Picky with dogs [update becoming more dog agressive]

Ok so Harley is coming upto 2 years old, he is picky about dogs and doesnt seem to get on with jack russells,collies and pugs.My question is why has he become so picky with dogs when he has been with dogs from a young age. He attended puppy classes, agility and regulary attends a doggy play park where he would run around playing fine. He dislikes dogs coming upto him on lead so we just ignore it and carry on.Hes mostly ok with labs, boxers and bigger breeds. He had a disagrement with a collie today off lead in the play park really shook me up luckly the other owners were ok and i was able to grab the lead attached to his harness. I want to keep letting him with dogs but hes being unpridictable.

beth , id just keep socialisong harley and with breeds he doesnt like use treats and make all associations positive he may be picking up the sense knowing you know he doesnt like certain breeds could be vibes the other dogs giving off too may no be just a case of harley reacting . im sure if anyone else has other suggestions they will be along soon xxx

Can anyone suggest a trainer/guide to help us. When harley is on lead Hes stands his ground when dogs approach goes on the verge some times and stares at the other dog. When the dog passes hes begining to pull and growl at them. I dont know how to get around this so many dogs are running upto him on the lead and he really doesnt like it and goes into fight mode.
As said before different dog off lead and is 9/10 fine but I feel on edge. Any help would be very gratefull

Two things you can teach him fairly easily might help - the first is 'watch me', so that he focusses on you when you ask instead of on the other dog, and the other is 'this way!!!', which means let's run this way and play, so you're going away from the other dog towards something he finds fun.

Teach both away from anything at all to start off with. 'Watch me' is done simply by holding a treat towards your face, which he should follow with his eyes. To start off with, just ask him to do that so he gets to looking in the right direction. Then, when that's ok, wait until he gives you eye contact. He'll probably look at you because you're being slow giving him his treat to start off with but then learn that it's the eye contact that gets him the treat.

'This way!!!' (exclamation marks to stress that this is FUN!!!) you can do with a toy - I taught Chaos with a rope tuggy toy that he loves. (Note - 'leave it' is really useful with this sort of game.) Again, away from any distraction, you simple call 'this way' and move away, showing him the toy. Just you moving away generally will get the dog to follow if he has nothing more interesting to look at. Practise this in the garden, then on easy walks, and you should be able to work up to him following you away from another dog when you call 'this way!!!

Chaos still doesn't like other dogs rushing up to him - we've cracked everything bar that pretty well - and I use 'this way' regularly. It's a brilliant tool as it not only brings him to me, it also breaks the eye contact with the other dog who often then doesn't bother any more.

I'd also work on getting an automatic reflex for yourself to ask other owners to call their dogs away. I can't remember whose book it was, Grisha Stewart's I think, but one trainer I was reading underlined how important it is to call as soon as you see a dog approaching where the owner is not doing anything, and to call clearly and as briefly as possible especially if it's anywhere near or approaching with speed. She said don't waste time explaining until the dog is moving away, just yell 'call your dog please'. I tend to thank and explain afterwards, saying he's in training/worried/etc. Doing that has diffused the couple of situations where I felt the owner was going to have a go at me, even though my dog was on the lead and in control.

There are some great books that can help too, Feisty Fido by Patricia McConnell, Control Unleashed by Leslie McDevitt and BAT 2.0 by Grisha Stewart. The first is short and easy to work with - it's pretty well the above stuff but with more explanation. The 2nd is clicker based and very good if you're into that sort of thing. The 3rd is brilliant and has helped me adjust my thinking towards what I am asking of Chaos. It is written on the basis of setting up practice sessions with other dogs but there's a load of great information in it and even if you can't do the set ups it can still be very helpful. There's a thread I've started on it here.

It is frustrating, what you're describing is what we've been through and no, I don't really understand where it comes from to a large extent. But, the good news is that, with time and patience, plus a load of reading, we're coming out the other end!

Bo started doing this at two years old, but with him it's only bigger breeds, and only when he's on the lead. Off-lead he ignores most dogs and the few he doesn't ignore he's friendly with. Mostly it's warning barks and snarls but occasionally he's serious. The sound and stance is the same but when he's serious the hackles are up all the way down his back and he's pulling like a train to get to the other dog. When he's warning he doesn't move and the lead is slack. The noise and gnashing teeth are the same.

He's easily distracted by food or his thrower but to be honest his behaviour doesn't bother me too much. He learned to be like that from a neighbour's dogs who used to snarl and bark at him from behind a gate every time he went past. Daily for over a year he'd stand there and take it as the other dogs snarled and barked, trying to make friends with his tail wagging, but one day he'd had enough and had a go. From that day on he's not been afraid to be assertive

Thank you all for the help and esp Liz for such an informative post i will try these tips. Also found him responding well with a tennis ball so will keep trying with this. Thanks dogface its nice to know were not alone

I have a similar problem with bolo, he goes out every day at lunch time with a dog walker and she has no problems with him at all he mixes with various breeds and has a great time. When we walk him and he's off lead he'll go up to a dog and start playing but then starts to get growly...today it was a collie type breed and the owner ended up picking her dog up, he's the one that runs over to them! I try this way and call him but he's not interested when there's another dog, or another distraction! Any advice?

Growly can be play. A lot of dogs growl when they're playing.

If in doubt, though, don't let him run up to other dogs. Keep the socialisation going as much as you can but with unfamiliar dogs maybe just keep him on a long line and call him away to play with you instead. As above, you might need to teach him to come to you to play but it's worth putting the work in to have that up your sleeve. You wouldn't believe how often I use it!

Thanks Liz, I wasn't sure whether he was trying to play but the other dog wasn't really wanting to play that rough if it was...he does this way when he doesn't have a distraction, so I guess it's just additional training to get his attention all of the time! we have a training lead but it's not very long, any recommendations on long leads?
Thanks

We got ours of ebay its called "softex training lead" its really been a god send we leave it trailing when hes off lead so we can stand on it if he bolts for it. Also good when playing as you can pull them away if play becomes to much. We also find that our boy will do anything for his kong squeeky tennis ball :-) which has helped so much with distraction and recall. Hope that helps

That's the sort of thing I've got too. You want something of reasonable thickness and about 5m or so long. They can take a little getting used to as you have to keep coiling and uncoiling but it becomes 2nd nature after a while.

We have a Clix 10meter long recall line. It's really nice and padded. We used to have a PAH one but it was just webbing and really cut our hands and was rough on Misty if she ever got caught up.

I actually met an owner down the park the other day who was using a horses lunge line. That looked really nice and padded and as a bonus had a handle. I've been looking for one about 15m or longer as the longest dog one I've seen is the ten meter one.

Thank you, they're not too expensive either which is nice! Will get one ordered

I personally would start off with a 5m one. The longer the line, the harder it is to work with. Once you're happy with it go for as long as you like. I find 5m is fine for us but we do have the luxury of having masses of space at home, so the freedome to run of walks is less of an issue.