Hi All, I have another issue I’m hoping you all can help me with. Molly just got her last booster shot this past weekend and we are now able to fully enjoy the outdoors. The problem is..she really loves people soo every time we are on a walk and a human is walking by, she is pulling towards that human like a mad man (woman). While she has NO desire to bite that human and only wants to jump up on them for pets and hugs, this scares almost every human! How do I stop her from behaving like such a mad man on our walks?? I love that she loves people but as of now all she is doing is scaring everyone and I have to fight hard to pull her back.
Hi I understand, my nearly 6month Mason does this ALL the time! I try distracting Mason with a Look at me command, or I quickly play find it by throwing one treat at a time on the ground. I encourage him to sit doesn't always work but I'm sure by being consistent Molly will be fine.
I was horrified and very lucky that the CHILD Oban jumped on at his first off leash walk at a dog intensive place had understanding parents walking their own dog. Not to mention a child, about eight years old maybe, who loved dogs. Oban was 18 weeks but that is big to some people. We worked right away on recall and sit and it worked. If I turned and went another way Oban came with me. This was hard to do sometimes as we had a LOT of snow that year so were confined to the tramped down trails for puppy's sake. For on leash we did focus work, distraction and loose leash training every morning when the local kids were out waiting for the school bus. Hard to distract a puppy when five kids are hoping to pet him. Training classes really helped.
I had exactly the same problem with Solstice, my previous black lab. She didn't just put her front paws up, she loved people SO much that all four paws left the ground and she'd hit people (fully grown adults) at top speed at shoulder height! I was terrified that she was going to knock someone over so for the first couple of years I would put her on lead whenever there were people approaching. If they looked like the kind of people who would understand I would explain that she was very friendly but a bit over enthusiastic (one lovely woman said 'sounds just like our kids!') and allow her to be petted by them on lead with all four paws firmly on the ground, giving her loads of praise. I don't know if she learned not to jump up or if she just grew out of it but by the time she was 2 she could be relied on not to jump up unless invited to. She remained a massive lover of people all her life and was loved back by many people in return.
Yeah been there too - Nibbler jumped up and ‘kissed’ a woman - just about broke her nose. Now on walks if anyone coming I take a treat out of pocket and say Oooh look at this and he walks along to heel until we are past - he wont sit but you could try that too. Always nice to get a thanks from a jogger when they haven’t been jumped at. You still come across the ones who want their lunging dog to ‘say hello’ .
Thank you! I’m actually glad to hear Molly is not the only one that does this! I’ve been trying to use treats to distract her as well and have her just walk next to me after encountering a human, but defintily want her to stop jumping lol. Some people just get scared she will attack them even their she is so little.
Taking a treat out before we cross paths with said human is genius! I will start doing that. I usually get it out after the fact to encourage her to come with me and leave the person alone
