Here’s a familiar story to everyone who has had a dog-dog reactive dog: You’re out walking in the neighborhood, your own dog responsibly on leash, when you look up and there is a ___________ (pick one: set of Golden Retrievers, Jack Russel Terrier, Black Lab, trio of Dachshunds) charging toward you and your reactive dog. Many yards behind the oncoming bundle of doom, the owner waves and smiles, shouting “It’s okay!!! They love other dogs!!” Meanwhile, you’re not fine at all. Holy moly, now what? You know your dog is not going to react well, and you know the other owner has no control over his/her own dogs, who are running toward you.
This is when you want to employ what Karen London and I call the “Emergency Sit-Stay” in which you ask your dog to sit and stay behind you while you step forward and throw a handful of treats into the charging dog’s face. I learned this simple method from Trish King (don’t miss a chance to see her in a seminar, she rocks.) Even if your dog isn’t on a stay, the shower of treats in a dog’s face often stops them in their tracks. If you’ve tossed a fistful of treats, the dog(s) will spend several minutes searching them out in the grass while you and your dog slide away. This is described in detail in the booklet Feisty Fido and the Dog-Dog Reactive DVD, but here’s a video to illustrate the effectiveness of the treat tossing.
Katie and I made this video for two reasons: One, we wanted to convince people of its effectiveness. In my experience folks are extremely skeptical that his would ever work, and I have to add, understandably so. Until you’ve done it yourself, it’s hard to imagine it really working. Which leads to the second question: I’ve used this method only about 4 or 5 times (for myself and for clients), and wanted to test it out with a variety of dogs. Will it really work on some big, highly motivated dogs? Caveat here: This method would never stop a highly motivated, hard charging dog who is laser focused on attacking you or you dog. In that case you need something a lot more powerful. But as you’ll see, it works beautifully on the 4 dogs in the video, from tiny (Tootsie, a Cav visiting the farm,) to medium (Nasta, a neighbor’s Siberian,) to down right huge (Katie’s Dogo Lily and a friend’s galumpfy who-knows-what.)
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Heck if I know how things are there! We should be in Scotland by now, arriving today in Edinburg to get our paws on the ground before the seminar at Action 4 Dogs. Come up if you’re a blog reader or FB reader, always fun to meet you in person…. I’ll write a few Travelblogs as I can, after the seminar and then from the World Herding Dog Trials in the Lake District of England. Oh wow, how fun will that be! [To Willie: I miss you already. I know, it’s ridiculous, but there it is. Please please be careful with your shoulder Mister, when I get back you can be off leash for a few minutes at time in that funny suit you practiced wearing today!]
Jen says
Fantastic! It seems I’ve read this method before (likely in one of your books!) but I’ve forgotten it each time it would have been useful. Elka just doesn’t know what to do with herself around dogs, sometimes, and needs space and time, not dogs in her face. And especially not ten pound snarling white dogs in her face, which happens more often than I’m strictly happy with.
I have had her sit-stay behind me, interposed myself, and have made hard eye contact with the interloper and, depending on where we were, said “No, go home!” or “No! Go away.” I can’t claim that I have a magic touch with untrained, spoiled little dogs, but it’s been enough for their owners to come and physically get them, anyway. “Handful of treats” is something I will gladly keep in mind and employ; those other owners don’t much like the tone I take, either.
Heidi Meinzer says
I had heard about this method and it worked like a charm for me once. I was volunteering at our local shelter with a sweetheart of a hound (fortunately he was not reactive at all, but nevertheless we don’t take chances going up to other dogs with the shelter dogs). I took this guy for a nice long walk up to a local park, where people often walk dogs, and unfortunately, think it’s OK to have dogs off leash. Two labby-type dogs came rushing for us just like you describe, with owner in tow. I had lots of yummy treats in my treat bag, so I took fistfuls, yelled Treats! at the top of my lungs, threw them at the dogs and took off with the hound. We were safe and sound, and the other dogs stopped for the treats no problem. Phew! Have a wonderful trip! Willie looks quite handsome in his Hobbles!
Beth says
OMG, that is so awesome and one of those “why didn’t I think of it” ideas. I totally love this and will definitely try it when we take our guys for a walk in the park. Even though there are signs everywhere that state dogs must be on leash at all time, 75% of the dogs are off leash and I’m sick of hearing “don’t worry he’s nice”
Jane says
I have been in this exact situation, and unfortunately this technique most definitely did NOT work for me. Handfuls of high value pieces of chicken did not slow down the oncoming dog one bit. The videos don’t show a reactive dog that the other dog is approaching – these dogs appear to be just coming towards a person. I think a lot of dogs are more motivated to get to another dog (especially a reactive one) than they are by food.
Roxanne @ Champion of My Heart says
I tried this once with a Newphie that’s ALWAYS running loose in our rural community. It did NOT work because he really wanted to get close to ME (not my dog, really). He is just so desperate for human attention that he’ll bowl you over with slobbery love. His head is big like a whiskey barrel, though, so my not-so-fond-of-dogs dog thinks axe murder when she sees him. He isn’t dangerous, just really needy and really pushy.
BUT, I can totally see how it would work with many, many dogs.
Angela says
Wow! Amazing demonstration! My BC does not like to meet other dogs up close and personal when we’re out on our walks (though I understand he is perfectly fine at doggie day care and boarding, with photos to back up the reports). Usually I let our friendly old girl run interference for us, but I’ll make sure to have this trick up my sleeve too. It was so impressive how they really did stop in their tracks!
Andreja says
I find myself trying to deter other dogs from comming near mine at least once a week, often even daily. These are not agressive dogs, they just have no manners and want to sniff butt no matter what. I find that only about 30% of them are willing to eat food that came from my hand (even when thrown on the ground next to them), the rest either decide we’re acting weird and walk away or they just ignore the food and continue approaching.
However, this method still works better than body blocking, because it keeps at least some dogs further away and as a result my dog usually gets in a nice calm mindset when I start throwing food around.
Fjm says
The only problem I see with this is that the reactive dog I walk loves food even more than she dislikes dogs, and would have to be dragged away from the treats, all four paws braced to resist!
I wondered if you would be at the Trials – I may see you there, as I can’t get to Edinburgh. More local for me, and it is easier to manage a few hours away than a few days.
jackie says
I did this accidentally once by dropping my entire treat bag. Not only did the other dog stop trying to interact with my dog and instead eat the treats, but my own dog stopped garrrrring and ate the treats too! Never occurred to me to do it deliberately.
Does it backfire if you meet the same dogs regularly though? Do they not just think ‘wow, there’s the treat lady with the mad collieX, lets run over to her!’ I already get mugged regularly by one labrador, who once managed to get his nose in my pocket once and steal some sausage.
parlance says
Thanks! A really useful technique to know, and it’s always good to see it in action. I was particularly interested to see that the treats were reasonably large.
Janet Smith says
I have had it work and I’ve had it not work. I have thrown a bag of dog poop I was carrying right at the dog and that actually worked with a rather nasty chow that used to charge us whenever it broke it’s chain — the poo worked where the treats did not. The dog got a really nice whiff of the dogs it wanted to charge…the poo tossing was actually not aversive in these instances to the charging dog. Hey you do what works.
Shalea says
I hate that I had forgotten completely about that method. My Gryphon-pup does very well with polite, controlled dogs but as he is blind he gets defensive about off-lead dogs who are too pushy about being in his space (even the one lost husky-mix who was putting on the best show of “I’m harmless and scared and inoffensive and just want to be near you and your person” that I’ve seen). Guess I need to add the treats to the walking kit!
Lindsay says
I’m skeptical, but I haven’t tried it. Usually, when dogs come charging up to me and my dog, they are far more interested in my dog than they would be food, especially if the dog is reactive. Still, I’m sure it would work for some dogs. I’ll give it a shot. Obviously getting my dog or whatever dog I’m walking to sit and stay behind me will also help as you suggested. I find that stepping forward towards the dog also causes them to pause for a split second, enough to ease some tension or to re-direct their attention. That would be the perfect time to toss a handful of treats.
Merciel says
omg that poop tossing story.
Hilarious, but I can’t help wondering how owners of spoiled dogs (who don’t even like a “no!” being thrown at their precious pups) would react to THAT one.
Sarah says
In the video, it appears that the dog is “charging” only towards a person, not a leashed reactive dog. Would the technique work as well with a barking dog in the mix?
Alexandra says
I have had it work twice, and the second time my own dog was equally thrilled to eat the treats, so Mr. Strange Labrador and mine had a big happy, treat eating party and were BFFs ever after. Unfortunately, most of the time when I’m charged it’s by the wanna-be boss of the neighborhood type of dogs who are intent on running up and barking/doing who knows what else and the treat tossing has no effect.
trisha says
Quickly, from Scotland after the first day’s seminar: Absolutely this does not work on all dogs! Perhaps I should have written the title “It Works! Sometimes.” And re poop throwing (is there a technical term. Coprotossia?): I saw John Richardson illustrate this at a seminar and was impressed, and now remember that I did use it once (and it worked). And yes, it was disgusting and heaven only knows what an owner would say if they were there. But then I went and forgot all about it! Repression? 🙂
Rebecca C says
The real question is what on earth do you throw at loose toddlers? We got for walks in the neighborhood late at night so that we don’t run into anyone with my reactive-to-strange-people BC. Twice now we’ve managed to walk by this one house just as they were getting home, and this family absolutely cannot be bothered to keep their kid in their yard. Twice he has taken off straight at us screaming “doggy!” and my husband or I has had to intercept him before Diocese freaks out. Then his parents glare at us. Like it is perfectly okay to let your 3 year old run screaming at a strange dog being walked by strangers at 1:30 a.m..
Jen Medlin-Lloyd says
We have this problem a lot when we are hiking in the woods. I don’t know if it would work with a narrow trail but it’s worth a shot. My husband usually gets off the trail with our dog thrashing around and acting like a total jackass while the other people go by with their dog or come and collect it.
Annie R says
@ Merciel, yeah, I think that’s funny too — where I live (a Left-Coast city where dog-spoiling is a major subculture), throwing poo in the faces of their coddled anthropomorphized dears might get you run out of town! Trisha, the name of that practice is hilarious! Coprotossia, perfect! LOL!
I’ve practically been accused of abuse for not feeding raw, and as I read this, it occurs to me that tossing cheap treats at these dogs might persuade their owners to exercise more control over their dogs. You’d have to add a soundtrack to the practice — calling out “Beggin Strips!” or “Pupperoni’ as you toss. (yeah, I’m cynical)
Lindsay says
I walk an overly excited labradoodle every day. He gets so excited to see other dogs that he lunges and cries. Although he only wants to play, it is still completely unacceptable. I think tomorrow I’ll try throwing down a handful of treats for HIM when we see another leashed dog just to distract him.
Sarah - { rad: renovations are dirty } says
Last summer my 8 month old wheaten was viciously attacked by an off-leash mastiff mix (several deep punctures around his neck and tummy.. almost got a pneumothorax). The bad dog ran across the street towards us, eyes locked on my dog, Fergus. I instantly knew it was bad news. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get away before he tried mounting my dog and then attacked. It also bit my husband.
That experience left me quite traumatized, so I *really* appreciate any and all ideas on how to deal with approaching off-leash dogs. Thank goodness Fergus didn’t become dog reactive but he is very fearful/submissive when another dog charges us now. My technique thus far is to quickly get in front of Fergus, shout at the dog “NO! GO HOME! BAD DOG!” and fling my finger at them. This has been very useful in at least 3 instances since last summer.
Anyway, thanks to you, I will begin carrying a pocketful of treats! Always good to have another ‘trick’ up my sleeve for dealing with rude, off-leash dogs. haha
stephanie says
Great video! I enjoy this technique very much but don’t always find myself with super tasty treats in hand at ALL times… or when I have had them, haven’t been able to get them out of a pocket fast enough. I have noticed keeping my reactive dog calm by using the leave it command and intentionally doing deep calm abdominal breathing seemed to help a lot. What’s your take on telling the dog to go away in an authoritative voice? I did it once at a yellow lab who was straying from their front yard. I used some of the body language recommended in your books that seemed to help as well.
001mum says
Now know why all my pockets have treats in them! There is finally a reason for the crumbs.
This distraction is sure worth a try.
it’s almost like the “jackpot” when training.
DanaD says
Hi– this video is helpful! But I wish I could see what would happen if the dog behind the treat-thrower was barking and straining and reacting in general. And like @Rebecca C, I’d also be interested in ways to distract loose toddling humans who approach us!
Catherine says
I’d also like to hear from anyone with a reactive dog who has tried this with success while their dog was . My dog has developed dog-reactive behavior at age 4-5 after being charged several times by off-leash dogs (often in pairs – when there’s a strange dog on each side of him, he gets tense very quickly). I’ve tried Watch Me and Leave It and a lot of counterconditioning, and they work fine with cats or leashed dogs, but when there’s a dog rushing toward us, he’s usually over threshold pretty quickly. I can’t say I blame him. I do resolve to try this after tossing (very gently) a bag of poop across the path of an approaching dog and getting chewed out by the owner for throwing poop at her dog (after I’d asked her to leash her dog and she had declined, saying her dog was anxious). But the most memorable exchange was last weekend – my husband went on ahead and asked the approaching owner to leash their small dog, since our dog sometimes barks and lunges, and he said “No – it’s ok if they bite – they’re dogs!”
Sarah says
The dogs in the video appear to be reacting to being called, and I would think it would be a lot easier to distract a dog with food if it’s approaching in response to being called. It would assume you called it to offer snacks. I’d prefer to see it work on a dog that is following it’s own agenda.
Amused at the poop tossing. I would think that it would at least incite the owners to control their dog. I used some citronella spray once to deter a dog that was trying to approach mine in a park we frequent, and it’s owner got kind of worked up about it. Advantage being that every time he saw us after that, he’d get his dog before it could approach us.
KellyK says
The real question is what on earth do you throw at loose toddlers? We got for walks in the neighborhood late at night so that we don
s says
good info to have. Just reading this I flash back to the book “Lets Take the Long Way Home” when she describes the vicious attack her dog suffered at the hands of an unleashed (and clearly unfriendly) dog. Doesn’t sound like this method would have stopped that attack at all, but good to have a method in our arsenal for friendly dogs.
And @KellyK – I would approach the parents without your dog and explain your concern, that not only your dog, but other dogs, may react unpredictably to children coming at them. Even the most bombproof dogs can react to charging, loud, and excited children, so perhaps if they are receptive, they can talk with their kids and you could do a role play with the parents and kids on how to greet dogs. A large number of dog bites are preventable by proper etiquette! I am always floored by how oblivious folks are to this, and I am a parent of 3 kids. I would NEVER allow my children to run towards a dog, or approach at all without permission. Even with permission, I reinforce that they need to be calm and pet the dog carefully and then give space. I like to equate it to going into a shop – look with your eyes, not your hands, but in the case of an animal, don’t look into the dogs eyes either!
s says
oops, wasn’t kelly who posted toddler question….so @rebecca. and what the heck is ANYONE’s 3 yr old doing outside at 1:30 am? wow.
my kids would definitely scramble for m&ms. and you have the added bonus of giving them a nice sugar high which the oblivious parents could then handle while you are calming your dog down and going to bed! 🙂
Service Dog Partner says
This would be a great technique to use with dogs approaching a working assistance dog. You wouldn’t believe how many people know it’s not OK to pet or distract a service dog themselves but think nothing of their pet dog (usually on a retractable) coming over to “say hi” or they’re not even aware of the what they’re dog is doing.
