Doomsdad

Thanks I will contact Steve. If anyone else has any other recommendations for in home training that would be great so I can weigh up my options.

Thanks. I actually read Steve's article there a few months back. I've lurked on the forum pretty much since I got him and the consensus seems to be that he's the guys to see. The only issue for me is that I have no transportation out there. I guess I would be possible to maybe rent one of those share cars and take him out there... Is there any chance one of you could share the costs of using Steve's services? I'm committed to doing whatever it takes to help him through this but having spent many thousands the last few months on various training sessions and tools, a ball park figure would be nice so I can se e if it's within my budget before contacting Steve. Does anyone else have any experience with other trainers that can do in-home training? Because we're always out in the neighbourhood (a very high distraction environment given how busy Bondi is at pretty much all times), I think it could benefit us both to get some guidance while working under in that environment. Plus given my lack of transportation options it might be more sensible for me to that that route. Thanks again!

Hi everybody, long time lurker, first time commenter... I have an 11 month old Aussie bulldog puppy who has been having trouble getting along with other dogs. When he was very young, I mostly tried to keep him focused on me at all times when around other dogs because right from the start he always would get overly excited and start going crazy when around other dogs. When he was about 5 months old, I went away for a few days for work and my flatmate took him to a friends house that has two young Staffies. He and the staffy were trugh housing and apparently it turned to a fight where my pup was bitten on the ear (it broke skin). When I got back from the trip he wasn't his usual happy go lucky self and he moped around the house for a few days. Since then, whenever I take him anywhere, he absolutely flips out the second he sees another dog. It starts with him getting excited and going into absolute tunnel vision, and then he just fixates on the other dog and starts barking and trying to either run over to the dog or lunge at it. Sometimes I can tell that it's just excitement rather than fear but his inability to control himself seems to rub most dogs the wrong way and it can lead to some tense situations. I've tried a few different things to try to fix this problem from clicker training, tiring him out before walks, trying to desensitise him on leash at the dog park, distraction with his favourite toy or food, the "open bar" approach among others. I would like for him to learn how to be calm and focused around others dogs and also to learn to "speak dog" when meeting strangers. At this point I think he just lacks any dog social skills and it's severely limiting my ability to get him the exercise and fresh air he needs. I should also mention that I live out in Bondi and there are dogs everywhere so I really need him to be able to act normal. I've thought about doing some boarding and training for this issue because I thought that maybe spending time with a pack could allow him to be desensitised to being around other dogs because it won't always be so exciting if he spends a couple of weeks around lots of dogs. He spent a week at Lamarra Kennels a couple of months ago when I was overseas but he didn't seem to come back any better with other dogs. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to deal with this issue? I'd like to either send him off for a week or two to get some proper socialisation or get a private trainer to come work with us for a few sessions. Again, I don't believe that it's only an aggression thing. He's a huge softie but I think sometimes he can be a bit anxious and overexcited which can quickly set him or other dogs off. Somewhere along the lines allowed him to develop some bad habits and I want to get this under control now so that he can have a nice, stable social life. Thanks for any suggestions, Doomsdad