How do I desensitize my dog to other animals?

Teach them a Watch Me exercise randomly throughout the day. Start where there are no distractions, and your dog isn’t doing something else. Say their name enthusiastically and when they look at you reward them with a high value treat. Once you can do this at home, you can progress to the garden where there are more distractions from sights, sounds, and smells. Once you’ve mastered that, you can start going out and about – but stick to quiet places where you can avoid other dogs until you and your dog are experts at this. Distract them when meeting other dogs, start off a long distance from them – beyond the point where your dog would usually react. All you want your dog to do is look at you, and you will reward this. Slowly build this up to being able to do it at closer proximity but never too close that your dog feels that they need to react to the other dog. Always use high value treats to reward them for paying attention to you and not the other dog.

You can teach a dog of any age to behave in this manner as long as they are old enough to have mastered the basic commands. You should teach your dog to ignore as young as possible, preferably while you are training him to walk on a leash. But at the same time, you can train an older dog to behave on walks, it might just take a little more time. Remember, training your dog to ignore other dogs is more about time and patience than anything else. The more you jerk on the leash, the more excited your pup will become. The calmer you remain, the more quickly your pup will calm down and back off. You will need the time to go for walks every day and preferably more than once each day. Patience: Your pup is going to get it wrong at first, be patient and never punish him for getting it wrong.