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How do I stop my dog from barking aggressively at strange dogs when on a walk?

When I am walking my dog on a leash and she encounters a strange dog she goes crazy. If she knows the dog she is fine. Also, when off the dog leash at the dog park she is fine with a strange dog.

She also barks aggressively at dogs or any animals on TV.

2 Answers

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A trick that helped Ripley when we were doing it consistently was using click training and plenty of treats. As soon as I saw she noticed a dog, I'd click, and give her a treat. As she continued to focus on me, she'd continue to get clicks and treats. Even if she looks at the other dog, as long as she's being quiet, boom, click+treats. She'd get to point where she'd see another dog, and then immediately look to me. I stopped maintaining this practice, and she's unfortunately starting to regress to barking at strange dogs, so we'll need to kick the habit back up.

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Many times when a dog barks at unknown dogs, but is usually fine with dogs they know, it can be a sign of fear of other dogs and not so much aggression. One of the best ways to fix this is to try to expose your dog to as many dogs as you can, starting from dogs that you are comfortable with, and that you known won't hurt your dog and will respond well- then working up to unknown dogs. You can work with treats and have your dog do a command to distract him or her. I use a simple sit and my dogs will look at me, and I offer a treat. You can let the other dog walk by, and then they will get comfortable with dogs getting closer and closer, but will learn to associate that with a treat instead. Good luck! (: