How to Train Your Dog to Get Along with Other Dogs

Hello Lily, First, see if there is a G.R.O.W.L. class in your area. This is a class for dog reactive and dog aggressive dogs. It is an intensive socialization class where all of the dogs wear basket muzzles for everyone's safety and the dogs are walked together and socialized together to help overcome issues more quickly. Also, work on a very focused, structured heel. Check out the video and article linked below. He needs to start out the walk walking slightly behind you and not in front of you - because in front he cannot focus on you and is scanning the horizon for dogs. Starting out the walk right can make a huge impact on how a dog responds when they do see another dog. Heel article - The turns method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-poodle-to-heel Heel Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTiKVc4ZZWo I would need more information to help further. If this is leash reactivity - meaning that he does fine with dogs while off leash or once he greets the dogs, then I suggest working on his respect and focus for you and correcting the behavior by keeping him extremely on task walking with you. If this is aggression and he is not alright with dogs in other environments, then you will need to deal with the root of the aggression and determine what type it is. If he is afraid you would work on pairing the presence of other dogs with good things while he was calm, in addition to building his confidence in you. If it is dominance, possessiveness, territorial, or protective, then you would work on building his respect and focus on you and desensitizing him to other dogs through a lot of practice heeling around other dogs from a distance that he can handle, with well timed corrections and well timed praise - there are several different exercises to work on for this. If this is genetic you are going to be looking at high level management since the root of the aggression likely cannot be changed. You would work on increasing his respect and trust for you, desensitizing him to other dogs, and having an advanced level of obedience so that he could respond to you even in the presence of high distractions. Check out Jeff Gellman from SolidK9Training for more details on dealing with aggression. If this is fear aggression, then you could also use a more positive reinforcement approach. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Gayle, You need to hire a trainer who specializes in aggression and has access to other trainers on staff and well behaved dogs to practice around. Because of her strength it will be difficult for you to implement the training on your own so I suggest getting in person help. Look into Sean O'Shea from the Good Dog, and Jeff Gellman from SolidK9Training on YouTube. I still suggest hiring a trainer to help you though. Aggression is one of the things that often requires professional help. Many things can be taught on your own, but aggression often benefits from having assistance from someone who deals with it often, comes well recommended, and has the resources like other dogs, to practice the methods around. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Chanae, First, you need to honestly evaluate whether she was the initiator of the fights, or if it was only your dog that you re-homed. If the other dog was the only one constantly starting issues, you may be able to add another dog but life with both dogs probably will never be able to look relaxed and unstructured because of her history. I know of others with dog reactive dogs who are able to add a second dog but you need to first work through your dog's general issues being around other dogs, which will probably involve working with a training group that specializes in aggression and reactivity and who has access to a lot of other dogs to work on desensitizing her. You will need to work on the resource guarding before adding another dog. Her life will need to be really structured, meaning she needs to heel with a lot of focus on you and walking slightly behind you on every walk (and not be allowed to scan the horizon looking for other dogs), she needs to wait for permission before eating, be fed in a closed crate, be crated trained, be able to do a 2 hour Place or Down-Stay command, know Leave It, Out, Come, and be very responsive to commands around high distractions, like other dogs running past. When you have established that level of respect, trust, focus on you, and obedience, then you can ease into introducing another dog by having Molly rotate between being on Place, in a crate, or on a structured heeling walk around the other dog - no freedom around the other dog at this point, only structured activities together with a high level of focus and management from you. Both dogs should be fed in closed separate crates to prevent resource guarding and stress around food, and toys carefully chosen and controlled when they have what. A household with a dog aggressive dog is possible but it will never look like a household with two dog-social dogs, and the Yorkie is small enough that it could easily be killed during a fight, and being bullied by another dog will cause a second dog to become fear-aggressive too - continuing the cycle. After a couple of years of careful management and structure with both dogs, they may become accepting and trusting enough of each other and respectful enough of your rules, that they can have more freedom with each other (always supervised still though). This often happens when things are managed carefully enough for long enough, but there are no guarantees that things will be able to be more relaxed. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Taylor, It sounds like he may associate other dogs with the highly aroused state he was always in around them, where the dogs have to be a bit defensive, competitive, and overly-excited. Over-arousal can lead to fighting and frustration. You want him learn to associate dogs with something calm and pleasant, and not something really exciting or frustrating. He needs to practice heeling around other dogs from a distance, a high level Place command around other dogs also in Place, and a lot of other obedience where his focus is on you and the other dogs are just background information but not something he is supposed to be focusing on; to do this, his focus on you and respect and trust for you need to increase a lot, then you can gradually work up to getting him around other dogs while doing something structured like heeling, with the dogs in the distance. As he improves, you can decrease the distance between them and add more movement from the other dogs. Check out Jeff Gellman from solidK9Training. He specializes in aggression, fear and similar behavior problems and has hundreds of videos on Youtube. Sean O'Shea from the Good Dog also has several great videos, as well as The Canine Educator based in New York state. Aggression and reactivity can be harder to treat yourself and you will need a lot of volunteers with their own calm dogs to serve as dogs in the background while doing this. You also need someone to show you how correct effectively (avoiding a bite, the right level of correction, the right timing, and correcting the looking for dogs and tensing up to get his attention back onto you and off the dogs before a big outburst, ect...), and someone to show you what your attitude and body language needs to be like - very calm and confident, not anxious, angry, or overly excited. Because he doesn't have a bite history and hasn't drawn blood as far as you have mentioned you may be able to tackle his needs on your own if you have enough people with calm dogs willing to help you and you are able to do the research needed to understand how to do the training by watching tons of videos - but this will be a ton easier if you hire a trainer who specializes in behavior problems and trains similar to the trainers in the videos mentioned above, using mostly positive reinforcement but also a ton of structure, obedience, and boundaries, and the right about of corrections where needed to break through to the dog so they can be open to learning something better. Avoid trainers who use alpha rolls and extreme dominance type training. Effective corrections and structure aren't the same as pinning a dog to the ground just to make a point. Also, avoid those who do not have a lot of experience with aggression, many trainers only focus on obedience in class type settings (which is fine for those who need obedience, but not what you need and won't help on it's own). Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Maribeth, Check out the articles and videos linked below to work on her respect and responsiveness to you - which is the first step. It sounds like it may be fear-aggression but other types of aggression commonly surface around 1-2 years so you may have something else going on too. With fear and other types of aggression you want her to feel like she can depend on you to handle situations that make her nervous, and listen to commands related to how she should behave around other dogs. Place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omg5DVPWIWo Crate manners: https://thegooddog.net/training-videos/free-how-to-training-videos/learn-to-train-the-good-dog-way-the-crate/ Thresholds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-w28C2g68M Heel article - The turns method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-poodle-to-heel Heel Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTiKVc4ZZWo Dog Training Do’s https://www.solidk9training.com/sk9-blog/2016/09/08/the-ten-commandments-of-dog-training-and-ownership-do-2 1-2 years is a common age for aggression or fear related behaviors to surface because of the dog's mental and sexual maturity around then...protectiveness, fear-aggression, territorial behavior, possessiveness, dominance issues, and reactivity are a few common things that can pop up for some dogs during that time - it's often related to the dog's genetic personality, the type of leadership you provide, the dog's socialization level, competing with other animals, and instincts. Check out Jeff Gellman from SolidK9Training on YouTube, he has hundreds of videos on aggression and fear. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden