One of my dogs have fear induced dog aggression but only towards certain dogs (usually those who are energetic/dominant and want to run up to him on walks. He will lunge at another dog when it comes to on leash face to face confrontation. Its been a bit of an uphill battle, but I finally have found something that seems to be making a difference.
Right now I’m working hard with clicker/treat and desensitization routine.
Before, I would use a prong collar in order to control him and after talking to my vet who is also a behaviorist she suggested using a halti instead. She made a good point that using prong is basically telling a dog every time he sees another dog is equals to being stabbed in the neck. Long term use could also lead to tracheal damage and thyroid disorder which could also cause aggression (not sure if you’ve done a thyroid check on him).
I used the halti for a while and it worked fine, but he absolutely hated wearing it. Right now I’m using a harness called harness lead which is made of a rope. Basically when the dog pulls, it tightens around the girth and tell them to slow down. It was almost like an instant transformation for my dog. I took him out in the harness, saw someone walking towards us with a dog. As they were passing, he lunged and I lightly tugged at the leash and then told him to sit. He sat down, I clicked and treated him.
I’ve been using it ever since, its worked better than any gentle leader/halti/prong/choke, etc.
You probably already know about reactivity zones that your dog has. How close do you need to get to another dog before he reacts. With mine I’ve been taking him out of that zone and very slowly have been shortening the distance, getting closer and closer to other dogs on walks and having him sit and watch me without reaction.
We had a breakthrough moment last week when I asked a friend of mine to bring her dog to a park to see how he would act towards her. As I anticipated, with on leash introduction, he went crazy and lunged at her dog. I told her to take the dog and start walking and I would follow her few steps behind. We did this for few minutes and since he wasn’t acting nervous or tense, I kept shortening the distance until we lined up right next to each other. He completely ignored her dog and kept on walking calmly. After she left, I decided to take it a step further and walk him on a narrow greenway with lots on new dogs coming face to face. Even though the distance was very small between us and the other dogs, he responded well to minor harness correction and sit command coupled with clicker and treat. By the end of the walk he was so tired, he payed no attention to any other dog. I couldn’t be happier with that outcome, I think it’s starting to click with him that coming face to face with another dog does not equal danger and theres absolutely no need to lash out.
I recently started adding in this supplement and rubbing few drops of rescue remedy on his ears before the walk, which I think has also contributed to him being more relaxed.
I also strongly suggest a book called Click to Calm by Emma Parsons if you haven’t read it already.
Best of luck
