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Old May 1st, 2011, 05:40 PM
violagirl violagirl is offline
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Question Dogs Go Crazy When See Others

Background: 3 small terrier mixes. 2 are 6 months, other is about a year. Generally well behaved. Well, as well behaved as terriers can be.

Socialization: All have taken positive training "puppy kindergarten" course. Regularly go to supervised doggy daycare. They go everywhere with us and are taken for walks in every type of situation - off leash in country, in busy city sidewalks, on trails. We see bikers, and joggers, and skateboarders, strollers, noisy trucks, men with hoodies and glasses and umbrellas...

Problem: When we go for walks with 3 dogs and my friend who also has 2 dogs..they go absolutely berserk when we meet other dogs. Lunging and high pitched barking - absolutely crazy. When I see someone coming with a dog, I pull off to the side of the trail, get them to sit and treat them like crazy until the dog has passed. My timing has to be absolutely perfect for this to work. If they get into the "frenzy" they are NOT interested in treats.

I thought at first the older dog was the problem, but when the puppies were out of commission due to their spay/neuter I walked her by herself and didn't have any problems. So I have narrowed it down to the young female.

She tends to be a fear barker. She barks at the vacuum, the broom and the mop. She barks at leaves. I have discovered that if I can get to her first -I can often prevent a total barking frenzy.

Ideally I would walk her alone, but I hate to leave other dogs home in crates and just walk her.

I just don't understand why my dogs go crazy like that. It is not like they have never been around strange dogs before. Is it "peer pressure"? A pack mentality? There have been other occasions, like the other week when 2 Griffon Pointers saw us walking by and broke their electronic fence to come and see us. After a couple of barks the trio was completely fine with meeting them.

So does anyone have any advice?

On another note, i am completely flabbergasted by the number of people that want to stop and chat or let their dog meet my Mini Cerberus when it is in its full bore crazy mode. We are considering having Tshirts made that say "Dogs in Training - Keep on Walking!!".
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Old May 1st, 2011, 06:22 PM
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Marty11 Marty11 is offline
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I have the very same issues with my two terriers. I know they feed of each other, cause I didn't have this with my first one till the second one came around. They socialize very well in a group but on the leash.......forget it. I call it the big dog syndrome in the little dog package. I too will take some tips.
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Old May 1st, 2011, 09:50 PM
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hedgiemama hedgiemama is offline
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I think it would be best to try and take her on walks alone so you can focus on modifying her behavior, so you arent having to deal with there pups going crazy at another. Im sure others will come by soon and give you some better tips.
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Old May 2nd, 2011, 12:59 AM
reanne reanne is offline
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I too think it would be good to walk with her alone so you can focus on working with her on that. Also, I have read that with multiple dog households you should still spend one on one time with each dog. With one on one leash time with each of them you can remind/teach them what is appropriate behaviour when you meet oncoming dogs. Good luck!
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