willow is loving going out and about for walks now and we are still meeting new dogs in the village. over the weekend saw a few little dogs out. i always call her back to put her back on lead. when we catch up with them or they walk past us she wants to say hello, but some dogs dont want a puppy boucning all over the them and she gets told off. but sunday this dog kept telling her off and she wouldnt leave it alone we were walking the same way so it was difficult, in the end i turned round and walked another way. the owner saiid the dog wouldnt hurt willow so i wasnt worried and it only growed at her when she was trying to make it play. but this dog must have told her off 5-6 times and willow still kept going back to it (not sure if it was a girl or boy). not sure what to do? will she learn soon to leave dogs alone that dont want to me friends with her? She is very friendly every dog and generally other dogs are happy to play or just smell her and that's fine, but i worry one day she will continue to annoy another dog and will get bitten?
Re: thinking every dog is her friend To a certain extent, Willow will learn that when a bigger / older dog says no, they mean it. However, you don't want to risk a bite or a scene with an upset owner who knew that their dog would not appreciate a bouncing pup, which is where your recall comes in... Do you have a copy of Pippa's 'Total Recall'? That's the complete programme which will work through getting Willow to come to you every single time, and away from other distractions -if you work through it carefully and thoroughly, it's not an overnight fix! If we're out and about and there are other dogs around, I call mine back to me. I don't want them thinking they can just go and say hello to any dog - they get to say hello if the other owner is happy and IF I'M HAPPY. Most of the time, I'm not! Brew is, erm, 17 weeks now (starting to lose track), and I know if I call her away before there's any interaction, she stays listening to me and stays calm. (This means I call her back to me before we get too close at all.) I don't want her getting over-excited and out of control whilst we are out - and realising that actually, that slow-moving human stands no chance at all of catching an over-excited puppy out in a field somewhere. If you call Willow back to you, most other dog owners will understand if you ask them to walk on / not stop because you are working on your training. Some of them might think you're grumpy - but I'm always happy to live with that! I also have to admit that I'm also one of those people with an older dog who really does not appreciate the attentions of other dogs. At all. I can call him back to me, pop him on the lead and ask him to sit and wait... and then other people tell me that they're dog is fine, they won't hurt him, as their dog continues to hurtle towards us... Usually I tend to think this means 'I can't recall my dog anyway.' Their dog might well be friendly, but I can be damn sure Theakston won't be charmed by them. Willow will be naturally friendly, that's her temperament as a Lab - but she does need to learn that life is not just one long social opportunity! Sure someone else will be along with some more advice soon, Clare
Re: thinking every dog is her friend Sorry - just re-read your post and you are recalling her every time. I'm just having a grump today about getting bounced by other people's off lead dogs! Yes, if you need to, just turn and go the other way on lead, because otherwise you could set up a pulling problem. Means that if you set out with a route in mind, you won't allows complete it, but Willow won't mind! ;D She'll just learn that you decide direction and distance and who she gets to say hello to. Clare
Re: thinking every dog is her friend [quote author=ClareJ link=topic=3597.msg40188#msg40188 date=1386588583] I can call him back to me, pop him on the lead and ask him to sit and wait... and then other people tell me that they're dog is fine, they won't hurt him, as their dog continues to hurtle towards us... Usually I tend to think this means 'I can't recall my dog anyway.' [/quote] Yup, that's exactly what it means. I'm afraid on Saturday, I gave Charlie to OH, took a (lovely, friendly) lab by the collar and walked it back to its owner - who looked slightly outraged, even when I explained that my dog was lame, and I just couldn't have another dog jumping all over him. Charlie can go deaf too, and I think all dogs out in public need to be ok if other dogs approach (as they will and do), but if Charlie is bothering a dog on a lead, gosh, I leg it over just as fast as I can. Not stand there, carrying on my conversation after shouting "it's ok, he's friendly". Grrrrrr....rant over...
Re: thinking every dog is her friend Yes no probs with recall I'm like a hawke always looking out for dogseople and always put her bk on lead. It's when we meet the people and chat she says hello to the dogs and sometimes gets told off. But yesterday she didnt let up poor dog told her enough times so instead of walking together as planned I decided to go bk the other way. I hate that too , my previous labs were a pain for doing it , so trying to kerb this straight away.
Re: thinking every dog is her friend Not sure why you are grrrrr at me Julie , I do put my dog on a lead , if u re-read my post you will see that ! Looking for advice not to be moaned at !
Re: thinking every dog is her friend No, not moaning at you at all! I think my grump merely reminded Julie of other such similar situations and she was sympathising with me! Have every support of you in trying to do the right thing by Willow... you happened to catch me on a morning when I'm running particularly low on patience! Clare
Re: thinking every dog is her friend [quote author=loverlab link=topic=3597.msg40192#msg40192 date=1386589711] Not sure why you are grrrrr at me Julie , I do put my dog on a lead , if u re-read my post you will see that ! Looking for advice not to be moaned at ! [/quote] I'm not surprised you don't understand - because of course I wasn't grrr-ing at you. It was a general rant, not specific to you at all. As I thought I demonstrated by quoting Clare's points - not yours.
