Hi all, Thought process that I figured was a bit strange and wanted to get others perspective. Our trainer made a comment a couple of weeks back that trainers like her (positive trainers) don't like greetings of dogs on leash. She would rather turn around, cross street etc. anything other than actually meeting the dog. Now I know this is a personal thing as in all truthfulness that scenario would be hard to do in most circumstances. We are buay teaching Vanilla to walk past other dogs nicely with the unfortunatly meeting of 1 young lab who they like to say 'good morning to each other'. I don't see what the issue is, but maybe I am missing something?
I agree. If both dogs are off lead then I allow greetings. If both are on lead then I don’t, we walk on by. Tatze is used to this. If their dog is on lead I pop Tatze on or keep her by me. If Tatze is on and theirs is off, and it’s safe, I let her off to greet. With the Guide Dog pups no greetings are allowed anyway unless it’s a free run, obviously. At puppy class we have a ‘sniffy corner’ where we all put our blankets so they can all have a good sniff of each other’s smells - no greetings allowed at all.
Personally, if I'm walking to the shops with Harley and we pass another dog, I let her choose if she wants to say hi or ignore them. 90% of the time she ignores them. I always check with the owner first and only let them have a quick hello (no playing or jumping though) and off we go again. We actually done an exercise in adolescent class about walking past dogs, saying a quick polite hi then moving off again. I can't always cross the street, and have done a lot of training about not greeting every dog we see. Personal preference I think.
Like @Naya I think personal preference comes into this as well as the temperament of your dog. I personally don't like my dogs to meet other dogs on a lead, though is probably borne out of having experience with a very lead reactive dog. Saying all that we were taught a "meet and greet" technique at adolescent class because teaching a young dog at that age that it is OK to briefly say hello is a good behaviour to have on board.
Ella is so used to meeting dogs on lead (both on lead) that it doesn't really concern me. I usually try to read the body language of both dogs and see what the other owner is doing. Usually it's pretty obvious if Ella doesn't want to say hi or if we, or the other owner just wants to keep walking.
We were taught to ‘say hello’ at puppy class but I haven’t used it. I have been focussing so much on Red not reacting to people and dogs in the early months, that now she rarely does and I prefer to just get on with our walk. If I think she might possibly react, I lure her past. If we see someone on the other side of the road with a dog on lead, I say ‘Look at that, dog walking on lead’ - Red will look then look at me. Generally on our walks, dog walkers are focussing on giving their dog a walk like me.
Thanks I agree it is more of a personal prefrence. I just thought it was a strange comment given that you are most likely to meet dogs on walks. Vanilla is a take it and leave it girl now, never used to be but we have worked on that over the past year.
I don't let my dogs meet others when on lead; leads get in the way of their natural body language, not to mention are a PITA It's just safer not IMO.
I'm with Snowbunny. If both dogs are friendly the leashes are in the way and could tangle and hurt a dog or me. If I don't know the other dog I can't always tell how friendly it is. However, as you say, such meetings are sometimes inevitable so I insist the dogs sit while we owners chat. Actually, that's a station in our CGN test. One off leash and the other on leash is not a good idea either and I try to avoid that.
No trainers I know allow our dogs to meet and greet on lead. The lead prevents a dog being able to exhibit normal body language. Being attached by a lead to a collar or harness can raise the front of the dog's body thus making it look bigger, more tense and more threatening to another dog. Being attached by a lead to a human prevents a dog being able to move away if they aren't happy with another dog's approach. Also if the human end of the lead is in anyway concerned by the approach of another dog, frequently exhibited by tightening or applying more pressure on lead, this is transmitted down the lead which can then increase the tension of your dog and lead to misunderstanding.
This, I have found, is a tricky one as there are so many different scenarios and it's often that we cannot predict the reaction of the other dog or owner. My ideal would be that my dog on a lead walk would be able to meet another dog on lead with a clam greeting, a brief sniff of a few seconds no more. But you can't be sure of how the other dog will react, if they are fierce or bouncy or if the other owner is happy with a greeting or will have control of their dog. Neither, though, would I go to great lengths to avoid walking past other dogs as we wouldn't get anywhere!
We usually ask, and if the dog is friendly we let them meet. If they want to play some, we will take Cooper off lead so they don't get tangled.
Maybe I can explain a bit better. On our way to and from the common we walk along the pavement on lead meeting a number of dog walker there and back, easily five or six each walk so turning round is not going to avoid an interaction but only come across another dog going along the same direction. There is a railing one side and a continuous row of parked cars the other so we often unavoidably meet other dogs nose to nose, or pass the slower ones. This is where there are a few seconds of greeting as we aknowledge each other, and on we go. For most dogs we meet this is their normal routine as they too walk along the path regularly. We do come across the bouncy lungers from time to time, we walk past those as quickly and calmly as possible. We also come across little dogs on long extendable leads with very little control, they may as well be off lead. There are also occasional off lead dogs on the path too. We go past them too as quickly as we can without getting tangled. We have also practice meet and greet at our dog club.
Sorry, Jes, it was a bad joke. You made a typo - "clam" instead of "calm". Hence "shellfish". I'll get my coat
I wouldn't worry, it was a very bad joke. @SwampDonkey and @UncleBob got it. Why am I not surprised by either?
We managed a whole walk this morning where Vanilla did not say hello to a single dog. Either walked past nicely or sat and watched. Long time coming. From my original question, I was more thinking of scenarios like @Jes72 is explaining when the trainer mentioned this. But still applies to other locations too.
