If I see Max straight away, I cross the road and/or get Hunter engaged and/or distract him with food. I can handle that.
However if I have not had time to anticipate Max (normally midst pooh scooping) Hunter growls, barks, lunges, complete maniac and food will not distract him.
OK, a few thoughts on this. Distraction for getting out of Dodge is a really great tactic, but as you have found out, it's hard to distract a dog who has already started reacting. There are different ways to approach this, and they all have their merits.
- Starting to work on Homer remaining calm around Max. This means allowing him to realise that Max is there, but at a distance that he can handle without aggressing. This may or may not be possible, depending on how willing and able Max's guardian is, but is how you would start on conditioning him to remain calm and to perform whatever action you prefer (eg orienting to you) on seeing Max.
- This is worth doing whether or not you are able to do 1. You need to get the tools you plan to use to get out of Dodge and practice those outside of the highly charged situation. I'm sure you wouldn't expect Homer to fluently sit on cue in this situation, especially if you'd never practiced sitting in an easy setup, and this is just the same. My favourite things to teach are:
- A to B (where you make your lead short and turn 180 degrees and move away quickly)
- Treat magnet (where you put food on his nose and he moves wherever you need to follow it)
- Reorientation (tossing a treat on the floor then the dog immediately looks back at you)
Now, of course you're thinking that Homer doesn't eat in these situations and at the moment you're right. But that doesn't matter, because you're going to be teaching and practicing the mechanics of these behaviours outside of the difficult situation. As they become more fluent, then as soon as you start the process, the dog just falls into the pattern because he's done it a million times. Shadow doesn't feel like eating when there's another dog that he's uncomfortable with, but he will follow a treat magnet because the cue is so strong, he just does it. Just like how most of us reach for the phone immediately it rings, whether or not we were expecting the call. To get that level of response, you make the game short and fun and you play it multiple times a day/walk. Once you both understand how it works, you can start throwing it in randomly. So you'd be walking along the road, say, and then without warning you'd do one of your management games. It doesn't matter if he eats from the treat magnet or not... it's all about getting him out of the situation. However, eating is a behaviour like any other and, if it's part of the picture you're training (eg the reorientation game) then when that game is fluent, he will likely eat even boring kibble in those more difficult pictures because that's what the "picture" looks like. Shadow eats in pretty much all these difficult situations now because we've built the behaviour chains so strongly outside of that environment then layered it in. And if he's already worked himself into a frenzy, you just have to get your dog out of there, or at least under control. So practice that, too.
- VERY short leash (hand touching his collar) and basically "driving" him to where you need him. It's a whole lot less "draggy" when you have your hand right by his collar, because the dog is simply less able to resist against the pressure.
- A strong "middle" with both hands on the collar. Even if he's reacting, you're in a strong position and have control of him.
Again, practice these two things in a fun and upbeat way in easy environments, with lots of praise, treats, and energy and he'll find it easier to follow along with them when the shit hits the fan. And start gradually layering the difficulty by doing them around other people and/or (non-Max) dogs, cats, squirrels etc, making it really fun for him.
People who witness this, then see Hunter as the aggressive dog, which really upsets me.
I know it's easier said than done, but don't worry about other people. Who cares what strangers think? In that moment, all your attention is on your dog and getting you both to a safe and happy place. There is no mental capacity to deal with other people, especially ones that aren't involved in the issue. To be honest, most of the time I don't even have the capacity to deal with the other owner, and I focus entirely on Shadow. There's no point me giving directions to the other person (although we do practice a strong "STOP" with associated body language which can be a help) as they tend to want to talk, and I don't have the bandwidth for that in the moment. They become like the teacher in Peanuts, "wahwahwahwahwah" to me. There is absolutely nothing to be gained from conversing. If they do something particularly helpful, I will shout out a thank you afterwards, but that's pretty much the sum of my interaction with any human during management mode.
During his maniac ranting, what is the best thing to do?
I really need both hands to control him.
Hopefully all the above will give you some pointers.
After he has calmed down, what is also the best approach?
Currently I make him sit, talk to him about being silly in a calm voice, but then he expects a treat?
I don't give him the treat as I not sure that he will think I am rewarding him for his aggression towards Max.
I am never a fan of using a sit in these situations. The dog has an adrenaline high and I find that it helps to expel that tension through movement in a safe way. Jumping hand touches, spins, leg weaves, feet up on something, chasing kibble... and of course give a reinforcer if they perform the behaviour you have just asked. It doesn't have to be food, but whatever you usually use. You asked your dog to do something, he did it... he deserves payment in one form or another.
The trigger for his aggressive behaviours is not to earn food. It is more likely to create distance between him and Max.
That is his reinforcer, not a piece of sausage. You already said that he won't take food during his demonstrative behaviours, so that means that the food is not reinforcing the behaviour. So don't worry about that.
I hope that gives some things you can use going forwards. Give me a shout if you need clarification on anything.
