Lunging at other dogs but in a playful way

[AnnaMcmahon]

Hi my lab is nearly 2 yrs old, she is pretty good with most things but if she sees a dog within close proximity she pulls the hand off me trying to get to them, if the dog is on the other side of the street she does nothing it's just when she is passing other dogs. Any tips on what to do to stop this? 

[JMFS]

Emergency U-turn for sure!  That has been one of the key ingredients with getting Esther to stop trying to haul me all over the yard.

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/using-jolly-routine-fearful-dogs/

Those mostly talk about fearful / aggressive reactions, but it works with playful, too.  It's not uncommon for our training session to consist of 4 minutes of u-turns and 1 minute of walking, so keep that in mind.  It's all practice and it all counts!

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Great tips from Jennifer!

Other things that come to mind: have you tried a front-attachment harness? There are several makes and models, but lately the Perfect Fit, Balance Harness and the Ruffwear Front Range harness have had rave reviews. 

Also, make sure to keep your dog under threshold.  In such cases, distance is your best friend. If you keep distance from other dogs, your dog is more likely to be calmer and this leaves space for her to cognitively function, so that she can learn to engage in alternate behaviors such as doing some attention heeling as you walk by other dogs.

Important is not to let her meet other dogs in this state of mind. If we allow her to greet in this overexcited state of mind, we will be reinforcing that excitement along with the whole package of lunging behaviors and these behavior will put more roots and become more difficult to eradicate.

Once she has learned to better control herself, then we can start working more closely around dogs and encourage calmer behaviors.

Group dog training classes are a great way to accomplish this as your dog will have to learn to pay attention to you for several weeks while in presence of other dogs.

Alternatively, if you have some friends who own dogs, you can also practice some great structured impulse control exercises like having your dog walk in circles around the other dogs calmly, or weaving in and out nearby them. You will have to do this in small incremental steps otherwise we would put her to fail. High-value treats are needed to help the dog make good choice and reinforce desired behaviors.

If any time her behavior seems to start breaking apart, that is often indicative that she wasn't ready for that level of a challenge yet. So a few steps back need to be taken. Finding some good walking buddies (where the dogs just parallel-walk without interacting) is also a good way to allow dogs like yours to learn to act calmer.

I would also suggest teaching her some impulse control games which will help her learn better how to cope with frustration:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/

Happy training!

Adrienne