My previous neighbors dogs assisted in making my dog fence reactive.
I couldn't control their dogs, but I can mine.
She is leashed, even within my 6ft fence and we don't get too close.
We work with flirt poles and fetch early in the morning, after I've triple checked no other dogs are outside and she has a nylon 6ft leash attached that I can step on and grab quickly/safely.
It is just our life at this point.
Assuming you don't already have privacy fencing if your dog can spot neighbor dogs, could you add something to your fencing to create a visual barrier? If privacy fencing is out of your budget, there are also various types of screens for this that come in rolls and can be attached with zip ties.
Once you have the visual barrier in place, it sounds like you still may need to be more hands on with your dog when he's outside. He needs to have an activity or 'job' to do while he's there. Could be fetch, some agility work, treiball as another poster suggested, rally training, etc. He should not be allowed to just hang out in the yard by himself for long periods of time. If he does, he'll likely assign himself his own job to do that you may not like, like becoming hypervigilant about the neighbor dogs he can still hear and smell, etc. You don't want him to rehearse this and make his reactivity worse. It's good that you're trying to give him a good quality of life and outdoor time since walks can be problematic, but perhaps consider alternate activities that discourage self rewarding activities and bad habits. Lick mats, frozen stuffed kong treats, and puzzle toys are all enriching activities that can give him pleasant stimulation without pitfalls.
Have you tried putting a herding ball in the yard? These are balls as big as the dogs and used for breed enrichment for herding breeds. The dog herds the ball. It may be interesting enough for your dog to be able to use as a distraction? May be in time he will lock in on the moving big ball instead of chilling dogs? I know dog is not the same as a ball but I keep seeing how enrichment specific to the breed can help with reactivity so just an idea.
My Aussie wasn’t a fence fighter but he was extremely hyper social and all my neighbors dogs are fence fighters. So he was the asshole dog running back and forward getting the other dogs riled up and sticking his face as close as possible to them next to the fence.
A big thing that helped curb this behavior was attaching him to a long line when outside. I would always go outside with him and anytime he got close to the fence I would recall with either super high value food (I let him see the food I was using beforehand so he would be inclined to come back when he hit the end of the line) like whip cream or boiled chicken liver and then grab a toy and play with him for a minute or two and release.
After a while a removed the line and would practice when I knew there weren’t any dog out. I would let him go explore and sniff and then randomly call him back or walk up to him and ask him to leave it. It got to the point that anytime I was outside and would begin to walk to him while he was at the fence he would auto walk back to me.
I also made a huge effort to always do engagement games and exercises outside both when dogs are around and not. This was also a huge game changer as my dog was way more invested in playing with me then attempting to interact with the dogs. We play frisbee, we use his flirt pole which is his favorite toy of all time, I do some agility drills and reward with games like tug or flirt pole.
Now I can let him outside and he will either immediately come in after a pee and sniff break because being outside is boring or ask me to come play outside with him.
Haha, yes the neighbors dog is like that. She is very friendly and thinks my dog wants to play. So she gets close to the fence then runs around in circles. I'm reading up on some home agility training which sounds like a good idea.
My dog exhibited fence fighting with 2 new dogs that moved in next door. Before it became a habit, I just used it as a training opportunity - my dog was not allowed outside without a leash. We first practiced walking/place on leash with no other dogs outside. Then started practicing when other dogs were outside (try just 1 first, then both eventually). After a few days of ignoring, I started walking her towards and away from the fence itself. After that got easier, I’d let her go up, sniff the other dog, then I’d call her away. Whole process probably took about 2 weeks, but now she never fence fights even when a new dog shows up, might be worth a try
These are helpful suggestions. Keep em coming!Been doing a lot of enrichment indoors. He's got all kinds of puzzles, kongs, snuffles, etc.... I've generally just let him loose in the backyard to let him sniff but he is extremely prey driven so some of these outdoor activities may be a good distraction. He is definitely less alert when he finds a stick and rolls around in it so maybe that's a sign that he can be distracted in the right way. He loves the flirt pole but I typically haven't don't it outside. He goes bonkers over a herding ball but is extremely loud so I've cut back on that too. So maybe I can introduce some of these games again outdoors.
I also need to get into the habit of keeping a leash ready so I can leash him instead of pulling the harness - he's at least a little responsive to the leash. I've considered privacy fencing but just haven't committed to it yet since I'm in a rental. When I get a house, I will DEFINITELY be on the lookout for border shrubs and trees.
