There's a dog walker I see walking all over town! Pretty amazing the distances he covers. He walks a black Lab (possibly cross) who is over the top excited. When she sees Snowie she goes insanely crazy, jumping over him, licking his face, scurrying under him, besotted with him. (Snowie btw just stands politely. He's all grown up now you know!) The interesting thing is she is walked off leash and this guy has complete control over her in the quietest way. I only noticed it today cos we met on a busy street and I paid close attention to this off-leash dog so close to traffic. She saw Snowie, looked at this guy for permission, got a smiley okay from him and she was off like a bullet to greet Snowie - who was on a leash of course! The guy stopped for a quick chat of friendly niceties and then continued walking. He didn't say a word to the excited Lab, who was still kissing Snowie, but after he'd walked about 30m, she was off like a bullet again and into the heel position. *Sigh*
ditto *sigh* I do wonder with these dogs whether there is an element of fear in training, but doesn't sound the case with this pair.
It sounds like they have a really good relationship, especially her waiting for him to smile before coming over to you and following him without him needing to call her. There is a dog local to me who sounds similar. He has said if he puts his boy on lead he will pull and won't stop bouncing, but off lead he will stay really close and follows him everywhere.
This sounds like he's taught something similar what I used to call the "don't touch/go play" command with Brogan. It's really useful! The town where I live in Germany has no leash law except in some very limited areas (children's playgrounds mainly) so there are quite a few people who bring up their dogs from puppies to almost never be on leash. I'm not sure if it's causation or correlation, but it does seem that those dogs are in general much better behaved than dogs who spend the majority of their walks on leash. I'm not brave enough to let my dog off leash near traffic - I'm too paranoid! - but the "off leash effect" does fascinate me.
Yeah one wonders about fear. But when I see him, he's usually walking with one or two other dog walkers chattering away. I'll need to ask for details of his training methods! He also walks an old brindle boxer, possibly cross cos it's quite chunky. This dog is his shadow. I think it's his own dog. He walks, the dog walks. He stops, the dog stops. As if on a leash. Doesn't interact with other dogs. I think it's now 12 years old. It's so dominant though with such an air of superiority that Snowie doesn't dare smell his bum even though I can see he desperately wants to!
