Newfoundland mix

[JasperMoon]

Hi there! He’s a cute boy!
I hate to be a naysayer here but as a professional dog trainer I feel the need to give my opinion based on decades of experience that “reactivity” such as you described can NEVER be erased from a dog that age completely and is unlikely even at a much younger age either.
Whatever caused it, ie: previous treatment, genetics, lousy training in his puppyhood, he is hard-wired this way.

Some dogs can be trained to neutrality about others animals but they have to start out with a lean towards that direction in the first place.

There is a primal difference for instance in the concept of the command “leave it”.
It is totally different then the command “wait”.

Leave it means this is never going to be yours. Ever.

Wait means be patient and you can have it when I say you can. But yes you’ll get it eventually.

A whole platter of bacon fried to a perfect crispness is not nearly as valuable to an animal as the reward of chasing or attacking something he feels a predatorial drive towards.

Think of it in these terms, reactivity/aggression is like a computer program that is constantly running in the background of your computer. You might not see it or use it but it’s there.

It is possible that you can train your dog to stay at your side and “behave“ when you are with him, but it will never be possible to allow him to be unattended near other animals.

alright, thanks you for the valuable information, it is sad He used to be terrified of stairs aswell, (i think he was abused when he was younger) but we got him to go up and down stairs with food, and even if he just dosnt attack them while we are there that is good, because we dont let him out of our sight outside,

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Hi there! He’s a cute boy!
I hate to be a naysayer here but as a professional dog trainer I feel the need to give my opinion based on decades of experience that “reactivity” such as you described can NEVER be erased from a dog that age completely and is unlikely even at a much younger age either.
Whatever caused it, ie: previous treatment, genetics, lousy training in his puppyhood, he is hard-wired this way.

Some dogs can be trained to neutrality about others animals but they have to start out with a lean towards that direction in the first place.

There is a primal difference for instance in the concept of the command “leave it”.
It is totally different then the command “wait”.

Leave it means this is never going to be yours. Ever.

Wait means be patient and you can have it when I say you can. But yes you’ll get it eventually.

A whole platter of bacon fried to a perfect crispness is not nearly as valuable to an animal as the reward of chasing or attacking something he feels a predatorial drive towards.

Think of it in these terms, reactivity/aggression is like a computer program that is constantly running in the background of your computer. You might not see it or use it but it’s there.

It is possible that you can train your dog to stay at your side and “behave“ when you are with him, but it will never be possible to allow him to be unattended near other animals.