My dog lunges at people while we're walking?

Question

My dog tends to pull a lot on walks, so we got him a halti and it helps immensely. The only problem is, he still goes nuts when people walk by the other way. He tries to jump up on them, and sometimes growls or barks at them. I know he won't actually hurt them, but it does understandably scare people, he's a big dog. I can't control him very well when he does this because he's so strong. How can I prevent him from doing this?

We have had him in obedience training before, and we're planning on it again soon. He's pretty good most of the time, but when he gets excited, it's like the training goes out the window. And he's very high strung, so he gets excited rather easily.

Answer 1

Please don't use violent corrections to solve this problem. Using treats that your dog loves to create a different behavior when he sees people is the appropriate solution. This is the time to bring out the cheese, steak, smoked salmon, and really high value treats and walk your dog with these handily available in a treat pouch. Before the person approaching you gets too close, have your treats out and ready, so that you have your dog's attention before it's too late. In the early stages of doing this, rapid-fire treats right into your dog's mouth as quickly as you can while the person walks by. What you are doing is creating a strong association between the presence of strangers and great rewards for your dog. Using food keeps your dog's attention on you and is more controllable than a tug toy. You'll need to repeat this exercise of jackpotting your dog many times, until it's clear to your dog that instead of his old, undesirable behavior of lunging, that it's better to turn to you for treats. You can then gradually decrease the amounts of treats that you use as your dog understands what you want.
Punishing a dog for this kind of behavior will create other aggression-related problems. Please consult a trainer if you are unclear about what to do, or if the problem escalates! Good luck.

Answer 2

If the head Halti leader is being used correctly and he does not respond considering moving up to a pinch collar. But no matter what "training method" physical equipment, remember that it is about training the dog properly that lunging and growling is not appriopriate, you are not punishing the dog...training it.

Have you done obedience classes with the dog to walk nice and greet strangers nicely? This is something taught in most basic/beginning obedience classes.

Another question is what do you do as the person holding the leash when you dog jumps on people. Do you just yell at him to stop or do you do some consistent correction (not punishment)?? Secondly, if someone is approaching and you know that your dog will behave a certain way..if it's someone you know you can ask them to not approach the dog, if it's a stranger you can pull the dog off the sidewalk and yield right of way to them, and of course while yielding right of way to the human, have your dog in a sit stay or down stay position. And reward the dog when it maintains that position after the human has passed. Reward can be a treat, a "good boy", or just some nice rubs on the head.

Answer 3

He needs to learn that jumping and lunging are not acceptable. Be ready with a consistent punishment when he does. Cesar Milan (aka The Dog Whisperer) has some very good ideas about that kind of thing.

Have you tried having your dog obedience trained yet?

Good luck!

Answer 4

When you walk your dog from point A to point B try not to walk in a straight line. Make many turns and stops along the way. Every time you stop, command him to sit. Don't proceed until he obeys the command. Make many left turns, right turns and circles (both directions) along your route.
In doing all this, your dog will be forced to watch you and pay attention to you. Because he won't be sure where you're going next, he'll have no choice. As he learns to watch and pay attention to you, he'll walk better (he'll stop pulling), and he'll be too busy to notice other folks walking by. It takes some time, but it works.
Good luck.

Answer 5

Obedience training is a must if he's that big. In the meantime, try putting a hiking doggy pack on him (look at your pet store) and weight it down a little. Dogs can usually only focus on one thing at a time, so having the pack on his back should keep him focused on that on not on jumping.

Answer 6

You should get him a bark collar and every time he growls scold him.

Answer 7

A big stick? If he tried it with me it would be the police, and goodnight Vienna.