staring dog

[funbobby]

after a bit of advice regarding my rehomed rescue dog.when on walks my dog is very much in the habit of staring at other dogs when walking towards each other,she tends to lie down and then stalk towards them with a bit of a rush as she gets nearer but she is not aggressive but cant help but think this approach will get her into trouble at some point. A couple of dogs have taken a dislike to it as you can imagine but if i turn around and walk along side owner/dog all is fine again. her background is she is approx 18 months and was a street dog so most of the time she has to stay on a long lead as her recall is a work in progress as she has a tendency to run for the hills and roads! the main problem is getting her focus when in close proximity as sometimes its just plain difficult to get some distance from other dogs if we are in a small area.treats toys and squeaky things have patchy impact to say the least with treats being the most effective.she does go to training once a week where she is the model dog but in the real world she is different.lastly i do believe she has some collie in her and she does remind of the breed with her stalking on the floor behaviour and when i have dropped the lead with dogs she knows she has a quick tear around playing then loses interest but i do know i need to get her to improve her manners!

[Erasmia]

That does sound like a collie trait. My dog is also an ex-street dog and is not good with other dogs. We suspect she had to fight for food or territory at some point or perhaps just never learnt any social skills. Two things have worked for us, one is very high quality treats so liver cake, sausages or cheese. The other is we've joined a dog walking group for dogs that require socialisation. We'd spent several years in training classes but we only really saw progress when we were out walking in a controlled environment. Good luck!

[bexVN]

I wouldn't worry about the crouch approach to another dog, it is a collie trait but plenty of other breeds do, generally a good way for dogs to read each others intentions.

Oh and use yourself as the high value reward. Speak to her in a silly voice, wave your arms, crouch to the ground, he'll lie on your back if you have to, anything to get her attention

Edited by bexVN on Wednesday 8th June 09:57

[funbobby]

to be fair she does get on with 95% of dogs but im worried she will annoy dominant dogs with the staring and get herself into trouble. she does love her food so that works to an extent but i think i need to get her more interested in playing with a ball, problem is at the moment when i throw something she has zero interest in it as i dont believe anyone has really played with her before.

[Autopilot]

funbobby said:

to be fair she does get on with 95% of dogs but im worried she will annoy dominant dogs with the staring and get herself into trouble. she does love her food so that works to an extent but i think i need to get her more interested in playing with a ball, problem is at the moment when i throw something she has zero interest in it as i dont believe anyone has really played with her before.

It's easy to build drive in a dog providing that they do have some form of prey drive in the first place. Like you say, if your dog has never been played with then she won't know what to do so will have to teach her the ropes.

We have a distraction toy at home used for training (and distraction!). We use a ball on a rope as it's easy to swing around and easy to throw. Our male has very high drive so not a problem getting him interested. What we do is stand still, show him the ball and move it around so he gets interested and wants it. Holding the rope end means you can swing it about your person, pass around the body, between legs etc without moving your body or feet. If YOU move, you become the prey item and you'll have a dog jumping up at you which you don't want. When / If the dog gains interest in the ball and REALLY wants it, go and put the ball away and don't let her have it.

Repeat a few times over a number of days and when you go out on a walk, produce the item and instigate play and 'hopefully' the dog will really want it and her drive go straight up and want to engage with you and the item. We did this as a distraction technique, so shove the ball in to my left armpit and the dog will walk to heel (takes more training obviously) while looking at you and ignoring everything else. This was all done for competition work, but in your case you could forget the armpit bit and start letting the dog have the item.

[funbobby]

Thanks all good sound advice, in terms of prey drive it's very high in terms of wildlife which I suspect is from fending for herself and its only the last month or so is she taking more interest as too where I am on a walk as the outside world excites her massively! I'm hoping to re direct her interest into a fetch game and gradually get her off lead as I do feel some of her staring is lead based. If it wasn't for the fact there is a fast road by the fields I use I would be more inclined to give her free reign but kinda get a feel for a dogs distraction levels and hers are still pretty high.