NOTE: There are many ways to do this, some may disagree with the following method, but this is the way I went about it.
Getting a prospect ready to handle being calm around other dogs (while working) can be a daunting task. Dogs tend to be hard-coded to be reactive to other dogs. This can be the dog being overly excited to meet other dogs to the dog being territorial against other dogs. The worse the reactivity is the more you may want to look at gaining the help of as professional trainer. But, here is how Dougal and I got used to other dogs nearby.
We went to a dog park, not in. Found a spot where Dougal could see and smell the other animals but far enough away so it was just a curiosity. We would start a training session, just light obedience, or would just simply play. Every time he stared at the park I would either wait a second or two then call to him or have him "look at me" and then reward him when he broke that focus on the park and other dogs. This first part was probably the most time-consuming as it was so new.
Once he had got to the point of this was "no big deal" where his attention was on me or what we were doing, we simply moved closer. Once I saw Dougal becoming excited about the dogs we would make that our new spot and repeat the above.
We kept repeating this until we could sit next to the fence and Dougal's focus was still on me.
It is important to remember that dogs are social animals, they are always doing to sniff one another. It is the same as us saying "hello" to a stranger walking by. What we are wanting to curb is any undesired reactivity to other dogs. Lunging, barking, things like that. I was not worried about greetings at this point, simply setting the groundwork for good actions.
If your dog is also hyper around kids (mini-humans), or even towards adults to some extent, you can use this same method just head to an enclosed playground and do it the same way.
Getting a prospect ready to handle being calm around other dogs (while working) can be a daunting task. Dogs tend to be hard-coded to be reactive to other dogs. This can be the dog being overly excited to meet other dogs to the dog being territorial against other dogs. The worse the reactivity is the more you may want to look at gaining the help of as professional trainer. But, here is how Dougal and I got used to other dogs nearby.
We went to a dog park, not in. Found a spot where Dougal could see and smell the other animals but far enough away so it was just a curiosity. We would start a training session, just light obedience, or would just simply play. Every time he stared at the park I would either wait a second or two then call to him or have him "look at me" and then reward him when he broke that focus on the park and other dogs. This first part was probably the most time-consuming as it was so new.
Once he had got to the point of this was "no big deal" where his attention was on me or what we were doing, we simply moved closer. Once I saw Dougal becoming excited about the dogs we would make that our new spot and repeat the above.
We kept repeating this until we could sit next to the fence and Dougal's focus was still on me.
It is important to remember that dogs are social animals, they are always doing to sniff one another. It is the same as us saying "hello" to a stranger walking by. What we are wanting to curb is any undesired reactivity to other dogs. Lunging, barking, things like that. I was not worried about greetings at this point, simply setting the groundwork for good actions.
If your dog is also hyper around kids (mini-humans), or even towards adults to some extent, you can use this same method just head to an enclosed playground and do it the same way.
