Ember - Almost 2 Aussie Shepherd
Hey! I have a sweet Aussie, his name is ember and he, for the most part, is very well behaved. If I take him for a walk however he is good until another person walks within 10ish ft of us, or a dog or child is anywhere within his site.
He starts barking aggressively and lunging. If it's someone he doesn't know he will jump at their face and nip. If it's someone he does know he usually just presses against their legs and wants pets. If the person sticks around for a few minutes he normally calms down, then they can pet him. It's just on first contact he freaks out.
I took him to a park yesterday to watch my friends play volleyball and he went ballistic. He calmed down after about 30 minutes but I still wouldn't trust him close to a stranger.
I'm considering a muzzle to help me feel more confident in highly populated areas for training, to teach him how to be calm in those scenarios without fear of him biting someone.
He's super sensitive to having anything out on him, he freaks out over his harness, so I'm worried about a muzzle.
ANY advice given will be appreciated!!!!
-a concerned dog mom that wants her dog with her all the time
Edit to add, he has gotten better, I'm able to get him to focus on me now and he doesn't react to people that are further away. So maybe I'm going in the right direction, just looking for advice for closer contact