Lunging at birds/dogs/cars while on walks

Question
Hi,

I have a 4 1/2 month old poodle.  He is beautiful and sweet at home, but goes manic if he sees birds,other dogs and cars while out on walks.  (He is fine with dogs he knows but not strange ones out and about).  I think it's anxiety as he gets whiny after encountering any of them.  I try to distract him with treats and not to pass on any anxiety to him. I also spend a few minutes settling him down a bit after an encounter.  If we don't see any birds, dogs, or cars on our walk we have a great time!  Am I on the right track?  What else can I try?  Will this just take persistence and time?

Answer
Hello Shona,
You are going about this the right way, so to speak, but you have to get more firm with him.  
You are going to have to dominate your dog when walking to let him know that you are his boss.  You can start off by having him sit when you see birds or dogs and he is starting to get anxious.  When the dog or bird moves and he starts to whine, gently tap him with your foot and break his eye contact with the animal.  Instead, have him focus on you.  The problem comes about when a dog is allowed to focus on the thing he has an issue with.  As he stares at [whatever it is], his excitement/anger/anxeity builds until he reacts.  If you can break his staring and get him to focus on something else, he will calm down.  

Here is a scenario;
You are out walking "Curly" and you see a bird sitting on the other side of the street pecking at seeds.  Once Curly sees the bird, have him sit facing away from the bird.  He knows its there, but you make him sit so that he can't see it.  If he whines or tries to move, give him a loud Shhhhtt sound, gently tug on the leash and tap his rear with your foot to distract him from the bird and get him to focus on you.  **You want the Shhhhtt sound to startle him into paying attention to you, and the leash correction to distract his attention from the bird.  
Once he is calm and not thinking about the bird, move on down the street.  Repete until you can get to the point where all you need to do is make the Shhhhtt sound for him to look back at you and away from the bird.  You can also use treats once he looks away and toward you.  

You may want to also teach him the "Watch Me" command.  You will want to do this at home first.  Take some treats and go into the living room where its nice and open and show them to "Curly".  Give him the command "Watch Me" (or whatever command works for you to get him to look at you; ie "Look" "Eyes" "Attention" "Focus"), show him the treat, and bring the treat up to your face.  When he looks at you, tell him Good, and have him watch you for a few seconds before you say "Alright" and give him the treat.  Praise again.  Repete and build up the time that he watches you.  Correct him if he looks away from you until you tell him its alright.  This exercise is hard for a dog because eye contact is discouraged in the dog world.  You are training him to go against that behavior and look you in the face.  This should be easy to teach at home where there are no distractions, but will be more difficult out on a walk where he has all the things presented to him that bother him.  Begin it inside, then move to the back yard or a place where there is limited distraction and build up to where you can walk him and have him "Watch You".  

If these techniques don't help with his walks, then you will have to move to making him lay down when a dog or car approaches.  This is making him submit to the dog or car, and also to you.  Make him lay down until the dog or car passes, then turn away from him and let him up. Do Not let him up until you look away though.  If he still seems upset, lay him on his side with his head on the ground, stare him in the face until he looks away and hold him there until he submits (or you feel his body relax).  This is the ultimate Submissive position, and lets the dog know that you are Boss and not happy with the way he is acting.  After a few times of laying him down and making him submit, you should be able to just point to him and he will lay down.  You will also want to take a stance of Dominance.  In other words, stand like you mean it.  Shoulders up, body somewhat tense (you don't want to appear relaxed when you are correcting him) and you can even emphasize what you mean by growling at him.  Believe me, it works.  You are speaking in HIS language now and he should understand what you are saying to him.  You have to feel it and mean it though, or otherwise he will think you are playing with him.  

Lastly, you might think about taking him to some Obedience classes.  Not only will it teach you how to teach him, he will learn some manners and you both will have fun.  Poodles love to please and need "jobs" to keep them out of trouble.  Obedience gives them a fun out for their higher energy and is fun for the owner also.  Once you get some Obedience under your belt, you may even look for other forms of training, such as Rally Obedience, or even Agility.  

Give this a try and if I can help you further, please feel free to ask or write me at my e-mail: MsTopkdog@yahoo.com  

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim