River is about 13 months and has been having some issues for a while. It's hard to pinpoint the problem because it doesn't make a lot of sense to us (my wife and I).
Basically, she is aggressive at certain times and we can't figure out how to stop this. At first, when she was a younger puppy, she was very submissive towards other dogs. Even in doggy daycare, she would walk in and immediately roll over and submit to all the other dogs. She seems to be over that now, as she is in the big dog room at daycare and does fine, with seemingly no fear.
But, she's always been a bit leash agressive. When we walk her, she will lunge at other dogs and bark at them. Which seems strange, because she's fine with all types of dogs at her daycare. But on leash, she is different I guess.
When we walk her, she will also lunge and bark/growl at people sometimes too, even kids. She seems to do this more when my wife walks her.
The weird part is, if we take her to a crowded place (Petsmart), she is fine walking on her leash with us and pretty much ignoring everyone. But if we turn down an aisle and there is one person alone, and that person approaches us slowly, she will lunge and growl at them. She seems to be particularly suspicious of lone, individual persons.
Today was the last straw - my wife was walking her and she lunged/growled at an elderly lady getting her mail. Now if there had been 25 people around the mailboxes, she would have been fine. But my wife is pregnant and we are expectng our first child in March. She feels like she cant even walk River at all because of her behavior.
My wife and I aren't the most social of people - we don't have tons of friends coming over all the time. We tried so hard to socialize River but maybe it wasn't enough? We took her everywhere and really socialized her a lot.
She's pretty well trained - has her CGC. But she learns quickly to adapt at training places and she behaves fine there. She's a wonderful dog. I take her to the park for off-leash ball retrieval and she is great. As a matter of fact, if I'm throwing the ball, she does not pay attention to anyone - just me and the ball.
Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a trainer or behaviorist in the Dallas area? Any other advice?
Basically, she is aggressive at certain times and we can't figure out how to stop this. At first, when she was a younger puppy, she was very submissive towards other dogs. Even in doggy daycare, she would walk in and immediately roll over and submit to all the other dogs. She seems to be over that now, as she is in the big dog room at daycare and does fine, with seemingly no fear.
But, she's always been a bit leash agressive. When we walk her, she will lunge at other dogs and bark at them. Which seems strange, because she's fine with all types of dogs at her daycare. But on leash, she is different I guess.
When we walk her, she will also lunge and bark/growl at people sometimes too, even kids. She seems to do this more when my wife walks her.
The weird part is, if we take her to a crowded place (Petsmart), she is fine walking on her leash with us and pretty much ignoring everyone. But if we turn down an aisle and there is one person alone, and that person approaches us slowly, she will lunge and growl at them. She seems to be particularly suspicious of lone, individual persons.
Today was the last straw - my wife was walking her and she lunged/growled at an elderly lady getting her mail. Now if there had been 25 people around the mailboxes, she would have been fine. But my wife is pregnant and we are expectng our first child in March. She feels like she cant even walk River at all because of her behavior.
My wife and I aren't the most social of people - we don't have tons of friends coming over all the time. We tried so hard to socialize River but maybe it wasn't enough? We took her everywhere and really socialized her a lot.
She's pretty well trained - has her CGC. But she learns quickly to adapt at training places and she behaves fine there. She's a wonderful dog. I take her to the park for off-leash ball retrieval and she is great. As a matter of fact, if I'm throwing the ball, she does not pay attention to anyone - just me and the ball.
Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a trainer or behaviorist in the Dallas area? Any other advice?