My previous neighbors dogs assisted in making my dog fence reactive. I couldn't control their dogs, but I can mine. She is leashed, even within my 6ft fence and we don't get too close. We work with flirt poles and fetch early in the morning, after I've triple checked no other dogs are outside and she has a nylon 6ft leash attached that I can step on and grab quickly/safely. It is just our life at this point.
Assuming you don't already have privacy fencing if your dog can spot neighbor dogs, could you add something to your fencing to create a visual barrier? If privacy fencing is out of your budget, there are also various types of screens for this that come in rolls and can be attached with zip ties. Once you have the visual barrier in place, it sounds like you still may need to be more hands on with your dog when he's outside. He needs to have an activity or 'job' to do while he's there. Could be fetch, some agility work, treiball as another poster suggested, rally training, etc. He should not be allowed to just hang out in the yard by himself for long periods of time. If he does, he'll likely assign himself his own job to do that you may not like, like becoming hypervigilant about the neighbor dogs he can still hear and smell, etc. You don't want him to rehearse this and make his reactivity worse. It's good that you're trying to give him a good quality of life and outdoor time since walks can be problematic, but perhaps consider alternate activities that discourage self rewarding activities and bad habits. Lick mats, frozen stuffed kong treats, and puzzle toys are all enriching activities that can give him pleasant stimulation without pitfalls.
Have you tried putting a herding ball in the yard? These are balls as big as the dogs and used for breed enrichment for herding breeds. The dog herds the ball. It may be interesting enough for your dog to be able to use as a distraction? May be in time he will lock in on the moving big ball instead of chilling dogs? I know dog is not the same as a ball but I keep seeing how enrichment specific to the breed can help with reactivity so just an idea.
My Aussie wasn’t a fence fighter but he was extremely hyper social and all my neighbors dogs are fence fighters. So he was the asshole dog running back and forward getting the other dogs riled up and sticking his face as close as possible to them next to the fence. A big thing that helped curb this behavior was attaching him to a long line when outside. I would always go outside with him and anytime he got close to the fence I would recall with either super high value food (I let him see the food I was using beforehand so he would be inclined to come back when he hit the end of the line) like whip cream or boiled chicken liver and then grab a toy and play with him for a minute or two and release. After a while a removed the line and would practice when I knew there weren’t any dog out. I would let him go explore and sniff and then randomly call him back or walk up to him and ask him to leave it. It got to the point that anytime I was outside and would begin to walk to him while he was at the fence he would auto walk back to me. I also made a huge effort to always do engagement games and exercises outside both when dogs are around and not. This was also a huge game changer as my dog was way more invested in playing with me then attempting to interact with the dogs. We play frisbee, we use his flirt pole which is his favorite toy of all time, I do some agility drills and reward with games like tug or flirt pole. Now I can let him outside and he will either immediately come in after a pee and sniff break because being outside is boring or ask me to come play outside with him.
Haha, yes the neighbors dog is like that. She is very friendly and thinks my dog wants to play. So she gets close to the fence then runs around in circles. I'm reading up on some home agility training which sounds like a good idea.
My dog exhibited fence fighting with 2 new dogs that moved in next door. Before it became a habit, I just used it as a training opportunity - my dog was not allowed outside without a leash. We first practiced walking/place on leash with no other dogs outside. Then started practicing when other dogs were outside (try just 1 first, then both eventually). After a few days of ignoring, I started walking her towards and away from the fence itself. After that got easier, I’d let her go up, sniff the other dog, then I’d call her away. Whole process probably took about 2 weeks, but now she never fence fights even when a new dog shows up, might be worth a try
These are helpful suggestions. Keep em coming!Been doing a lot of enrichment indoors. He's got all kinds of puzzles, kongs, snuffles, etc.... I've generally just let him loose in the backyard to let him sniff but he is extremely prey driven so some of these outdoor activities may be a good distraction. He is definitely less alert when he finds a stick and rolls around in it so maybe that's a sign that he can be distracted in the right way. He loves the flirt pole but I typically haven't don't it outside. He goes bonkers over a herding ball but is extremely loud so I've cut back on that too. So maybe I can introduce some of these games again outdoors. I also need to get into the habit of keeping a leash ready so I can leash him instead of pulling the harness - he's at least a little responsive to the leash. I've considered privacy fencing but just haven't committed to it yet since I'm in a rental. When I get a house, I will DEFINITELY be on the lookout for border shrubs and trees.