old dog snarls at other dogs

Question
QUESTION: my border collie is snarling at other dogs. by that i mean bearing her teeth at them. she used to live on a huge property and then we moved her to a very small area and then back to a large area. she is also quite deaf. one day she just flew at a dog in the street and now i am getting a bit wary of taking her with me. i always put her on a lead. i need some tips on how to stop or at least control the behavior. thanks

ANSWER: Kay, how old is she?  Has she always had this reaction to other dogs?  Is it always on leash when she aggresses?  If she meets dogs off leash is she better with them?  Do you think because she couldn't hear the other dog that it startled her and she reacted?  Is this happening with every dog she sees?

No matter what her age, have her vet-checked to be sure there's nothing medical going on.

If you intend on walking her, get a nose loop harness, like the Comfort Trainer so that you can control her face.  Once you have control of the face, you can move her safely away from other dogs as necessary to avoid these confrontations.  You could teach her a cue, like tapping on her shoulder, that means "let's run away in the other direction".  Teach this at home first before you need to use it outside.  Make it a game - when I touch your shoulder you get to chase me in the other direction.  

Always try and keep her at enough distance that she's not reactive.  Feed her high value treats when she notices other dogs to create a positive association between strange dogs and the food reward.  If she won't take food, you're probably too close.  Always keep this type of work under her trigger threshold.  Your goal should be to get to a point where she notices the other dog and then looks to you for her treat.

If you'd like to give me more details, please reply to the questions I have in the first paragraph.   Thanks!



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: ischie is nearly 14 years old. she is much better when not on the lead but now i don't trust her so i always keep her on the lead. when she went for this dog she wasn't startled she just seemed to go for it. they were walking the other way and she just lunged and before i could stop her.
it happens with most dogs but mainly i suppose smaller dogs. i don't know what a nose loop harness is but will look it up and try to find one. i do try to avoid confrontations but would like her to be a bit better behaved. she is a very intelligent dog and i used to be able to keep her under control mostly but since she got old i have been a bit more slack with her and since she can't hear so much it makes it a lot harder. she love to eat so the treat thing may work a treat!!!

Answer
I would guess between the hearing loss and maybe the aches and pains of old age, she just wants to scare the other dogs away so they don't get too close and she won't have to interact.  Dogs are generally more reactive on leash than off because they don't have an escape option.  

There are a number of brands of nose loop harnesses.  The one I mentioned in my first answer is the Comfort Trainer and it's my favorite and the easiest to fit.  You can google that to find it.  Others are the Gentle Leader, Halti collar, Snoot Loop, to name a few.  The nice thing about these type of collars is that you control the head, and where the head goes the body follows. So, if you do have a situation where Ischie aggresses, you can move her away quickly.

Please watch this video for a narrated demonstration of the technique I described to work with her on leash:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUCl6ndLN7Q .  You'll notice that this dog is wearing a Gentle Leader.  You can also see that Dr Yin is keeping enough of a distance that the dog doesn't react and she's feeding him very frequently when the other dog is in sight.

Hope this helps clear things up a bit.  If not, please feel free to follow up.

Good luck.
Barb