Robtouw
Well-Known Member
Is he putting himself between you and the strangers and lunging or just lunging and barking at them period? There is a difference. If he feels you are threatened and it is his duty to protect everytime he sees a person he doesn't know then he is going to warn them off. He has to learn that you are ok with other in your space unless you say otherwise. Sounds easy, but its actually hard to teach. He may just be protecting what he feels is his, that being you. I am totally against pronged collars and other uncomfortable devices and have learned that positive reinforcement and reward works best, takes longer but stays with the dog and leaves him with a better sense of trust.
My last OEM mistrusted anyone wearing dark sunglasses, he could not see their eyes and that drove him nuts. It took us what felt like forever in practice with treats, praise, and repetition to get the prob solved. We would have people come over wearing them on purpose, he would sound off (on leash of course), we would put him in a certain position such as sit or long down and reward with turkey, larger pieces for larger lengths of time for stay. After he calmed down, we would have the person walk up to him with us leading them by the arm, glasses on and allow him to examine them. We led them to make him understand that we accepted them and were not in any type of harm, again its perception. Once he found them to be friendly with the glasses on he calmed and slowly began to be desensitized to the glasses. He always questioned the glasses but over time did not react violently to them. This took a great deal of repetition and cooperation from scared friends, a 180lb barking, lunging dog is not what you want to experience, but in the long run it paid off greatly!
My last OEM mistrusted anyone wearing dark sunglasses, he could not see their eyes and that drove him nuts. It took us what felt like forever in practice with treats, praise, and repetition to get the prob solved. We would have people come over wearing them on purpose, he would sound off (on leash of course), we would put him in a certain position such as sit or long down and reward with turkey, larger pieces for larger lengths of time for stay. After he calmed down, we would have the person walk up to him with us leading them by the arm, glasses on and allow him to examine them. We led them to make him understand that we accepted them and were not in any type of harm, again its perception. Once he found them to be friendly with the glasses on he calmed and slowly began to be desensitized to the glasses. He always questioned the glasses but over time did not react violently to them. This took a great deal of repetition and cooperation from scared friends, a 180lb barking, lunging dog is not what you want to experience, but in the long run it paid off greatly!