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Possessive of me

1K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  llombardo 
#1 ·
Our dog Jax will be 1 next month. He has been in puppy and then obedience classes since he was old enough to start. He does really well with everything but other dogs. He has gotten worse with barking and lunging toward them, today we started working on being able to walk up to another handler and dog and pass by without an issue. Jax cannot even get close without having a fit. The class instructor had us go where we couldn't be seen and then took him and walked him around all the other dogs with no issue at all. So it seems to be that he is only reacting to other dogs when my husband and I are there, with me being the bigger problem. The instructor suggested a muzzle to help everyone relax and then to continue working with positive reinforcement when he can ignore other dogs or react less. Looking for any other advice or suggestions. Thanks!
 
#3 ·
Often times when a dog reacts badly the first time we begin to expect and anticipate the reaction.We transmit our tension and anxiety right down the leash,also with our tone of voice and body language.It's really difficult to change that about ourselves!Having Jax wear a muzzle will hopefully make you feel more confident and relaxed as you work to resolve his issue.
 
#4 ·
Same here with Apollo. He does it with dogs in the house too. He has gotten much better but it surfaces every now and then. He does have a basket muzzle and I still don't trust that it will stay on. Work on it now before it gets worse. I'm pretty dog savvy and I struggled slightly with this one. I took what trainers said and worked with it. Thd biggest thing is not to allow him to be in front of me, that position triggers something. So if he goes in front of me I physically move or I move him to the side. As he gets older I have more voice control, which helps a lot.
 
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