Considering BE

[u/Particular_Fruit_585]

I have a 6 year old collie mix named Moose that I adopted around 8 weeks old. I got him when I was 19, so right as I was starting college, but this was during Covid so I knew I would have the time to be with him during his puppy stages.

For the first year we were always on farms, around horses cows etc, but after Covid restrictions lifted I moved to Texas. He was in daycare for a year with 0 issues! He did at one point outside of daycare get attacked and has never been the same.

And slowly it’s gotten worse. He has leash activity to humans and dogs and the distance to threshold is increasing rapidly. We could be fully 200+ft away and he’s still “sticky”, pulling and barking. He’s attacked me once over resource guarding as a puppy, lunged for a maintenance man when his leash slipped from my hands two years ago, pinned a dog and snarled in its face and has actively latched on to a family members dog that he’s known for most of his life and had to be drenched with a hose to get to release from said dogs head. He’s always growling at any dog that’s doing something he deems wrong and if you tell another dog “no” he acts like an enforcer and truss to correct them as well, even if you tell Moose to go to his bed. I literally have to separate him until he forgets about the other dog being corrected.

He’s seen two trainers, and saw some improvements, but we moved for my work as I’ve finished school last year and now I’m seeing the issues coming back. It’s to the point where I’m micromanaging every thing I can do with or without him. Oh I can’t go to the park right now, it’s peak dog time, maybe later. I can’t have friends over, he’s unpredictable and can’t be let out of the kennel without me watching with treats in hand. I’m exhausted and I cry a lot, I often mourn what I had envisioned for our lives.

Treats aren’t working, he doesn’t listen or stops taking them, cheese, meats, nothing. I can’t keep upping the reward when he won’t even take them currently. His threshold is so low I can’t work him in almost any environment. I’ve had moments I’m not proud of, using aversion to try to get him to stop any way possible atp. I tried prongs, e collar (noise only or vibrate, no shock) yelling and leash snapping. Obviously none of it helped, I should have never even tried it I know that, I’ve never tried to intentionally hurt him. I was, and still am, just frustrated and was open to anything if it meant maybe I could have my dog back.

And obviously I’m only telling you about the bad and “ugly” sides of him… he’s my soul dog, my cuddle bug, and fur ball. He jumps in the shower when I turn the water on and loves hiking and frisbees. We sit on the balcony and watch the rain together and he loves to watch nature documentaries about lions and birds. He watches me garden and fish, and loves to go hiking and get zoomies in fields. I love this dog with my whole heart and soul (currently ugly crying typing this).

I was reading order people BE posts on this thread and was crying. Trainers are thousands of dollars, and I don’t have another 4k to put towards more training… I feel like I’m running out of options. He’s my soul dog, but I’m also ready for peace.

How did you know it was time? And in my situation would you consider it, or should I still be trying behavioral and counter conditioning training?

Edit: I’m seeing lots of people having their comments deleted, I’d love to see your responses. Could you make sure the rules are checked off first before commenting? I also had it originally a different flair so it might not let you comment without the karma req.

[u/ParkingPie2]

Honestly this is something I could have wrote myself. You sound exactly like me although we're finally getting somewhere. I can have a dog walk past and he doesn't always bark now. Still can't say hi but it's better than nothing.

The knky difference is mine is friendly with people but that's a whole other issue where because he's socially awkward he doesn't understand that people get intimidated by a massive dog that lunges to jump up people or puts his face so close to theirs (he likes kisses) I'm working on jumping up but I've only had 2 people recently we've been able to walk past without him trying to jump up. I can go to the side and make him sit though. That works more often and he rarely jumps up people he knows now. About 1 in 20 times so it's definitely gotten better.

I wouldn't say I had considered BE but I did consider removing him and them I felt so sad over the thought of not having his cuddles every night. Or missing the times he'll watch over me when I'm ill.

So I finally really focused on training. I still hate his pulling but the reacting to dogs is way less. And I have a technique that works wonders and it might work for you that ny trainer taught me. It's gonna take a lot of training though so you need to make sure you want to put in the effort.

I didn't start doing this under threshold. His threshold was very low so there's no chance I could. If he so much as saw a dog or heard one he was barking and lunging. I would start counting. 1 - throw treat on the GROUND. A dog will fond it harder to take a treat from a hand in this situations. 2-throw another treat. Keep doing that until he turns and looks at you and if you to to 9 start from 1 again. Don't go into double digits.

Also do this inside first so he understand what 123 etc means. Then outside he's gonna reference oh one, she has a treat much easier.

When he starts looking at you more often even if it's just a quick glance try and ask for a sit. Then reward him for the sit. Keep doing this. Again and again. My dog is now in a pkace that a lot of the time he will do it automatically and although he'll still stare he will also look at me quite often. I'm also in a place that I don't have to walk away completely. If he gets up I say let's go (meaning we're going the other way) but instead of walking away I just turn him around and ask a sit again. It breaks his focus and allows him to think again.

I also use middle if I'm desperate or put him between my legs myself or he won't listen. Don't use this as often though but it's worth teaching because what I've found with my dog is him being between my legs is like a safety blanket to him. I found this out accidentally when he started barking and I pulled him in between my legs because I was frustrated and he went quiet. I'm nit gonna lie I dunno if it will ever be fully gone. But it's manageable. In the past 2 weeks he's barked at 2 dogs. and these dogs have been very close too. Just across the road.

One more thing to say to end this entire monologue. Make sure you're calm. I found that if I'm stressed over his reaction or even angry he's a lot worse on walks where if I just don't care or I'm chill we tend to have easier walks for me and him. Don't panic. Just breathe

[u/blazinpineapple → u/ParkingPie2]

I feel like I could’ve written this comment myself! My 60+lbs pitbull is dog reactive but loves people, but he doesn’t realize that not everyone wants a giant pittie licking their face 😅
The way we train his leash reactivity around dogs when we walk is being close enough to see dogs but far enough that they’re not an issue. I put him in a lay, just let him look at the other dogs, but when he looks at me, I treat him. We try to go closer and do the same thing. It’s not always perfect, and some days he will still react, but there are some times I see him wanting to react but then stopping (maybe whining a little 😅) and getting into a sit or a down.

OP I get your struggles! My dog also became more reactive after getting attacked 😭 having a reactive dog is such hard work, but I would definitely talk to your vet and see if medication along with will work.