Should I try a Muzzle?

[RoLu]

Hi I am new to this forum, and seeking some advice about one our dogs. We have limited knowledge on her background not for the want of trying. When we had her  4 months ago we were told she was 3 and had been spayed.  The latter now turns out to be untrue, and she is also fearful and aggressive when she is on walks.  She barks and lunges at anyone who passes me and at other dogs. She seem worse on the lead than she is off it.

Should I try muzzling her, it would be for her walks only.  Also can anyone suggest any commands I should be using in particular when she starts to bark or lunges.  The vet told me to ignore the barking, but I don't see how I can when other people look at you mortified that you are not correcting it.

She is great with our other dog who we've had from a puppy.  They have bonded well so do believe this is something that time and persistence will control or minimise.  So thanks for your time and knowledge in anticipation of replies.

   

[Londongirl]

Hi, and welcome!

I've not had direct experience of this, but I'm sure some other members will be along soon who can give you some advice. You might also want to try asking your question in the Facebook group I've linked to below. It's run by professional dog behaviouralists with a strict positive reinforcement and no-force ethos to training. They take a while to get to the questions but do answer very thoroughly, and other users often have good ideas too:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/374160792599484/

[its.sme]

I would definitely contact a profesional, as Londongirl has said someone who uses positive methods APDT is a good place to start,

http://www.apdt.co.uk

Dogs will often react more when on a lead, they cannot get away from something that is bothering them so they react.

I'm not sure a Muzzle will help for the same reason, without seeing your Girl in the situation it would be very easy to make a bad situation very worse.

I hope you find help soon.

[lescef]

Hi. I would also suggest getting a positive trainer in to analyse the situation properly as it's difficult without getting more detail. Sometimes dogs on lead suffer from frustration rather than fear aggression and a trainer would help you with.
In the mean time, try not to let her practice the behaviour as it becomes ingrained and more difficult to change. Keep big distances from other dogs, we cross over roads, hide behind cars, walk in opposite direction, teaching a 'this way' as you turn so the dog gets used to it. I counter condition Maddie, so as soon as we see a dog,  but before she reacts, I feed her high value treats, such as chicken. This keeps her attention until we've passed the dog. Now as soon as she sees a dog, she looks at me for her treat and I say 'watch'. The idea is that when a dog sees something scary, they get a treat so changing the emotion.
A trainer would advise about a muzzle. I have muzzle trained Maddie as I think it makes me feel less anxious, but don't use it very often as I tend to avoid places where dogs are likely to scare her.
Hope this helps

[MIN]

Sounds like our Gemma. All of a sudden she took a dislike to all dogs at close quarters. Her reaction was to lunge and squeal at them.
 Now when a dog on lead is approaching we take her to one side and get her ( with the help of a treat) to put eyes on us. She is made to watch us until the dog is past. If her head turns towards the dog, the treat is used to get her to look at us with a stern "look at me ". We have found that if it is her who makes the "introduction" she is fine to play. She just does not like other dogs approaching and getting in her face.
  Gemma wears a yellow dog jacket that announces that she requires space. It does help with people coming not to close .

[ejp]

Hello,  I have a fear aggressive dog via rescue, and she sounds very much like your wee one.  We have had invaluable behavioural support from an APDT trainer, and with time we have managed to get things settled a little.  It is a slow process with her.  If there are a lot of dogs around and I start to notice her focusing in on them, I will throw bits of treats down for her to 'find it'. So basically you are distracting them.  I cannot recommend strongly enough that you find a good trainer who is sympathetic.  At class, she struggled to cope with other dogs, even though it was a very small group, so we had a spot near the door and had frequent breaks if need be.  Some classes were good, and other nights I could have just walked away!   As for a muzzle, a total non-starter for us, it would make things so much worse.  Cue words can be anything you want, as long as you decide what they are and stick to it.  Good luck.

[RoLu]

Thank you all so much for responding to my query it's made me feel welcome in the forum. From the various replies, I have been able to narrow down  my dog's behaviour.  We have tried detraction with treats but she ignores the treats. It's as at though she is happy being with us, and following our lead indoors.  Outside she feels vulnerable to everything and she can't fully trust us yet.  Which I understand only having been with us for  only 4 months.  We do know prior to our ownership she was neglected and left alone. Which makes me think she wasn't socialised if at all from a puppy.

On the positive side she does join  in with our other cocker, who is very sociable and is always eager to make friends with other dogs and people.  When they have been off the leads and come across other dogs, she does bark while the other cocker socialises, but after a minute or two she barks till we walk on, or does sometimes stop of her own accord.

Thanks for providing the information about apdt and I will look at the fbook page.  Poor girl is going through season at the moment, so will keep my fingers crossed it won't inflate the situation to much.

[ejp]

If you know anyone who has a calm steady dog and willing to help out, let her meet them at her own pace. Daisy now has two dog friends, one a greyhound who takes life at a slow and steady pace, and a cocker mix who doesn't care if she barks or not. It takes time, and if I am being honest, training helped me to understand why Daisy does what she does and how best to deal with it. Daisy didn't need training but I did 

[MIN]

If you know anyone who has a calm steady dog and willing to help out, let her meet them at her own pace. Daisy now has two dog friends, one a greyhound who takes life at a slow and steady pace, and a cocker mix who doesn't care if she barks or not. It takes time, and if I am being honest, training helped me to understand why Daisy does what she does and how best to deal with it. Daisy didn't need training but I did 

we met a lady who said her dog was a "stooge"(  very laid back) and encouraged us to let Gemma off her lead and  see what happened. Gemma ended up having great fun with this dog as it only interacted with her if Gemma made the moves.

[Londongirl]

If you know anyone who has a calm steady dog and willing to help out, let her meet them at her own pace. Daisy now has two dog friends, one a greyhound who takes life at a slow and steady pace, and a cocker mix who doesn't care if she barks or not. It takes time, and if I am being honest, training helped me to understand why Daisy does what she does and how best to deal with it. Daisy didn't need training but I did 

we met a lady who said her dog was a "stooge"(  very laid back) and encouraged us to let Gemma off her lead and  see what happened. Gemma ended up having great fun with this dog as it only interacted with her if Gemma made the moves.

What a lovely thing for her to do.

[Patp]

Jinley is fine when walking with dogs, its the ones that walk towards her that you can see how she freezes, depending on which breed strangely (worse with anything that looks like a boxer or a sheepdog)

She stands completely still, then runs past like mad.  She would be worse if I stood chatting for a while.  They are complicated little souls arent they?

[ejp]

Daisy is not a fan of Westies, and shouts at our collie neighbour who shouts back! 

[sodpot2000]

This was something that I encountered with Buster and have discussed with other people locally who have re-homed/rescued dogs. If the dog has missed out on being socialised with other dogs whilst a pup they will react fearfully to other dogs and particularly so if they cannot escape (ie on the lead). The way to overcome this is patient introductions and time to learn new behaviours. One of my neighbours had to take is labrador to a dog friendly pub several times a week, which he found very difficult!

Gradually they get used to it and start to settle down if that is the problem. The problem with an uncertain history is trying to jigsaw together just what it is that they are afraid of and reacting to.

Best of luck!