HELP! Barking at people/other dogs is out of control HELP!

[gabbacadabra]

I have a 2 year old schnauzer/shih tzu mix. She is sweet and loving and very playful, but when I take her outside her playfulness turns to what looks like aggression when she sees other dogs. She barks like crazy, thrashes around on her leash, and I can't calm her down. I know all she wants is to play, but to other dog owners it must look like she wants to attack them and their dogs. It's really embarrassing (not to mention it distracts her from "doing her business")! And it's not because she isn't around other dogs; I have a 5 year old yorkie as well that she is around all day, and they get along great. What do I do???

[Karen]

Try taking her to an obedience course as a start. She needs to learn social skills, which is what a class is all about, basically. A class will help you and she learn to communicate better as well, so it's completely worth it as a start.

[gabbacadabra]

I would love to, but financially it's difficult right now. Any ideas of ways to help her aside from obedience classes?

[Karen]

Go to the library and get practically any dog training book - everyone has their favorite, but the good thing about the public library that it is free to check out several books and see which one appeals to you, whether its the Monks of New Skeete, Cesar Milan, or whomever.

You need to set time aside every day to work on training her, start with basic obedience, like she was a new puppy. Work on leash training, staying calm, and not tugging when she is on the leash. When she is perfectly behaved on the leash, then you can try the dog park, maybe early or late in the day when there are not a lot of other dogs there. Keep her on the leash, and constantly make her pay attention to you. As soon as she starts acting up, "sit" and "down" and "stay" until she is calm again. You may feel silly, but she seems to need to relearn who is in charge - and that's you!

[Husky_mom]

disctract her (a lil tug on the leash upwards or sideways not backwards)... and once she does and is quiet.. give her a treat.. so she associates being nice and quiet with treats.. then increase the time she has to be quiet and behaving...

have her sit in silence ans give her treats...

if you can watch Millan it should help.. as I´ve seen a few cases like that...

with my own.. I just shush them.. no need to yell or anything just shhh... and now with the huskies which are so very vocal I´ve been redoing it as they were out of control once I got back and are now getting the idea... so if a husky can be quiet I bet yours can too

[Shelteez2]

You need to change his emotional response to seeing other dogs. Do not use anything adversive such as tugging on the leash, spraying water in the face etc when he sees another dog. He will just associate the dog with that. Here are a couple of videos on a positive way to change his response.

http://www.youtube.com/user/pamelama.../0/uFiZkAG_1JE

http://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup#p/u/51/JY7JrteQBOQ