Preventing reactivity when your other dog is reactive?

[thylacinu]

Socializing with Salamander is going really well so far. He was 12 weeks this past Friday. He's building confidence in new situations and is almost always able to stay focused while training with distractions (lawn mowers, strangers talking to my mom through the fence a few feet away, kids playing next door, birds, cats, other dogs, etc)

He hadn't shown any reactivity through barriers (fence, window, or leash) until this morning. While I was outside with him for his potty break, our neighbor let his dog out. (We have a simple post-and-wire fence right now, so they can see each other perfectly.) The other dog is old and not reactive at all, and Sally's never had any issues with him before. But when Sally saw him this morning, he stiffened and barked a few times. I got his attention back on me really easily, and he didn't mind the other dog anymore once I broke that initial alert.

The alerting behavior I don't mind, as long as he stops and calms down when I tell him to. But it worried me because I've been worried for a while now that he might learn reactive behavior from my other dog.

Banjo, my 11 year old miniature pinscher, has never received any consistent training in his life. He's never hurt anyone or anything and he's always super submissive when actually interacting with people or animals, but the second he sees another person or dog through a window or fence he barks like crazy...Like a min pin does.

The puppy always wants to play with him, and asks for play by barking, so what we end up with is tmBanjo barking through the fence, and Salamander barking at Banjo. I don't want him to learn that seeing stuff through the fence is worth reacting to just because the other dog has taught him it's a big deal.

I don't mind the play barking, because I've always had very vocal dogs and I'm actively teaching him to calm down/be quiet/leave Banjo alone when told to do so.

My game plan is just to continue to redirect the puppy when he does this, and to start counterconditioning barrier reactivity before it even becomes an issue. Have you guys found any other methods more successful for dealing with/preventing this issue? Or do I have a good plan?

 

[Ravenbird]

It sounds like you have a pretty good plan in place. There are a few trainers here with lots more experience, so maybe they will chime in. The goal is just for Sal to ignore other people / dogs. Seems like you know this and are actively working on it! When my dog (still a pup) is reactive if I don't get her attention right away, I ask for a simple command she knows like sit, so I can treat her for sitting and get her focused on me, then a something fun, even if it's silly talk and more treats. Goal is that Sal always thinks your the best game in town.

 

[Lizbeli]

12 weeks is extremely young and you have plenty of time to mold your pup into a good boy. Keep in mind they do go through a “fear” period in development and it can be normal for them to be reactive, maybe even a bit nervous.

The best thing at this age is consistent socialization. Since he is so young, I would probably try to desensitize him by offering treats or even engaging in play in a distracting area. However, if your other dog is reactive there is a chance Salamander will pick up the negative energy from him down the road. I would consider working one on one with both dogs.

That said, my boy is almost a year and a half and sometimes I still have to correct him when out in the yard. He is pretty territorial and the neighbor has a doggy day care. He doesn't like other dogs running along our fence, but now it only takes a verbal que for him to stop. I found that playing frisbee in the back yard when the neighbors were out was the best training for this case.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

the neighbor has a doggy day care.

 

[Rits]

My advise would be to also work with your min pin. It's never too late to train. Sure it will take lots of persistence but it'll make it a whole lot easier to have two well behaved pups vs trying to keep one well behaved living under the same roof as the naughty one

 

[thylacinu]

I would consider working one on one with both dogs.

My advise would be to also work with your min pin. It's never too late to train.

The issue with the min pin is that there's no way to convince my mom that it's possible but that we need to be consistent with him. I'll definitely start doing what I can to keep him in line, or at the very least take him out of the room/put him inside when he's being reactive to prevent reinforcing it.

He's so damn big already that I keep forgetting he is still in a fear period. He's doing really well at responding to redirection, and he's definitely less likely to bark at things he's seen before.

 

[Kaiser2016]

I found that playing frisbee in the back yard when the neighbors were out was the best training for this case.

This also worked for us. We got new neighbors over the winter, and with everyone being home these days, Kaiser sees them outside and it made him crazy because he wasn’t used to seeing people out in that yard. And these people have kids which Kaiser isn’t used to either. Lol, one day after eating something he was particularly slobbery and he settled on the deck to watch these kids, and it actually looked like he was drooling over them like little snacks haha.

 

[Gelcoater]

I’ve found with Rocky reacting to the neighbor dogs or what ever, redirect.

And he gets one redirect.
If he chooses to react further rather than redirect, play time is over.

He figured out pretty quick his favorite game ends if he acts a fool.

We have roofers working on the house next door. Day one both were going ape nuts about it.
Day 4 now, the roofers are completely ignored.