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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I posted about the aggressive dog walked on my street.  What you all are suggesting is that these/your aggressive dogs be moved to households in suburban or low density neighborhoods.

Transferring the location does not remove the problem.  It just creates a problem for others.[/quote]

We used to have a guy who would walk his growling/barking/snarling/menacing mutt around our block every single day.  That thing was pulling at his leash to get to us which was unnerving because it was not an overly excited "I want to meet you!!!!" type dog, it was a dog that was pissed that we were in the same vicinity.  Didn't matter that it was our own yard. Eventually, the dog settled down and I was stunned to see it saunter past our house on leash, not pulling, not growling, just ignoring us..

To this day I have no idea what that guy did to that dog to make it so much calmer.  But the transformation was truly incredible.[/quote]

My dog growls/barks on leashed walks when she sees (often subtle) "rude" doggy behavior.  This isn't aggression.  It's reactivity, as she is not comfortable at the staring the other dog is doing to her.  (The analogy I've heard trainers use at conferences is it's like the woman who yells at the creepy man in the bar for staring at her).  To someone not well-versed in dog body language, she probably looks aggressive.  She isn't.  If she broke off the leash, she would immediately freeze and run back to me.  She's scared and overwhelmed by the other dog (and buses/motorcycles/garbage trucks/lawn mowers).

I am working heavily to counter condition her to her triggers, to find her threshold point, and work to build her tolerance level.  We are making really good progress, though it has taken many years because we keep taking steps backwards when a strange dog approaches us off leash, when the mailman thinks it's funny to watch her react and drives back and forth down the street taunting her (seriously), or a child crashes his bike into us when we've stepped to the grass off the sidewalk to let him pass.  Some days it's one step forward, 5 steps back.

It's a lot of work, but my dog honestly isn't aggressive in the least.  She's a fantastic off leash dog who does really well at the dog park, is great in obedience class and agility trials where the owners are savvy enough to manage their own dog behavior, and is just fine on leash with vetted dogs.[/quote]

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