Hi again! Really need help with Baxter's aggression please!

[Midas]

All the advice given here is brilliant, good luck with it, and be assured that he will get better! Take it from someone who has been through the same thing. Just take it slowly and let him have quiet walks then gradually introduce nice dogs for him to meet. Parallel walking helps alot too. If you know people with nice friendly dogs, that could be a starting point for some social walks, at a distance to start off with and then gradually closing down the gap as he feels more comfortable. Bless him..he's had a shock hasn't he.

Another thing my behaviourist told me was to not take him to the park every day, as its the equivalent of us going to a party every day...and I don't know about you, but I would probably start having a go at people if I was in this situation every day of my life!! We all need interaction, but also need time to relax and have time to ourselves, or bonding time just you and your dog alone on the walk together.

Hope it all goes well xxxx

[Sarah.H]

Another thing my behaviourist told me was to not take him to the park every day, as its the equivalent of us going to a party every day...and I don't know about you, but I would probably start having a go at people if I was in this situation every day of my life!! We all need interaction, but also need time to relax and have time to ourselves, or bonding time just you and your dog alone on the walk together.

Hope it all goes well xxxx

That's a really good point.

 

[LindyLou]

Thanks again everyone for your comments.

We had a great day at the beach at the weekend. Baxter's recall was perfect and we allowed him brief encounters with other dogs. As they were quick meetings, they were all positive, lots of wagging, quick sniff then we called him back and continued walking.

We didn't stand talking to anyone, so there was no opportunity for boredom leading to pawing and snarling.

At the park, I have kept him in wide open spaces for exercise and then on lead as we pass other dogs on lead. He is more or less ignoring other dogs as we pass them and we have had no outbursts for 3 days or so.

If we can continue with lots of positive outings, it makes sense to me that he doesn't form the habit of always interacting agressively.

I will be following your advice and hoping for our little lad to be a happy chap again

[Sarah.H]

That's fantastic news  .