Any other dog owners have this problem?

[InspectorExstead]

I know a lot of people on here have dogs, so I'm hoping someone might be able to help me out.
I've had my male maltese for about three years. He was great the first year and a half. Now, it's different. He goes crazy when I take him on walks and he sees other dogs. He doesn't realize how small he is compared to them, and he always barks up a storm, and kicks dirt everywhere. And I just stand there, trying to control him as best as I can. I can never control him or calm him down, and the other dogs' owners have the calmest and best behaved dogs.
And then, when we have people coming over to our house, depending on whether or not they've been there before, he might be nice or he might bark constantly. Last week, my grandma's physical therapist came to our house and he went crazy-I was afraid he was going to bite the guy.
I don't know how to control him and make him friendlier, especially for going on walks. He was never like this, but I think once we started taking him out, he saw other dogs bark and started to imitate their behavior.
I don't know what to do. I know Petco offers dog training classes once a month, for free so I might look into that for him.
Any other advice/suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Retro4Life]

The only question I have is "did something in his environment change in the recent past"? Sometimes that can really alter an animal's behavior, even if it's something subtle you might not think of as significant.

[InspectorExstead]

Nothing has changed recently. Everything's been the same at home. The only thing I can think of is that once we started taking him out more (ie, the beach, the park, etc) and he saw more dogs, he started to do this. But other than that, everything has always been the same with him.

[LuLu Rogers]

Well, he's a mature adult male now, and if he hasn't been neutered, that would explain the aggression toward other dogs. As for barking at people who come into your house, he's just being protective of his family. He doesn't understand that these visitors aren't there to harm you ;)

[InspectorExstead]

Well, he's a mature adult male now, and if he hasn't been neutered, that would explain the aggression toward other dogs. As for barking at people who come into your house, he's just being protective of his family. He doesn't understand that these visitors aren't there to harm you ;)

We got him neutered almost two years ago. That was such a smart idea. lol. Did you have any problems with your dogs?

[phoebe7165]

We got him neutered almost two years ago. That was such a smart idea. lol. Did you have any problems with your dogs?

Yes, getting your dog neutered as soon as possible was the smart thing to do. I'm sure you know that not only does it calm their behavior(well usually!!:D ), but it also helps later in life bringing down certain cancer risks.

I don't know what to tell you about your dog, but since those Petco classes are free, I would take advantage of that!! Next time you take your dog to the vet, ask them, they might give you something to calm him down. Make sure it's something in small doses because I had a dog who was deathly afraid of thunderstorms, and she was prescribed valium. I really didn't like the way it really doped her up. I had rather dealt with her unmedicated during the storms. There so much medication out there, maybe they can help you.

[InspectorExstead]

Yes, getting your dog neutered as soon as possible was the smart thing to do. I'm sure you know that not only does it calm their behavior(well usually!!:D ), but it also helps later in life bringing down certain cancer risks.

I don't know what to tell you about your dog, but since those Petco classes are free, I would take advantage of that!! Next time you take your dog to the vet, ask them, they might give you something to calm him down. Make sure it's something in small doses because I had a dog who was deathly afraid of thunderstorms, and she was prescribed valium. I really didn't like the way it really doped her up. I had rather dealt with her unmedicated during the storms. There so much medication out there, maybe they can help you.

Hm, I never thought about asking the vet. But I will definitely ask her the next time we pay her a visit. Thanks for the advice. :)

[bandito]

Call the Dog Whisperer

[ZeldaGilroy]

My dog acts just like this. She is a cavelier king charles spaniel and so calm and sweet most of the time. But as soon as she sees another dog (no matter how big it is she goes nuts!) She also hates it when people come to the house, well not all people, usually just men. She didn't used to be this way either, it is a new behavior over the past few months. I guess I should ask the vet about it too.

[Chocoholic]

Our beagle behaved like that. We had him neutered and tried training him and changing his diet, but it just didn't help. I think some dogs just have that certain personality. We never thought of using drugs back then.