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Hi, my 4 yo dog Cali (Lab/Cocker), male, castrated, is good 90% of the time but occassionaly for certain triggers becomes extremely reactive and starts barking and lunging at anything that moves (cars etc included). I have him on a lead with a collar and so when he gets like this all i can do is hold him back which obviously is choking him and is not nice for either of us. These are a list of the triggers, but they dont always trigger, sometimes he will ignore them completely. Skateboards/scooters Dogs barking somewhere that he cant see Certain neighbourhood dogs Dogs on the other side of the road that he cant say hi to. Dogs where the owner pulls them aside so they cant say hello. I list them because they may not all trigger for the same reason, but the result is the same. Cali will start lunging and barking at them, and once they pass he continues to lunge and bark at everything nearby. Signs that it is about to happen include whining, or just his head turning and once it has his attention it seems impossible to snap him out of it. Once it has happened, i need to restrain him on his lead and collar, which is choking him as he lunges, and i try to get his attention, lead him to the side of the path and get him to sit and eventually lie down. But even when he does this he is still looking over his shoulder constantnly in apparent fear and anxious. We continue once he gets to a certain level of calmness again. He is very good on pack walks, he is a bit barky in the garden or when visitors come, but he is never agressiven just excited. He is food driven and any advice you can offer would be appreciated, thanks. 🙂

Hi everyone My 7-month old rescue dog started off very shy and terrified when I adopted her at 9 weeks. She is now doing great, and a lot more confident. She is able to calm herself and look at me or distract herself by sniffing when we run into people while out on walks, with the occasional lunge. But with dogs, she is always over-excited. Whenever we see a dog approach, she would crouch like she is waiting to pounce, and then run up to the dog to sniff and play. I can tell that some dogs are very uncomfortable with her greeting style. They try to evade her. When I try to pull her away (or the other owner leads their dog away), she barks and lunges and refuses to leave the other dog alone. Other times, when a friendly dog wants to leave the play, she exhibits the same ugly behaviour, sometimes even snarling and looking really menacing. A meet and greet is never enough for her - she always wants to play. All this is on leash. I dare not let her go off leash as I cannot be sure I won't lose her, or that she won't react to random people who get in her way. How do I get her to be more gracious and gentle in her greeting, and to know when to leave it if the other dog has had enough? Much thanks. lk