I can imagine happily yelling “cookies” and also training my service dog that that means “leave it” and an automatic check in for a high value treat.
Rebecca has a good point with children however. 🙂 And adults in our case. Perhaps carrying wrapped candy for the kids, not sure what for the adults!
Robin J. says
I’m a little old lady in a wheelchair with a service dog. Unfortunately there is a city park near our home where people often have dogs off leash, as well as those uncontrolled toddlers. So we’ve had the experience of being “mugged” quite a few times over the years. I’ve tried the tossing treats method, and in my experience it works with overly friendly dogs, the kind that are running up to say hello. It doesn’t work with aggressive dogs, the kind that think you’ve invaded their territory or that somehow you were being rude to them.
It also wouldn’t work with dogs that aren’t food-motivated. We have two dogs, my SD and my son’s pet dog. My son’s pet dog isn’t distracted by treats being tossed even if it’s my son. She’s a Border Collie mix with intense focus, so if, for example, she’s barking at a squirrel on the fence, tossing treats does nothing to distract her. Nor do treats distract her if the mail carrier comes through the gate.
So, yes, another good tool for the toolkit, but not a guarantee for all situations (or all dogs).
As far as toddlers go, I carry a pop-up umbrella. It’s a cheerful red with yellow flowers, button end (not spike end). My dog has been thoroughly trained to ignore the umbrella and get behind it. When I see an onrushing toddler I pop open the umbrella and use it as a shield between the child and my dog. This breaks visual contact, tends to slow down the child, and signals clearly to the parents that we’re not doing a “meet and greet.” When the parents do come over, I smile, say “Thanks–he’s working on distractions.” and wait for them to gather up their child. It’s important for us that the umbrella is clearly a shield, not a weapon, as we want the adult to feel relaxed and helpful.
We also use this with some oncoming dogs. It won’t work with a dog who’s in full-on attack mode, but it does help with those overly friendly ones. It’s essential, of course, that your own dog have been desensitized to the umbrella beforehand.
I was taught the umbrella trick in a wheelchair orientation class before I ever had an assistance dog. It’s been quite useful, and has been particularly good as a clear signal to others that there’s a problem.
FWIW,
Robin J.
Jenn says
I have used this trick once and only once while my dog was in a tirade—and it worked!!
My reactive dog and I had successfully walked past a couple and their (thankfully) leashed dog, who were hanging out in a driveway. Right as we passed them, we started to cross the street. Suddenly directly ahead, from across the street, a big CAT came charging out of the bushes! Tail up, hair fluffed, full-speed charge! I’ve never seen a cat do that before. I had nowhere to retreat to, my 130 pound dog is barking and lunging as I try to back up, but there’s a dog behind us still, and as a last resort I grabbed a handful of treats and threw them directly at it. The treats were a direct hit and they somehow (THANK GOD) snapped it out of it’s freak-out moment. The cat sniffed the treats, ate one, and then sauntered back where it came from as if it didn’t know we existed. Quite ridiculous.
I’m used to dealing with goofy off-leash dogs trying to greet her, and I normally holler “Mine’s NOT!!” when they say “He’s friendly!” Thankfully, I can keep a solid watch-me and walk the other way. Even with the other dog sniffing her as we retreat, my dog will usually ignore them until the owner gathers them up. But I really like the umbrella idea! Sounds very helpful.
And coprotossia! LOL
Rob Cordes says
Interesting trick.
I had two dogs come charging and aggressively barking at me once while walking two dogs I had at the time.
Fortunately for me the attacking dogs were Yorkies and I was walking German shepherds! One of my shepherds barked back and the Yorkies changed their minds.
boxer says
I am afraid if the dogs that are charging are even half serious about it, no treats will distract them.
