Update: it's been 2 weeks now since I started the "look at me" command and we been doing good. He can now walk passed other dogs and will listen to me most of the time. We had an incident a few days ago that I feel set us back a bit (with no fault of his own or mine). What happened was - a neighbor dog (that I know is aggressive and has some health problems - probably the aggression comes from that) ripped his leash and came charging at Eric. Started to bite him (our luck was that he got his harness and also he has a wide collar and I think he also bit into that) all lasted a few seconds cause I was able to get the other dog to leave him alone. Eric did nothing to defend himself and all he did was to get behind me. After this happened I tried to put him back in a state of calm as he was scared and I could see him shaking. We walked passed the place where it happened and he seemed fine with it. Now when he sees another dog he will do his usual thing but it increased a bit in volume . I wonder if I handled that event ok. I don't want him to develop a fear of dogs (I prefer him playful then fearful). Another thing we have trouble with still are encounters with his friends. Like I said ...with unknown dogs we are getting better but with the dogs that he has played with in the passed is chaos. Most of the owners of his friends know to leave us alone if we encounter on the street. They understand that I'm not a crazy person that ignores them without a reason, but some others don't understand and get Eric riled up by getting close to us saying "common let them play cause they love it". I know is not their fault that I can't control my dog and I should not get mad but it gets frustrating when I try and try to explain that there is a time for play and a time for training and I see them looking at me like I'm crazy. My question is: how do I handle situations like this? Now we move in a different direction and I try my best to get him to look at me. But if the other dog gets close Eric goes in a mental state where he will not listen to me anymore no matter what I do. All in all..the progress we made the last 2 weeks is amazing.
I do sympathise with you about people who want dogs to play together on lead. What on earth are people thinking? Why would that be a good idea? All it does is teach a dog that it can jump around on its lead, and risks humans getting tangled up in leads and falling over. It's quite bonkers. I go to a class on some Saturday mornings and the class starts by all the dogs saying hello to each other on lead, dragging owners around, getting tangled up...it's chaos. At every break, the dogs do it again. I just keep my distance and, say 'no, we won't say hello' and so on and I play a little game with Charlie where I'll click and treat for him giving me attention, and toss the treat for him. I'll go so far as to say 'no, we won't say hello, please don't let your dog drag you over to us'. If people don't stop coming towards us, I'll hold my hand up like a policeman and repeat 'no, really, we won't say hello'. That stops most people. No matter how pleasantly I try to say this, it offends people because I clearly don't want them to do something they consider completely normal. So they respond by making comments like 'doesn't he ever get to say hello?', 'isn't he friendly?' and so for the rest of the class. One person told me they felt sorry for my dog. I have just prepared a corresponding set of sound bites to say back - which I say in a friendly voice, with a smile. 'he gets to say hello off lead, but not while he is on his lead' 'I've worked hard on not allowing him to jump around on lead, so don't want to spoil it' 'my dog walks better on his lead if I always insist he behaves on lead' And so on....
I have this problem with some other dog walkers, they call Dexter from the other side of the road, tell me I have to let him play sometimes. They just don't get it when I tell them that I will not allow my puppy to pull me to say hello. He plays with lots of other dogs we meet when off lead and I'm putting so much hard work into his on and off lead experiences it makes me mad when others tell me 'he's just a puppy, mine still pulls me, it will take months or years for him to stop'!!!! Arrg, A few are very understanding and we will say hello or nod and keep walking, that way I can click and treat and Dexter learns.
Hi ,I've just come across this thread ,I see its 3 years old ,but just wondering how you got on with your over friendly excitable lab ,only everything you wrote ,could have been me as my lab Inca is doing exactly the same things as yours was and it's very hard work ,he's such a lovely dog but walks seem to be getting worse ,like yours was especially when seeing dogs he's friends with , I have tried treats ,balls everything , when he sees friends nothing works ( even a sausage at his nose and he's not bothered with just wants to get to other dog ,please let me know there's light at the end of the tunnel xx
Hi i know this is Was posted a few years ago! Just wondering how you dog got on?? My Labrador is 15 months old now and exactly how you described yours in your post!!
