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Wondering if anyone can offer suggestions. Our 10 year old pug gets along well with other dogs, our friends bring over their dog and they play nice. However, if he gets into anyone's lap.. our pug goes nuts.. all bent outta shape.. even if she's in someone else's lap! And she really gets wound up, if you put down the dog that in a lap she'll start to bark/lunge and chase him around.
She doesn't bite or anything, just aggressive bossy behaviour..
Doesn't seem to matter if it's at our home, out camping whatever.. I suppose maybe she thinks all laps belong to her.
I had the other dog on my lap last night, and just ignored our Pug.. she eventually got bored and wandered off for a moment. I'm thinking that we need to have someone give her high value treats the instant she ignores the other dog in the lap. Keep that up and she should start associating 'other dog in lap = good'.
Any other suggestions are appreciated. Maybe we just need to have this dog over more often and perhaps she'll be less territorial about laps?
I like your idea of classically conditioning 'other dog in lap = rewards for me'. You've also added in some operant conditioning when you specifically reward appropriate behavior on the pug's part. I would employ both strategies to start. In the beginning your goal would simply be to form a positive association: "good things happen when other dog is in lap". Timing in relation to the dog's response is less important here, although we want to avoid rewarding the more egregious outbursts. This new association alone should trigger the appropriate behavior you're looking for and here is where the type of conditioning shifts to operant: now the reward is given in exchange for specific behaviors. Be generous in the beginning - reward the slightest move in the right direction. Then steadily increase the criteria required for earning the reward. So at first maybe just looking away from the other dog for an instant earns her the reward. Then maybe calmly observing the other dog earns her the treat. Then a full minute of appropriate behavior is required before she gets the reward. Then 5 minutes. You get the idea.
In the meantime I would use a herding / blocking technique if she attempts to inappropriately pursue the other dog like you mentioned sometimes happens when the other dog is set down. Be the fleeing dog's body guard. Use your body or an object to block the pug's visual access and forward motion in order to disrupt the chase. Remember to reinforce her for quitting and moving on to a better choice.
I'm sure you know it is pretty normal for dogs to react to another dog being elevated. The pug is being bossy and obnoxious like you said, but hey nobody's perfect.
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