Kathy says
It worked like a charm for me this afternoon. I was training my reactive Border Terrier at the “dogs must be on leash” park when a large, off-leash dog decided she wanted to interact with my dog. She came toward us slowly at first, then started to charge at us. Owner was yelling “Penny come!” to no avail. I had about 4 treats in my hand, which I threw at the dog. Then I lobbed the whole bait bag. Big Untrained Dog didn’t even notice the bait bag, she was so intent on scarfing up the treats as her owner caught up to her. The best part? My reactive dog DIDN’T react! I didn’t make a fuss about the incident and she went back to her obedience training as if nothing had happened. I will have to start calling her my “formerly reactive dog.”
And this happened after having Apple Butter Sauce on my toast this morning.
Henriette says
I think this is ridiculous. You’re thowing stuff at another persons dog, and feeding them things they might not be allowed? You need to do a blog after this called “How to calm down the dogs owner you just chucked food at.”
Maybe chuck sweets at the people when they’re approaching you?
Funny.
LP says
I think spraying the dog with doggie mace would be better. It would teach the offender not to run up to strangers. Throwing treats at them will teach them the opposite.
lynn says
I have had lots of loose dogs come at my dogs while on leash. I yell at the owner, “get your dog” over and over until they get their dog. That has worked. Other times I tried to use a water sprayer which did nothing. I have tried using the ultra sonic devices. They have not been worked. I got a shrill whistle and that has worked. I blow it and tell the dog…GO HOME…GET…GET …I get big and use a low firm voice. A couple of times I got so sick of it I got big and went nuts slowly walking forward at the dog. That worked too. My dogs get upset due to being charged so many times. I have to get them behind me while they are barking and going nuts too. I had to kick a big bull dog in the chest last week when it aggressively went after my dogs. I had to chase off 6 yes 6 loose dogs at the park last week too. I got my dogs behind me and pulled out a stick I now carry and kept swinging it so the dogs could not get to us. There was a clear leader dog so I focused on it. Crazy stuff! We live in a very nice neighborhood that has a great park. I walk at dawn and dusk so I run into people who think it’s early in the morning so no one will be out. We live in Las Vegas so we have to walk early due to the heat. I sure wish someone would come up with a way to deal with the owners and the dogs. I’ve reported to the animal control but nothing has been done. I am so frustrated but refuse to stop walking my dogs. Oh and Heneriette…the owner who care about their dogs do not let them off leash in an on leash area…who cares what you feed them. The owner who has it’s dog off leash should not be calm they should be responsible so their dog is safe.
martha hoffman says
Many professional dog walkers carry a big Chuckit. And its not just for tossing tennis balls. Ultrasonic works sometimes for fearful dogs that were approaching and expecting/fearing some kind of confrontation, and for some aggressive dogs, but does not work on happy galumphy friendlies usually unless they are sound shy. I always pretend to throw something, because most dogs that run loose have had previous experiences with people throwing rocks at them to get them away from garbage cans or their property or dogs. Throwing the treats is a great idea since some dogs will be afraid of the throwing motion and others will be interested in the treats. An old story about a Bible salesman in the Depression tells of his avoiding being bitten by farm dogs rushing him…his genius idea was to yell at the dogs, “COME! GET OVER HERE! YOU BAD DOG< COME!!!!!!!!!!!" Most dogs would be terrified and run to hide in the barn. Might work on some dogs if their owners had "trained" that way… 🙂
Paige says
If charging dogs aren’t aggressive, body language and forceful tone work magical wonders. I wouldn’t waste perfectly good treats.
Aggressive dogs however.. FAIR WARNING pepper spray only makes those types of attacks more aggressive. (personal experience) I carry a small party horn (put your dog behind you first) and stun baton (legal in my state). If the horn doesn’t work, the baton does and with no permanent damage.
Matthew says
I was playing fetch with my unagressive border collie in the park when we were quickly aporoached by an unleashed dachshund. The owners were chasing after it. They sniffed each other for a moment, then the dachshund suddenly attacked. I rushed over to separate them and my border collie somehow managed to climb up my arm and onto my shoulders to get away from that toothy menace that was about 25 percent his size.