Help! My dog is feral.

[~Trish~]

My boofhead is the same . He's hopeless with other dogs, especially when he is on a lead. It's like he says "Let me at 'em, let me at 'em!".

I recently spoke with an animal behaviourist from the RSPCA we met at a park (while walking said boofhead) and she suggested bringing treats on walks (like dried liver or something else super-yummy for dogs). When you see a dog in the distance, bring the treat out and show it to your dog. Your dog will hopefully pay attention to the treat and not the approaching dog and eventually your dog will learn to chill out around other dogs. We haven't tried this yet . Our neighbour walks him daily so I haven't had a chance to try it out!

[christy]

My favourite way of teaching a dog to behave on lead is to go to an off leash park, walk around the perimeter and stop and use treats to get your dog to focus on you, "sit","stay" "look" etc etc.... then move closer... pause when you get to dogs that are at the fence.... if your dog reacts, turn around and walk away... start over again until you can get next to the fence and your dog is happy to be close to other dogs. Generally, alot of the opposition to other dogs has to do with protection, if you were off lead it would all work, but if that is frustrating for you (as it is for me!) get them to obey before putting them in the stressful situation, and then inch your way closer until they behave in an acceptable way for you.