Sometimes when she passes a dog, she would growl, I would then make her focus on me , get her to sit calmly, and reward her for that calm behavior but a passing dog walker told me off and said I'm rewarding bad behavior, that's how I was taught off my dog trainer
Answer
belgian Nut:
Dogs live in the moment. If you're rewarding her while she's focusing on you and NOT growling, you're rewarding the behaviour she's showing at that moment.
That's exactly the right thing to do. Counter-conditioning is basically when you start feeding a dog high value treats BEFORE they're over threshold and stop the instant whatever they're afraid of has gone past them. It teaches them that good things happen when another dog goes by.
It works and it works well.
Don't listen to random people when you have no idea whether or not they have a clue. Most don't.
Tigrillen:
your trainer is right. You are rewarding your dog for sitting quietly.
You also can read up on counter conditioning where you give your dog a treat when your dog notices another dog (you have to pay attention you give the treat before your dog starts barking and getting out of control). That will form over time the association that seeing another dog is not a bad thing, but a good one (treats).
You have no idea how much random dog owners know about dogs, unless you distrust your trainer, go with what your trainer tells you.
Tika:
You were instructed in the modern fad of "positive only". This method results in many dogs always having issues and needing years of training to accomplish behavior modifications.
If one bad experience created such a mental problem, then something is wrong with the dog.
I bet the dog got over the bad experience within a couple weeks but was encouraged to act afraid or aggressive by well-meaning humans who did not get over it.
Dog thinking "I snarl, I sit, I get a treat." Learned behavior.
When she passes a dog, she should be on a Heel command. You may change direction at any second.
She has to pay attention to you, which doesn't leave much time to do more than notice another dog is passing by. Practice it.
SeaFire:
You are doing the right thing, I have found most common dog owners dont understand real; training. I own a dog that used to be dog aggressive and that is how I worked with her and now she tolerates most dogs! Dont listen to anyone giving out advice on the street because they dont tend to know anything
Redirection is the best way to get your dog concentrated on something else besides the other dog that is making her fearful.
Maybe another step if you have a friend with a dog is to start the other dog as far away as she is comfortable and start feeding her treats then gradually move closer. It worked for my pup!
Mr.Tims:
She is not aggressive,she is afraid and protecting herself.if she was aggressive she would have fraught with the dog but she was growling its a sign of "leave me alone" you can teach her to like dogs go to a dog parkland see how she reacts but before you do that put her on a treadmill or go for long walks.
Make her tired so when she is at the dog park she won't have the energy to concentrate on the dogs she will just be relaxed after she is used to dogs you don't have to drain her before the dog park she can get excited in the dog park.
You are rewarding her when she listens to you that person probably meant that when your dog growled you gave her a treat but you got her in a calm state than corrected her and that's good .good luck!!!!!!!
Freedom:
No, you were positively reinforcing the 'sit'.
I wish this type of misconception got debunked once and for all.
The 'growl' was triggered by some stimulus coming from the other dog; perhaps some sort of facial expression that your dog perceived as potentially threatening.
This often happens when the other handler yanks the leash in order to control his/her dog. In fact, some handlers yank or pull back with so much force that it lifts their dogs front paws off the ground, and from your dog's perspective that may look as an attempt to strike an attack (similar to funnel-web spiders, rattle snakes, crabs, etc).
Your dog may also begin to react to dogs that are pulling on their lead, because just like us humans, so can dogs conclude that such a dog is not in full control and can lunge at any moment.
Their heavy breathing/gagging/spitting is a clear sign that we should give such dogs a wide berth, or else our own dogs will be forced to react in one way or another.
The other dog's intention may not always be to harm or dominate your dog; it could be playfulness and driven by excitement, but still any approach should be well communicated and accepted by both dogs.
Just because some fellow enjoys footy, that doesn't mean they can run up to us and tackle us to the ground.
Just because a teenager wants to play, that doesn't mean he can run up to any lady and start to fondle her breasts, etc.
Dogs don't automatically except other dogs to start sniffing their butts. They may do agree to proceed mutual sniffing like that, but only after accepting through other forms of communication.
If a 'bully' proceeds without that acceptance it could very well turn into a fight.
Back to the growl, unfortunately that growl was in all likeliness also negatively reinforced,... simply by the fact that after the growl the fearful stimulus (in this case the other dog or something that this dog did in particular) was removed, which in turn was the result of all you guys just moving on.
From your dog's perspective though, that growl has served its purpose... it made the other dog back off.
A bit of technical jargon:
The term 'Negative' in the context of "Negative Reinforcement" (often abbreviated as R-) just means taken away/removed/minus.
You can think of it as in algebra: minus means take away (subtract).
It has nothing to do with something bad as it often does in the colloquial sense.
Also, the term "Reinforcement" has nothing to do with Enforcement or the use of force; it simply means that a behaviour gets stronger (think of steel mesh in concrete that reinforces (strengthens) the concrete).
This in turn means that that behaviour is more likely to occur again in future, under similar circumstances. You can think of it as: reinforcement INCREASES behaviour.
So NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT (R-) is a consequence that follows a behaviour whereby an aversive stimulus is REMOVED and this INCREASES that behaviour.
If you understand the above, you would realize that in order to eliminate or at least decrease her growl, you will have to stop this getting reinforced. So you need to act a bit more PRO-active and avoid such a close encounter.
You can probably 'tell' by how your dog starts to react when she's closing in on a dog that she doesn't like.
E.g. if she's already learned to walk beside you, she may start to forge ahead (and pull).
In time, you will probably learn what type of dogs she's wary of... in particular those that tow their handlers while gagging rather loudly.
Stress signals are usually written all over her face, but is she's ahead of you then you cannot see them.
As you're approaching, time is running out fast: her brain is tuning in more and more on the oncoming dog, which means less and less brain capacity is left to include you into her thinking and at some point you will no longer be able to get her attention.
So start curving away BEFORE she gets too focused on the other dog, create some safe space and just do what you've already been doing: cue her to sit and POSITIVELY reinforce that sit.
+++ EDIT:
Oh, and never try to suppress the growl by using any aversives (including YELLING NO!!!, leash 'corrections' aka applying karate chops to the dog's throat, smacking), which is probably what that dog walker wanted you to do.
You most likely end up conditioning the dog to be convinced that meeting other dogs is a terrible experience, which will make her try even HARDER to make those 'monsters' go away. And if one indeed manages to suppress the growling, it usually progresses to (air-)snapping and maybe even biting.
Your goal is the exact opposite: You want her to believe that meeting other dogs is a GREAT experience.
And if she associates getting treats with meeting other dogs then that's a good step heading into that direction.
So not only are you positively reinforcing the sit, you only CLASSICALLY CONDITION other dogs with a pleasant experience.
