Okay, here goes some tips that had helped me with Ginger, maybe you’ll find them useful? :3
Try to get Duma’s attention every time when the distance between you and her gets too big for your comfort zone – for example, you can do some weird noise/click your tongue/call her name, and when she looks at you recall her with ton of positive energy in your body and voice – like the fact she looked at you and came closer is ABSOLUTELY THE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED IN YOUR LIFE.
BUT!!! Do so only if you both can mantain such high energy levels. For example try to avoid situation when the dog gets TOO EXCITED, jumps at you and stops thinking about anything (happened a lot with Ginger at the beggining). You know Duma’s best and, sadly, without any trainer that can look at you irl you have to just try and see at how high levels of excitement you can both work. The point is, you want her to know that being close to you is simply great.
Then, when she’s close to you, you can mark it with clicker (when you use one) or/AND give her a treat or play with her – again, some dogs are better with food, some are better with toys. If you want to use food try something that is super tasty and what’s Duma doesn’t get very often.
Above that change your walk routine from time to time. Go in many different directions. Turn back at the middle of the road. Jump over the bench. Do some excersises to make Duma focus on you and also to show her, that you are more intersting than the environment (but don’t overdo this – she also needs a time for herself)
About her reaction to other dogs.
Well, it’s hard to tell what the root of the problem is without seeing it on your own. But here are some tips that many found useful:
Focus cue – teach her to focus on you. Tell her name/cue, mark with clicker, give treat. Repeat as many times as you find necessary. Slowly add distractions and, for example, work in different place, then outside etc., just like with any other cues.
When there’s dog nearby tell her to focus – but BEFORE she goes into “I HAVE TO GET TO THAT DOG” mode. You should add such distractions very slowly – first ask her to focus when the other dog is very, very far away, and with time and excersises you should be able to walk near it without bigger problem.
There’s no play if there’s no work. Many people put their dog off leash almost the same moment they meet friendly dog ready to have some fun. This may lead to overexcited dogs that want’s nothing else than to play – such dogs have tendency to pull towards other dogs (ignoring everything else), because they want to play so bad – and they want it NOW. Play can be a great reward and reinforce wanted behavior but it has to be used as such. Simple “sit” and “wait” or whatever else is good enough. You just want dog to know, that his friends are never more important than you are.
When your dog is aggresive towards other dogs or afraid of them, seek professionall help. Online advices are nothing in comparision to real life consultation and can do more harm than good in the long run (for example, you can train afraid dog to work well near the scary thing – but will the fear itself go away or it will be just supressed?).
Every dog is different. Even with above things helped me with Ginger it doesn’t mean they’ll do wonders in your case. But, anyway, I wish you good luck and I hope you’ll find this post useful. Fingers crossed for you and Duma, I’m sure you will be over this problem very soon!
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