We have a 15 months old black lab bitch and a 20 week old dog puppy. We walk them together and they are really good together. Sophie (the older one) has taken to Harvey (the younger one) like he is her own. 2 incidents have happened recently that have changed Harvey's behaviour when we are out walking. The first one was a little westie, who's parent said 'he is friendly' and who proceeded to get hold of Harvey's lip and not let go for a minute or two. Our wee man had a small bite which bled a little but was OK other than that and he seemed to get over the experience well. Next out walking with our 2 babies. Along came a bigger dog and they all had a play. Then the bigger dog got more excited and Harvey came running back to me. This was OK but then our older one became hard of hearing and would not stay making the other dog even more excited. This other dog then took it into its head to dominate our puppy and stand over him even though he was right next to me. My daughter then stopped Sophie from running around and the owner of the other dog finally came and got him. Now our puppy Harvey has completely changed his behaviour towards other dogs. One minute he is running around playing with Sophie and as soon as he sees another dog he stops and hides behind my legs, even when they are dogs and puppies we have met previously and he has played with happily before. Has anyone any suggestions on how to get his confidence back please.
Do you know any 'nice' dogs who live local to you? It might be worth arranging some play dates to help build his confidence. Do you go to any training classes? Might be worth going to one even if you already know how to train as it will help build confidence around being near other dogs.
Hi there, I agree with Ternaya,setting up some nice play situations would really help.I'd have a look round your area for some basic obedience classes make sure they positive reinforcement training classes where the training is reward based.I think it would be valuable even if Harvey has good puppy manners for him to be around other dogs in a controlled situation x
