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A lot of this is based on people mistaking dog's signals and behaviors as "happy". A dog wagging it's tale means it's engaged and ready to act, not specifically happy. So you can't take that as a sign that a dog is fine with you. Also if a dog is panting and it's not from heat, then that usually means they are stressed. So approaching a panting, tail wagging dog who then growls at you means that your presence is super stressing them out.
Having a very high anxiety dog and working with a behavioral vet has been super eye opening in understanding and recognizing what a dog's behavior actually means!
Any tips for a dog that goes bonkers when he sees other dogs, aka leash reactivity? My dog is like a cheerful Irishman looking for a tilly after a night at the pub when he sees big dogs. It's apparently rooted in anxiety but I have to say he doesn't seem anxious, he seems delighted to find someone to scrap with.
Yeah that's definitely an anxiety reaction. My dog is exactly the same way, he's a small guy but if he sees a bigger dog he goes nuts and wants to charge them. My dog has all the worst anxiety traits unfortunately lol. So one aspect can be a fear response. A strong fear based anxiety reaction can trigger a dog to go towards the trigger which is generally when you have a dog leash tugging to get at something. It can also be the result of a generic response. One thing we learned is that dogs breed down in the south have a inherent "working dog" anxiety bred into them for years because most dogs down there are used on farms and such as watch dogs. So dogs from that region have high alert anxiety and tend to dislike other dogs or animals they aren't socialized to because they were bred that way over years a d years.
So to answer your question , short of medication, the best ways to treat anxiety is with treats/food motivation. As you walk your dog you want to treat them any time they see a trigger. The goal is you want them to check in with you when they are triggered, so they feel like they are alerting you to the "thing" without having to charge and deal with it on their own. Another helpful thing is to go to a large open area where they can observe triggers from a safe distance and then of course treat them. This helps them get used to seeing things and getting used to just observing rather then acting. It's a lot of work and takes a lot of time but it definitely helps over time! And then also realizing that it won't ever be completely solved. There will always be a time your dog is surprised and reacts or sees that one dog and just goes crazy for some reason. So being able to spot those ahead of time and putting space between you and your dog and just advocating for them can go a long way. I hate the type of dog walker that has their dog off leash and calls out "oh he's friendly" as their dog rushes mine. That's great, but my dog isn't friendly and you have now just caused a problem for all of us. Drives me crazy! Anyway, hope that helps at least a little!
I used to have a dog who was very friendly, she always wanted to go say hi to a new friend, no matter the species. But once she'd said hi, she suddenly turned into a big introvert and didn't want to play. She'd shy away from a new friend if their energy level was high at all. She loved just hanging out and sniffing, but no play please. And the annoying thing is, she never learned which dogs and nice and which aren't. There was a neighbourhood dog who was a complete asshole and would always growl at every other dog it met and pull at its leash to try and go bite them. Its owners were very pleasant and very sorry their dog was such a dick. But my dog never learned her lesson, and would always want to go say hi to the asshole dog. Then it would growl at her, and she'd shy away and say "Mindtraveller I'm scared", and I'd comfort her and tell her it wasn't her fault. And she never learned that that dog was just an asshole and there was no chance of the two becoming friends.
If I can have him talk to a dog through a chain link fence, he settles almost right away and they sniff each other. There are plenty of small dogs he'll interact with quite nicely and one big dog, but he loathes most other big dogs. He has gotten better but I'm still highly vigilant when I walk him. He is extremely strong for 16 pounds lol. I'll try treats! Thank you.
Dogs understand that different humans often have different expectations. They don't understand the human want for change or the process.
Someone else, which maybe doesn't need to be an expert, would have a lot of advantages when helping set a new paradigm.