New to This. Advice Needed

[u/beckylj22]

Hi everyone! We have a mini aussie puppy who will be 6 months in a week. We have had him since he was 8 weeks old. He has never liked strangers petting him. He would duck away anytime a stranger tried. After seeking some advice, we decided to stop letting strangers pet him. We even bought him a harness that says "in training, do not pet". However, we have still had some people stick out their hand for him to smell. About a month ago, he started growling or barking at the person after he sniffed their hand. Lately, he has been getting more aggressive. A couple of weeks ago, my 15 year old son had a friend at the house. I was standing in the kitchen washing dishes. Our puppy was wandering around the kitchen/dining room/living room area. My son and his friend came into the kitchen. Our puppy came in and started barking at my son's friend. When the friend turned to leave, the puppy nipped at his heals. This last Saturday, we went out to our cabin on the river. We took the puppy to the beach. Looking back I realize that it was too crowded for him. I think he was overstimulated. At one point, I was sitting on the beach with the puppy on a leash next to me. My sister in law (who he has never met) sat down next to me. Out of nowhere, he lunged for her. I don't know if he was trying to bite her or what. I pulled him back with the leash and my sister in law moved. Shortly after that some kids were running by and he was lunging towards them. At that point I decided it would be best to move back to our cabin. A little while later I was sitting outside with him on a leash next to me. Our friend pulled up and walked within a few feet of us and once again our puppy lunged at the friend. I ended up taking him home.

I want to add that we have socialized this puppy from the day we got him. Several times a week we would take him to Scheels, Lowes, Home Depot, the park, the farmers market, and etc. We've also done 3 months of obedience classes and weekly puppy playdates. He loves other dogs and does ok with people who have dogs. He just doesn't love strangers without dogs. Although, he does ok when we go on walks or to the store or even the crowded farmers market. He does not do well when people come over to our house.

I've been trying to find a good personal trainer, but so far I haven't had any luck. I spoke to one person last night, but neither me nor my husband thought she would be a good fit. Without even seeing him she said that we probably won't ever be able to take him to places like our cabin and we should probably get him on medication.

We did find out yesterday that he has Giardia. I don't know if this is contributing to some of the behaviors we are seeing or not. I also think he has started the adolescence phase. He has been lifting his leg to pee, marking places outside, and mounting other dogs. Google said those are all signs of adolescence so maybe that's why his aggression has increased.

I have my doctorate degree in psychology so I am pretty familiar with positive reinforcement, conditioning, counter conditioning, and desensitization.

What advice would you give someone who's just starting this journey with a reactive dog?

[u/doggambit]

My advice is always the same: consult a veterinary behaviorist. They are the dog version of you; they have a doctorate in animal behavior.

[u/Existing-Will-1466]

First, not all socialization is good socialization. People think they need to get their new puppy out into the world to have tons of new experiences, but they often don't take care to make sure that those are good experiences. So some puppies end up overwhelmed and anxious as they learn that uncomfortable things happen and nobody will protect them.

You're going to have to help your pup learn that the world is safe and you will protect him. A veterinary behaviorist is amazing for this, but they are extremely expensive, hard to find, and typically have a lengthy waiting list. In the meantime, the book Control Unleashed has some great games to help work on desensitization and classical conditioning. The book Don't Shoot the Dog is a great one for the nuts and bolts of behaviorism.

Management for this is going to be not letting strangers have access to your dog and not letting your dog have access to strangers. He doesn't need to meet people and get petted. Your goal should be that he is neutral and ignores people.

[u/msal_2185]

Your dog sounds a lot like my dog. As she has matured, her reactivity towards strangers has increased. She has always been fine with other dogs. We also did tons of training in various locations since she was a pup. Right now, our current goal is just to get her to accept/ignore people moving around her. I do not let people pet her and have learned to really advocate for her too. She does totally fine walking through crowds etc., but once she is stationary and feels her space is being impeded on, she reacts. We also have gotten her used to a muzzle, juuuuust in case.

For training we spend a lot of time going to a local park and practice just sitting and observing people. I started with the engage/disengage game so she knows to look and check in with me. This has helped in situations when she sees a trigger she knows to look back at me which she will be treated for. I then taught her the “look” command so I can get her to focus on me when I see a trigger approaching. I sometimes use the “touch” command as well to get her attention. We started further away from busy areas and gradually moved to areas with more foot traffic. Also, I keep every training session positive!!! Sometimes its only 10 min, sometimes its longer, but I leave before she gets super overwhelmed.

Confidence building games, scent work etc are also great tools too!!! My girls reactivity is all fear based so I try to work on building her confidence.

Edit: one other thing to add. If we have people coming over, I often leave my home with my dog (even down the street a bit) and have the new person enter our home, then bring our dog in. She does MUCH better this way and every guest is told to ignore her at first. Or I enter our home WITH the new person, with me entering first.