Rewards when Walking?

[DobieWanKenobi]

Kay (Doberman) is going through the "Teenage Stage" right now. Since she was 7 months old, she's decided that barking, growling and lunging at dogs is the way they should be greeted. It's not unusual in the Doberman world, but if you let 'em get away with it, it could escelate to aggression or a permanent reactivity issue.

I've finally found a way to start working around it, after months of getting frustrated and angry at her. First of all, I've worked on my own reaction to other dogs, and pay attention to what I'm doing. It helped a lot once I realised I was pulling her back and getting flustered whenever I saw a dog. I've started putting her to one side of the trail, having her sit (facing the dog, so she can see it) and wait. I usually talk to the person walking past, which seems to calm Kay down, but she's still a "work in progress". I can now get her to sit, wait, and stay completely quiet when small/medium sized dogs pass us. She still gets a bit transfixed on them, but we're getting there, slowly-slowly.

We're currently working toward getting her that way with larger breed dogs.

I was just after some idea's on what I could give her as a reward? I was advised not to give her toys, because games make the dog more worked up, but I don't want to take treats out with me. I had an issue with a previous dog, and if she knew I had food with me, she'd charge other dogs (sometimes people) to keep them away from "her prize". It probably won't happen again, I don't think I want to risk it with Kay (being a way bigger, stronger dog than what my last one was).

If treats would be the way to go, is there a way I can make sure she doesn't see them as hers to defend?

[krb0471]

I've only used treats for fearful dogs who needed exposure (the shy ones). treat + other dog = yummies. Her reactions sound like a bluff which means she is anxious. You could test to see if she is a resource guarder, if she is not, you might try treats to distract her while exposing her to bigger dogs. Use something she has to work at/concentrate on- pb, soft treats, ect. Then you can wean them out once she is ok with big dogs. Be careful not to overuse them long term, your dog will then expect a treat each time another comes around.

[kasmith]

I also wonder if some distance might help, too? Abby does not guard food at all. But that said, she is less likely to be as reactive to other dogs based on proximity. As we've been working on "Click to Calm" and her issues with reactivity, I have tried to find out what distance is enough where she can look at other dogs and not be reactive. If it's 100 yards, we work at 105 yards out. Granted, you won't always be able to have that distance and we've certainly had our fair share of getting ambushed. But if you have times where you're specifically going to work on this, maybe added distance would also help her to feel like she doesn't have to guard what is hers.

[SapheraGirl]

This is going to sound silly but Saphera is not food motivated and isn't a big fan of toys; she actually responds the best to praise. I don't get loud or overly excited but I use a soothing voice and lots of postive touching.

[mezmerelda]

We use treats since I have 2 food motivated dogs. However, neither are prone to resource guarding at all, so we never have any issues like you described. They are both slightly reactive to other dogs when we walk, so when I think of it and have treats with me, I do reward. Otherwise, praise as Terri suggested might work well, depending on Kay. Or perhaps a clean bone? I've used that in training as well to try and get Ozzy away from treats all the time, and it worked pretty well. I let him chew on it for a second, but then take it away until he does something worth rewarding again. However, that would probably affect the food aggressive or resource guarding dog.