My reactive dog dislikes my daughters dog

Cupar is confusing me. My goal at the moment is to get Cupar to a stage where he can walk past on lead, all dogs without reacting.
My eldest granddaughter (she's 19 years old) and I walk together with her mums dog, he's a wee sweetheart Cocker spaniel.
Cupar hates him, they're both entire, Max is nearly 3 and Cupar would have killed him when he was a puppy, I'm not sure if given the chance, he wouldn't try now.
We have a routine now, she must walk in front with Max and Cupar and I behind, when we stop both dogs are not allowed to touch, as if Max approaches Cupar, his eyes turn devil dog and he has such a lovely set of pearly whites that he shows brilliantly.
We can only walk in places where the dogs are on lead ALL the time.

I do think we're improving with walking past strange dogs, he's managing to walk past most dogs now without any reaction, we walked past a beautiful big black lab today and it was like walking a normal dog, apart from him looking for his squeezey cheese.

For the past two years I have been walking with my granddaughter and Max, yet Cupar will not tolerate him in his space.
Is this likely to improve?
 
Firstly you and Cupar are doing brilliantly with great progress. In my opinion I don't think it is likely to improve if it hasn't after 2 years but who knows. Keep going with what you are doing as it is all going toward positive experiences.

Charlie wouldn't tolerate a doberman, boxer or a labradoodle in our village no matter what I did over his 8 years with us. I wonder if some responses are so ingrained they can't be changed? xx
 

Lisa

Moderator
Location
Alberta, Canada
Probably the only way it would improve is if you started with giving Cupar treats when the spaniel is far enough away that he won't react. Then slowly decrease the space between them. I'm not sure if this would work or not, but his reaction is telling you that the distance between them at this point is much too close for comfort. All that would take quite some patience and dedication, though. You would need your granddaughter to help you with it.
 
I would say that it’s not going to improve by continuing to do what you’re doing. If the dogs are giving off warning signals then they are not happy with the situation, and it is a negative experience for them. Things will only improve if you can change this into a neutral to positive experience for both dogs. It’s hard enough when you have one dog who lacks social niceties, but when you have two, that’s far more variables to juggle.
The problem with using treats or a toy in this situation is that they can overshadow the experience and so learning doesn’t take place.
I’d look up Amy Cook as she has some really good ideas about developing quiet social play as both a “temperature gauge” and a therapeutic tool for reactive dogs.
 
My bad, I've read my post again and it reads Max shows teeth, so sorry for that badly written post.

Max does NOT show signs of aggression, in fact he's the opposite, he just wants to play with everything.
Cupar is fine walking behind and when Max stops to sniff something, i reward Cupar for looking at Max and not reacting. In the beginning Sarah and I couldn't have a conversation as I was so far behind, we have got to a stage where we can walk side by side with both dogs on opposite sides, but most walks require single file. This is an improvement but it has taken 2 years to get here.
Yesterday when we got caught in heavy rain, we stopped and sheltered under trees, Cupar changed when Max got in his space, it wasn't over the top reaction but he did show his teeth, growl and his eyes change to something even I understand means business.
My question is really, will it ever be possible for Cupar to interact with dogs and will he ever get to a stage where Max and him can be walked off lead together?
 
I'm working on this myself right now with Shadow. We had our first session with a person and one of her dogs this morning. I'll write it up, and maybe it will help you? I had my GoPro on, but I've not reviewed the video yet to see if there's anything useful in there (literally just got back home!).
 
I'm working on this myself right now with Shadow. We had our first session with a person and one of her dogs this morning. I'll write it up, and maybe it will help you? I had my GoPro on, but I've not reviewed the video yet to see if there's anything useful in there (literally just got back home!).
Definitely interested in reading how you got on with Shadow. Thank you
 
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