08/15/2026
New position statement. Some comments from the post I saw this on which were turned off, which I agree with to control bad information from being left. What follows below is a general description of what I did. This does not substitute for training because I am not training right now. I am taking a much-needed sabbatical.
Someone was asking how to keep their Aussie from going through a window going after dogs. I had a boxer do this to me in Maryland before I took dog trainer classes. My favorite thing is deciding if the dog is aggressive or reactive. Until I can block off the front room window with an exercise pen, or temporarily a piece of wood, I keep the dog in the back of the house. The more they practice barking the more they're going to bark.
Then I drive to a location where I will see dogs, keeping windows up, and see if I can determine a threshold distance. Some dogs can't stand other dogs 500 yards away. Some only react at twenty feet.
Let's say your threshold distance is 50 feet, but the sidewalk in front of your house is 40 feet away. Step one put some kind of film on the windows so the dog can't see a dog walk by. If you don't have time to shop for some decorative film, paper and tape work. This will prevent your dog from rehearsing when you aren't there to train.
How do you go about training this? Of course I'm going to suggest you find a reactive dog class. But if you live in a town that doesn't have them available right away or you're too broke to take a class either in person or online you can find resources available. The problem is you need to know what kind of trainer to trust. And that's the point of the position statement.
If the threshold is 50 feet, and the sidewalk is 40 feet, step away from the window 12 feet. Even if you're now in the kitchen. Have your dog on leash.
The practice distance should be MORE or further away from the barking distance.
Let's say your dog has a threshold of 30 ft. You stand there with their dog food and some additives like cheese, turkey, apples, popcorn, green beans what have you. When you know people will walk by your house, you can try feeding your dog when your dog sees the other dog before any barking or staring.
You don't feed the dog after the bark you feed the dog before the bark.
If this is too close, you put the paper and the tape back up on the window and you wait a few hours and then go drive to somewhere where you can be further away from dogs. Perhaps in your car at a busy dog store. Don't get out of the car do this in the car.
Does your dog redirect to try to bite you when you're trying to feed? If so and if they're a food resource guarder, you need to make sure they are muzzle trained and happily wearing a muzzle.
Now that you're comfortable feeding your dog when they see another dog, say YES when they see the other dog. This will soon make a CER happen. Conditioned emotional response.
The idea is to have your dog look and be CALM. You can feed breakfast or dinner with the additives for being calm when looking at other dogs you're capturing calm not barking if there's any barking or staring you're too close and you need to drive further away.
I don't want to get too detailed in this but it's called counterconditioning and desensitization. If the trainer you're paying to help you doesn't know what counter conditioning or desensitization is you're dealing with a fraud. All behavior specialists should know what a CER is.
Gradually over a time of x amount of time, the distance will shrink. The window film can come off, but I like to keep it up.
