Looking for behavior assistance. I live in a rural area, most neighbors have 5-20 acres. I have a very mellow 5 yo female boxer-shepard mix (Frankie) who I walk on a regular basis up and down our road. My immediate neighbor has 3 dogs. One is a very aggressive male shepard mix (Cody). The neighbor dogs hang out at the road most of the day, chase cars, bark at people, and are generally unpleasant. I think most of them have been 'rescued' by the neighbor from who knows where. He is gone at work all day. He has an adult mentally handicapped daughter at home during the day, but she cannot control the dogs, and in fact is fearful of my dog for reasons that escape me. Cody typically slinks under the fence as we start on our walk and attempts to nip Frankie in the hindquarters. I sternly scold him and tell him no. He backs away but keeps trying to sneak up on Frankie until we get past his driveway.
Unless pushed by Cody, Frankie does not actively engage in aggressive behavior. If he does nip her, though, she responds in kind, and they go through a minor skirmish. It occasionally gets more intense than I am comfortable with, although neither has ever drawn blood on the other.
I also try to greet Cody in a friendly manner (before the aggression begins), and throw a treat to him. For a long time, he wouldn't even go sniff out the treat, but he is slowly figuring that out and I think looks forward to it. I thought we were at a bit of a truce, but this morning he came after Frankie again, likely because I was making her sit while a car went by, and he seized on the opportunity. I don't walk Frankie with a leash, and don't want to resort to that - this is her time for exercise and she runs freely during our jaunts. We typically have 0-2 cars to contend with and she is very good a coming to my whistle and sitting until the car passes.
Thanks for any insight.
