Marrowshard
Well-Known Member
I will not blame anyone if this gets a lot of TL;DR BUT ... for anyone who didn't get the intro to Oscar a number of months ago, here's some backstory:
Oscar is our adopted (almost) 4-year-old EM. He's 141lbs. as of his last vet visit so he's a bit smaller than standard. He ended up at the local no-kill after his owner in the Twin Cities ran afoul of the three-strikes "loose dog" thing. Oscar escaped his fence once to harass a couple of dogs being walked past. He reportedly "pinned" one of the dogs but didn't bite either one. The dogs' owner recognized him, grabbed his collar, and put him back. Strike One. Then, the owner patched his crap fence with - I kid you not - two broken bicycles. Obviously, it wouldn't hold a dog so Oscar got loose again. Did no damage, chased no one, but ran around a bit. Strike Two. He and next-door neighbor's instigator black lab got into a tussle (again, crap fence) which ended with the lab taking a small amount of damage. No stitches, just antibiotics, but it was enough. Strike Three. The three events took place over a span of three years. After the last incident, the city ordered him either euthanized or removed from the city. Since the owner had just moved to the city to take care of his mother, relocation wasn't an option. The shelter owner was present at the hearing and offered to take Oscar across the state line and find him a new home.
Fast forward to September ... my husband and I were appraised of Oscar's history but knew he'd grown up with two other dogs (St. Bernard and Pug), cats, and small children so we figured it was a circumstantial reaction rather than true aggression.
So far, he's been a very good dog. He's never tried anything with the cats unless you count persistent attempts to sniff their butts and occassionally knocking them over when barrelling up the stairs. He's been tried on toddlers and young school-aged kids and tends to just lay there being petted. No 'don't touch' spots that we've yet found. Lays still to have his ears cleaned, his teeth brushed, and his nails clipped even when mom misses and has to get the styptic powder.
He's about 50/50 with other dogs. He gets along great with my buddy's black lab (one altercation where both tried to grab the same tennis ball: Oscar got a couple of small cuts on the muzzle and Gauge got two fang marks in the neck) and another's Bichon Frise. A couple of weeks ago, we walked by a house with two young labs at it who barked up a storm then rushed at us. Oscar stood his ground and let them approach, and wild butt-sniffing ensued when the two labs showed instant submission (rolled over, tails tucked, licking mouths). The next-door neighbor's three dogs (Beagle, Bichon, Mini Schnauzer) can all run around their yard barking at him and he'll barely look at them.
So why ... WHY does he come unglued when another leashed dog walks by? He used to bark a lot, and we've got him down to just wildly pulling and occassionally hackling. The type or attitude of the other dog doesn't seem to matter. We're not even talking about close-quarter passing, it's opposite-side-of-the-country-road walking. Once it was an extremely sedate hound, another time a tiny little yorkie-thingy that was ignoring us, and just Monday a Lab who was just an interested in us and had to be wrestled a bit.
I've tried re-focusing him on me with treats (ignored), using a variety of leash/collar/harness types (neither worse nor better), making him Sit while the other dog passes (temporary deafness), and dragging him past as though I didn't notice the other dog at all (which results in an outwardly hilarious display wherein he tries to go through my legs and backwards). We've been doing a lot of obedience ground work, focusing on off-leash commands. He's now gotten pretty good with the basics plus Hold, which is our new one meaning 'stop and turn'. I almost had him recalled from 40 feet away when he tried to follow my husband's car down the driveway. He had been at a dead run, then paused, looked back at me, and continued at a trot. He knows what the command means, we're just still hammering in that it has to be followed all the time.
Anyway ... long-winded, I know. He's not aggressive to other dogs. If he was, no amount of yanking on the leash would make him stop and he wouldn't just silently pull towards the other dog. I also don't get the feeling that it's strictly "I wanna go see the other dog!". He's incredibly dominant and I know I'm biased but I think we've made a lot of progress with him considering the jail-breaking he was used to getting away with. I don't think the situation is dire enough to warrant a professional trainer, but he needs to learn to control himself when passing a strange dog.
I'm looking for suggestions, hopefully from someone who's dealt with the same or similar thing. With everything we've been trying I may be inadvertently confusing him and I'd like to get this deal done. Currently, we walk with only a leash and his usual collar. He's gotten so good at walking on a loose leash at my side and listening to the "Easy" command to slow down and even not trying to chase squirrels while leashed that we haven't had to use anything more severe.
