How do you respond to other dogs approaching your puppy? I try to avoid Jess meeting strange dogs when we’re out as she is so reactive and wraps herself in knots around me and the lead and the other dog. I get stressed out too, what with trying to untangle her while she is still zooming around and simultaneously trying to tell the other dog’s owner to get their dog away before she does herself an injury. At a reasonable distance – maybe 20-30 ft – Jess will just sit and watch other dogs without reacting. I’m trying to keep that kind of distance, with the hope that I can decrease it over time. It’s been going fairly well, as I keep a close eye out for approaching dogs and change direction before she notices them. It doesn’t always work though, because other dog walkers let their off-lead dogs run up to her. How do you react when that happens? What do you say? On the one hand, of course I want her to play with other dogs and make doggie friends, but I also really want to a) keep her below threshold as much as possible, and any doggie encounter blows that out of the water and b) avoid the risk of her having a bad experience with a dog that doesn't appreciate her energy. I’ve tried explaining to those other dog walkers that I want to keep her at a distance while she learns to stay calm but they look at me as though I’m a crazy neurotic who is denying her dog the right to be a dog. Am I? (Also, just to note, when I posted previously some of the responses were that she doesn’t need walked outside at this age (15 weeks). I tried that for a few days but it was miserable – she became quite destructive, digging in her crate, biting her legs and tail etc. And that was despite getting plenty of attention, frequent small bursts of training, games, time in the garden etc etc. This dog really needs to get out and smell the grass beyond the garden fence. I'm still searching for a safe off-lead place but no luck yet.)
When my pups were young, our puppy trainer said to keep unwanted people away and from interfering with your training, was to say 'please keep away, my pup has mange'
Obviously I have no advice re dog interactions, but I have a suggestion for your off-lead walks - how about local schools? I'm slowly discovering every school within a 10 km radius of my house. Schools here are usually fully fenced and gated, have a huge playing field, and lots of concrete courts etc. Only an option on weekends and holidays, but they're a life saver to me.
Schools might be an idea. I'm not sure if it will be possible to get into school grounds out of hours but I'll try some of the local schools and see. I think we have reached Peak Dog in my town - wherever we go, however early I get up in the morning, however remote the country park I go to, we encounter other dogs. Even if the other dog is on-lead, Jess goes wild if I let them meet (really wild, not just puppy excitement). But it's easier to avoid them if they are on lead too. In lots of ways I think we're making progress. She's walking a lot better on the lead, having fun on walks, paying more attention to me and staying under threshold a bit more. But I feel that all gets undone when she has a wild overexciting encounter and I can't see a way to avoid dogs entirely. My town is riddled with them
Do you think it is the name??? I have a Jessie who is bonkers around other dogs! She is 8 months old. I've really struggled accepting this, but I don't really let Jessie meet other dogs unless in a controlled way. My trainer says this is fine until I have her under better control. Letting her interact just rewards and reinforces the bonkers behaviour. I'm just quite brusque with people if they don't get it. I just focus on Jessie. We always have heaps of treats and I try and get her to focus on me, With lots of training you will get there. She is still insane, but we are very slowly getting better! I do avoid doggy places altogether. We live in a similar town! I sometimes feel I'm in a computer game that is throwing obstacles in my way. Small yappy dog here, over friendly owner there! The 15 week mark was hard as we couldn't walk far enough to get to places we could let her off lead. Now she's older I walk Jessie on footpaths across farmland. The paths are gated and certainly during the week there are rarely any dogs around. Maybe look for a local footpath map? Good luck. It is hard, but you will get there!
Thanks Jessieboo - that's helpful. I have actually found a farmland field a bit like you describe. It's too close to a road to let her offlead, and other dog-walkers do use it but it's much much better than the town parks. It's just hard to drive several miles every time when there is a park right outside my door. But it's definitely counter-productive and I need to accept that for now that park is off-limits, certainly during the most popular dog times of day. The worst thing is that the other dog owners are always so condescending while I'm desperately trying to reel Jess in and stop her strangling herself on the lead - "Oh, you just need to let her off-lead when you're in the park." Well, yes, that would work if I want her to run headlong for the first dog she sees. But we didn't have a problem until their dog disturbed us! Gah.
