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Hi!
I would recommend to the owner, as you have that the place to begin is to establish a relationship, leadership exercises, and solid obedience (beginning with Phase 1). It seems like it will be helpful to both dogs in the household, and the owner 🙂 All of these steps are an integral part of any aggression rehab program. In the meantime Your voice is a very powerful tool and I would always suggest keeping a calm quiet voice when interacting with any dog, despite the inappropriate behavior being displayed. A loud voice can add to the tension in a situation, and may escalate the behavior.To get a better picture of what is going on, I have a few questions:
1)When does he display this behavior?
Before or After a run? Maybe play a quick game of tug ( not to long to tire him out) before a course to alleviate some anxiety or pent up excitement of running a course. After- What is his reward for completion?
2) Is there a pattern associated with a particular obstacle? Perhaps its avoidance of the next obstacle. If so create a better association with particular obstacle, and heavily reward for completion.3)You mentioned that it likely has to do with level of anxiety, is he normally an anxious dog? Is he anxious around other dogs/ people?
4) You mentioned that he hardly ever does this in practice anymore. How was this corrected there?
All of this information will be helpful when addressing this issue.
If you build a strong foundation (ie relationship/ pack structure/ obedience) and determine the cause of his anxiety you can help to extinguish this behavior.
Best,
Teresa
