over reactive!!

[*MaryG*]

Pepper has slowly but steadily becoming more and more reactive, always been a bit mouthy when  meeting  other dogs on lead, or seeing a bike but really bad now. sound very ferocious, very embrarrassing.
he's five now , been to good behaviourist, used lots of treats, distraction etc, btu starting to think nothing will work, any ideas??

[MIN]

Gemma got like that every time we passed a dog. we now are in the habit of getting her to sit close and focus on a treat with "look at me" command. we can now confidently do this without putting her on the lead (so long as the other dog is on lead). but we still take no chances, trust is not there yet.
ever hopeful 

[barnfind]

Ooer, this sounds familiar!!

The number of dogs with this 'issue' seems to be on the rise, maybe due to the pressure on 'ideal' (or perhaps the only) dog walking areas causing a stressed Cocker, amongst other breeds??

Can't give any easy answer, as each dog has a certain trigger, but avoidance of those 'triggers' seems to be the best solution until your training has effected a 'distraction' to the problem.

Damned annoying, isn't it!!

[MIN]

Gemma just does not like other dogs although I do think it is because she is frightened of them rather than a hatred for them. But saying that when she is working the shoots and in the beaters van she ignores them. 

[*MaryG*]

It helps to know that this is not just me, and i will  try  treat  again, i must persist! Bless him,he's so god a lot of the time, and off lead he's very good at meet and greet!

[Karma]

I do not allow Honey to meet any other dogs on lead.
She just can't cope meeting other dogs while constrained.

I will cross roads/do whatever is needed to prevent an on-lead meeting. 

She's fine with cyclists, but did used to go mental after cats - lots of desensitisation later and she is much much better (to the point we actually feel we may be able to get our own!) - but one thing that really helped break the pattern of reactivity was her carrying her ball - with a ball in her gob she couldn't practice the reactive behaviour!

[*MaryG*]

I do cross the road ,but still he barks! I don't think he could carry a ball for long or i would seriously try it, he seems to find it quite uncomfortable to carry a ball in his mouth for long.

[sodpot2000]

Some useful tips which I shall try with Mr B. What I have found is that all he wants to do is to meet and greet the other dog. Once proper manners have been observed he is happy to walk along with them or go their different ways. The newly formed desire to launch suicide attacks on tractors is going to take some more work however. Perhaps he is a reincarnated member of the Taleban. Perhaps being my dog is his Karmic punishment/reward?

[Mudmagnets]

I do cross the road ,but still he barks! I don't think he could carry a ball for long or i would seriously try it, he seems to find it quite uncomfortable to carry a ball in his mouth for long.

Not sure if you have already done so, but if he finds holding things in mouth uncomfortable, would it be advisable to have his mouth checked, to make sure he is not suffering from toothache..Could anything like that be making him more reactive?

[*MaryG*]

I hadn't thought of his teeth, he's due his check up, i'll ask them to have a look.
also good luck with the tractors! sounds stressful! strangely we met a bike yesterday but it was going slowly.pepper started barking but the chap stopped, i apologised and the man spoke nicely to pepper telling him not to worry and then rode on,pepper was as good as gold after that!

[blackpug]

Have you changed Peppers diet to see if this makes a difference? Our Angel is the same. She started barking at other dogs while out (and dogs on the TV!!). We've just swapped her over to JWB from Burn's dry food and she seems a bit quieter already. (And her breath is better).

[*MaryG*]

Ihadn'tthought about diet,thank you