Like I say, he's made a lot of progress, but he's a mastiff and listens when it suits him sometimes. I want to go to PetSmart without being shamed by my dog!
~Marrow
Oscar is our adopted (almost) 4-year-old EM. He's 141lbs. as of his last vet visit so he's a bit smaller than standard. He ended up at the local no-kill after his owner in the Twin Cities ran afoul of the three-strikes "loose dog" thing. Oscar escaped his fence once to harass a couple of dogs being walked past. He reportedly "pinned" one of the dogs but didn't bite either one. The dogs' owner recognized him, grabbed his collar, and put him back. Strike One. Then, the owner patched his crap fence with - I kid you not - two broken bicycles. Obviously, it wouldn't hold a dog so Oscar got loose again. Did no damage, chased no one, but ran around a bit. Strike Two. He and next-door neighbor's instigator black lab got into a tussle (again, crap fence) which ended with the lab taking a small amount of damage. No stitches, just antibiotics, but it was enough. Strike Three. The three events took place over a span of three years. After the last incident, the city ordered him either euthanized or removed from the city. Since the owner had just moved to the city to take care of his mother, relocation wasn't an option. The shelter owner was present at the hearing and offered to take Oscar across the state line and find him a new home.
Fast forward to September ... my husband and I were appraised of Oscar's history but knew he'd grown up with two other dogs (St. Bernard and Pug), cats, and small children so we figured it was a circumstantial reaction rather than true aggression.
So far, he's been a very good dog. He's never tried anything with the cats unless you count persistent attempts to sniff their butts and occassionally knocking them over when barrelling up the stairs. He's been tried on toddlers and young school-aged kids and tends to just lay there being petted. No 'don't touch' spots that we've yet found. Lays still to have his ears cleaned, his teeth brushed, and his nails clipped even when mom misses and has to get the styptic powder.
He's about 50/50 with other dogs. He gets along great with my buddy's black lab (one altercation where both tried to grab the same tennis ball: Oscar got a couple of small cuts on the muzzle and Gauge got two fang marks in the neck) and another's Bichon Frise. A couple of weeks ago, we walked by a house with two young labs at it who barked up a storm then rushed at us. Oscar stood his ground and let them approach, and wild butt-sniffing ensued when the two labs showed instant submission (rolled over, tails tucked, licking mouths). The next-door neighbor's three dogs (Beagle, Bichon, Mini Schnauzer) can all run around their yard barking at him and he'll barely look at them.
So why ... WHY does he come unglued when another leashed dog walks by? He used to bark a lot, and we've got him down to just wildly pulling and occassionally hackling. The type or attitude of the other dog doesn't seem to matter. We're not even talking about close-quarter passing, it's opposite-side-of-the-country-road walking. Once it was an extremely sedate hound, another time a tiny little yorkie-thingy that was ignoring us, and just Monday a Lab who was just an interested in us and had to be wrestled a bit.
I've tried re-focusing him on me with treats (ignored), using a variety of leash/collar/harness types (neither worse nor better), making him Sit while the other dog passes (temporary deafness), and dragging him past as though I didn't notice the other dog at all (which results in an outwardly hilarious display wherein he tries to go through my legs and backwards). We've been doing a lot of obedience ground work, focusing on off-leash commands. He's now gotten pretty good with the basics plus Hold, which is our new one meaning 'stop and turn'. I almost had him recalled from 40 feet away when he tried to follow my husband's car down the driveway. He had been at a dead run, then paused, looked back at me, and continued at a trot. He knows what the command means, we're just still hammering in that it has to be followed all the time.
Anyway ... long-winded, I know. He's not aggressive to other dogs. If he was, no amount of yanking on the leash would make him stop and he wouldn't just silently pull towards the other dog. I also don't get the feeling that it's strictly "I wanna go see the other dog!". He's incredibly dominant and I know I'm biased but I think we've made a lot of progress with him considering the jail-breaking he was used to getting away with. I don't think the situation is dire enough to warrant a professional trainer, but he needs to learn to control himself when passing a strange dog.
I'm looking for suggestions, hopefully from someone who's dealt with the same or similar thing. With everything we've been trying I may be inadvertently confusing him and I'd like to get this deal done. Currently, we walk with only a leash and his usual collar. He's gotten so good at walking on a loose leash at my side and listening to the "Easy" command to slow down and even not trying to chase squirrels while leashed that we haven't had to use anything more severe.
Like I say, he's made a lot of progress, but he's a mastiff and listens when it suits him sometimes. I want to go to PetSmart without being shamed by my dog!
~Marrow
