Your pup might have a reactivity, it might be fear based due to insecurities, or he is resource guarding (you, house, the territory around your home etc.). My suggestion is to look into working with reactivity and counter-conditioning using clicker. And protocols for rewarding calm behaviors. What you describe as a flip switch is when they are over threshold, in a fight-or-flight mode, can't listen, won't take food, etc. While you are training you have to minimise his chancing of practicing the bad behaviors. If he barks even when he sees you at the distance, you can start working with that. If he is barking at dogs, then introductions should be only on leash and from distance at first.. There is so many different options on how to approach it. I spent two years thinking my dog was just ill mannered and not properly socialized, and oh he is a yorkie, and oh all small dogs bark at everybody etc etc only to then tap into learning about reactivity. He also barked at some people and dogs outside and not others, and I never knew why.. But then I started seeing it - he'd bark at people who were talking loudly, or men walking fast towards us, or people holding their arm up talking on the phone, or people making eye contact with him.. We worked with a behaviorist this summer and by ourselves for three months and I can't tell you the difference we've seen. He now gets an occasional compliment for being well behaved and calm in public and I'm so proud of him. If you don't have an option of working with a behaviorist full time, even few sessions will be useful - a professional will be able to identify his specific issue and will give you tools and explain how to use them, so you can then proceed to do the training yourself. There are Facebook groups, websites and some books I can advise you, feel free to send me a PM. |