Any advice please

[janandted]

Mollie is 11months old,she is sociable with other dogs and has never been reactive on or off lead. We have been in Spain over the winter and have often sat outside at bars for coffee or a meal. She lies or sits beside the table,generally no trouble at all,however for the past few weeks if a dog or cat approaches the table,(usually they are strays but not always) or even passes it, her hackles rise and she barks and strains to get to them,she sounds very aggresive and it is difficult to get her attention  This is happening more frequently and i want to 'nip it in the bud'  It never happens when we are out walking  Does anyone have any idea why she does this ?
I have been trying to keep her attention on me by giving treats when i see dogs heading our way and that seems to be having some effect ,but i'm not sure if i am doing the right thing,or if there is anything else i should try .
Any advice on how to deal with this would be much appreciated. Thankyou.

[lindseyp]

I'm trying to remember when Molly had her season Jan?? ..... could she be having a touch of phantom pregnancy ?- hormones have quite an effect on them 
I think you're doing the right thing by treating before she gets the chance to react & sounds like it's starting to make a difference 
Hopefully someone with more knowledgable advice comes along to help soon   

[minimoo]

Do you ever give the strays titbits from your table if its only happening in these situations , ie when at a cafe table , maybe she is trying to chase them away from the food source , and of course you are rewarding her when she *gets rid of the intruder* by giving her the treats  , maybe get her attention with the treats and then after they have passed by a minute or so later if she has behaved give her a treat then

[janandted]

No i never give the dogs or cats anything and Mollie is NEVER given anything at the table other than these treats to try and get, and keep ,her attention.........i don't want to feed her anything at the table but i,m at a loss as to what else to do  BTW she doesn't
'get' a treat unless she gives me her full attention ,and the dog or cat has passed
Lindsey......Mollie finished her season at the end of January,she has no signs of a 'phantom' pregnancy

[elaine.e]

It's a shame that Mollie has started being a bit reactive to passing dogs and cats while you're wanting to sit and relax and you're right in trying to stop it becoming a habit. If it's any comfort, it's not an unusual behaviour. I take my 2 to quite a few places where we can sit and watch the world go by while I drink tea and eat cake and Louis will sometimes react in the same way and I've seen lots of other dogs react too. I think what I'm trying to say is that it's a bad habit that none of us want in our dogs, but please don't get too stressed about it as it's not unusual.

Have you taught Mollie to do a "watch me" where you get her to look at your face and focus on you, ignoring everything else? It's one of the best things I've taught Louis because he focuses on me instead of getting upset by what's going on around. I know Louis lacks social skills and Mollie doesn't have his problems, but I think it's a really useful technique for all dogs.

I taught Louis by holding a treat in my hand so he could see it, then putting my hand and the treat near my eyes. His eyes would follow the treat and I would say "watch me" once he was focussing on my face and the treat, then reward him. He picked it up very quickly. I use it to draw his attention to me and away from other dogs if I think he's going to react badly to them. If I'm quick enough to get his attention he stays calm and doesn't start to get reactive. Each success builds his confidence and helps him to be relaxed. We have the odd step backwards but overall he's learning to think calmly instead of just reacting. I think with Mollie it will be a case of being vigilant and making sure you get her attention before she can react, then rewarding her calm behaviour.

Good luck

[janandted]

Thankyou Elaine,that post is really helpful  It gives me something to help her focus on......it also makes me feel better as i have to say i do feel stressed about it  I shall get to work on it straight away 

[cfordham2710]

Also in addition, try not to panic or get flappy when she does this or you think she might do it.  It is difficult but this can also make the situation worse.  She will pick up on your stress