Unsure if reinforcing bad behavior?

Just wanna get your guys opionion on things that are going on. daisy has issues with some other dogs that are out there, she has been well socialized s a puppy, and see other dogs all the time, but she has had some isssues with other dogs where she sniffs them er they sniff her and her hackles go up and she starts growling and thinks its time to bring it on.
So the other day, the OH and I had taken her to the park to get some play time in, things were going well, I had taken some treats with for the purpose of letting her know she was a good girl at times. when she would go up to another dog of any sort, and sniff them or they would come to her I told her "easy" and when she was a good girl and was calm about it i would tell her good girl and give her a treat. there was a few times she would start to get moody about them, and I told her "easy" or "leave it" and tried to get her attention back onto me and move her away, as soon as she looked away from the other dog and calmed a down a bit, i would praise her for paying attention to me, and calming down, then she would be offered a treat. All in all we reallly only had one major issue after about 10 minutes of being there, where she didnt really attack a dog but kinda growled, at em.

The OH said that what I was doing was reinforcing the bad behavior, and I wanted to make sure that i wasn't. after the little scuffle, the other owner said its ok they are dogs we were right there to step in, but they were just putting them in place. and that is what dogs do.
Any advice would be wonderful.

Not all dogs will get along. It's really about understanding body language and stopping things before they get out of hand. They tend to play rough and sometimes things can be misundertod

I understand that some dog will not get along with each other, I have tried explaing that to him and that he needs to pick up more on her body launguage, he thinks im weird. I can tell you so much about her body launguage, and he just is like whatever. Whenever she goes to meet another dog I do what I can to be right there, with her because I never fully know how she is going to react. They can be really rough players sometimes, but others dont get that. she likes to stand on her back paws and use her front paws almost kinda like a boxer, if that makes sense.
Anytime something does happen we are right there removing her, she normally gets a time out, or we will leave because of bad behavior. I know there are also times she gets kinda "fed up" with being there and the others, and she will start being worse, when she cant get her space from them, so we leave at that point. Sometimes I feel like such a horrible parent, I am doing everything I feel is correct but she still has some major issues, we try to work with. But it seems like they never get better, or she is jsut to stubborn to change them.

This is a bit hard. Do you have a friend that has a well socialized older dog that likes to play? That would be ideal. They like to play very rough and if you understand body language it's okay. The best I can advise is to find a few doggy friends that she can interact with on a regular basis and let them interact. If any handler is uncomfortable then seperate them for a bit.

If they get to a spot where they are in a corner seperate them and take them to a place where there is space to run around.

your not reinforcing bad behaviour you are rewarding the good behaviour of looking away. so she will associate look aay and ignore with soemthing good. but the bad behaviour needs to be checked at the same time. if she stares and fixates give a pull on the lead and try to get her attention away from them and when it is praise good girl and treat if you want.

jstaff wrote:This is a bit hard. Do you have a friend that has a well socialized older dog that likes to play? That would be ideal. They like to play very rough and if you understand body language it's okay. The best I can advise is to find a few doggy friends that she can interact with on a regular basis and let them interact. If any handler is uncomfortable then seperate them for a bit.

If they get to a spot where they are in a corner seperate them and take them to a place where there is space to run around.

That is sort of an issue, I dont know anyone else who has a dog, the people who were are in the building here wont let daisy even come near their dogs because she is going to kill them, she is horrible. The one dog whom she use to play with all the time was a french bull dog pug mix, and he moved to texas. so we are trying to find someone new to play with.

My dog meets many more dogs he dislikes then he likes. They will have a perfunctory sniff and he'll ignore them and walk on. Some dog's hackles go up easier then others, like some people blush easier.
Just because she's getting annoyed doesn't mean she might break out the big guns. Romeo had it when he's sniffed a dog he didn't care for and walked on, the dog has followed him and either tried to play or dominate him. He's swung round and roared at them and they've backed off. If they haven't this is when I catch his attention and make him walk on.
Sometimes it's the complete opposite, he'll meet a dog he loves and they'll start to play and the owner will call them away because they think he's attacking them because of his rumbling. He met some retriever the other day and they started to play and he made his play grumbles and the owners screamed and started calling the retriever. I said to the owner 'Don't worry he's just playing.' but the man completely ignored me and turned his back to me (!) and goes to his wife 'Bah that's playing!?'
Romeo and the retriever were perfectly cool with each other, both wagging tails. I said to the man 'Yes, staffies are very noisy players, that's his play noises.' and he just completely ignored me, horrendously rude.

You are not reinforcing bad behaviors. What you are doing is counter-conditioning your dog to the presence of other dogs, that is, changing her emotional response to a positive one with food. You are also using a bit of behavior adjustment therapy (BAT), perhaps without realizing that's what it's called. What I would recommend is that you try to work under your dog's threshold for arousal. That is, work with her at a distance from the other dogs where she does not get aroused.

The other thing - make sure you are keeping your leash loose - a tense leash translates tension down the length of the leash to the dog - a leash can also make a dog that is less than fully confident in a situation feel like he might be trapped without a way to escape. So, in introductions keep observing your dog closely like you have been, and say "Let's go!" in a happy voice when it looks like things may not go well - that is, you see one dog or the other look worried or freeze.

Keep it happy and upbeat and counter-condition with food. Keep your introductions brief and say "Let's go!" in a happy voice before anything goes awry. Load your puppy up with positive experiences and use discretion in your introductions. Your puppy does not need to meet every other dog - be selective! When introducing your puppy to another dog on leash, keep your leash loose and high. You may have to dance around a bit to achieve this. Good luck - sounds like you are on the right track!

Cindy Ludwig, M.A., KPA-CTP

another questiin i was thinking about, is there an issue with keeping Daisy on a long lead, while at the park while the other dogs off completely off lead? will she feel like they are better than er her anything.

No, I don't think so. I personally don't like dog parks, if that's the kind of park you're referring to because it seems like an accident waiting to happen. If you have Daisy on a long lead just make sure it doesn't give you a false sense of security. If she gets into trouble you need to be able to quickly get her out of the situation. If you're thinking about having her on a long lead just for the security of ensuring she will come back to you if called, that's certainly ok. When I am first training my dogs in recall, I let them trail a long lead behind them so I can grab it just in case they choose not to return to me. I don't think the long lead itself should cause her any distress unless she gets tangled up in it. I would worry she could get tangled up in it with another dog or something.