainer like I mentioned it would definitely be recommended.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Aggression is really a category of behaviors, all of which are designed to protect dogs from a perceived threat. These behaviors include:
•Barking
•Growling
•Tooth displays of varying degrees
•"Muzzle punch" (striking with a closed mouth)
•Snapping (without contact)
•Biting without injury
•Biting with varying degrees of injury

Not sure of his history buy it could be from lack of socialization with other dogs. Dogs need more socialization than just from littermates., especially before 14 weeks of age. This can be rectified but is best dealt with by an experienced trainer before it gets worse. I emailed you. privately. All dogs can be aggressive.


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## Donnita (Mar 24, 2016)

Boogs said:


> Any advice or insight would really be appreciated!


I did a quick Google and there is gobs of information on this topic. The search I did was:

dog barking at other dogs

It looks like it is fixable but only with a lot of work on your end of the leash. The common consensus was its fear based.


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## boomana (Jul 9, 2015)

My older dog had (has) the same issues. Countless hours of training made things better, but as soon as I got my Lola, it flared up again as he went into over-protective mode with her. I ended up working with a trainer, and when that wasn't enough, a behaviorist vet, and things have improved somewhat again, but it's a continual thing. The good news is that your dog is very young, and there is a lot you can do now so you don't have problems later. I got my first dog when he was older, and I was a first-time dog owner that did a lot of things wrong when I thought I was doing everything right. Lola, at three months, was taking cues from Watson, and started being reactive towards other dogs and was always reactive towards people. I was at a loss and very frustrated/scared for awhile. My neighbors called her demon dog. She'll still growl at people at night when we're out for a walk, but other than that, she's now a sweet, friendly, non-aggressive, happy doggie, even when Watson is wanting to be a nut. That took about three months of pretty intense work, working with a trainer that understood reactivity, plus lots of treats and praise. I still do lots of reinforcement. I'd definitely go into training mode asap, but there is hope.


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## Boogs (Feb 12, 2016)

Thank you all for the support and advice. It's hard not to feel like a failure since I really thought I was doing everything right with this dog. It's also hard in my mind to reconcile how sweet he is at home around us and all people, really, with the tantrums he has around dogs.

I am going to look into either private training as well as some socialization options. Hopefully with some effort and consistency his behaviour will improve.


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## PaulineMi (Feb 5, 2016)

Awww....don't take it personally or feel like a failure. Just keep working with a trainer(s) who specializes in this type of issue. Hopefully a solution will be found that will help you at least manage Boogie's reaction to other dogs. You deserve credit for looking for help.


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## w8in (Feb 11, 2016)

My Hank has a problem when he gets out of the car. He growls and barks as soon as he hits the ground ... runs around the car and is fine. today we stopped at another piece of property we own and Hank seen a couple walking a couple dogs! bam he starts barking and growling and acting like a killer. Hubbs got out started talking to the couple, Hank was growling the whole time. I open the window and he stops. I call it little dog syndrome. I have friends with big dogs he does that to and I say lets see how this works out for you. he comes running back to mommy... I'll have to check some of the sites posted.


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