Hello, first time poster here! I have a lovely little 6 month old lab / golden mix but I'm having a lot of issues with walking her when she see's other dogs / hears barking. Bit of background, we got her from a lovely breeder, saw both parents and we keep in touch with the other adopters. Skye (ours) was the smallest, but bravest out the bunch. As soon as we brought her home, it was obvious she was actually quite an anxious puppy, lots of things would freak her out. But we worked through a lot of it which is great. However, when she's going through a fear phase, she goes through it. The main thing I'm struggling with is when she see's other dogs on leads, she bolts, in the opposite direction or anywhere that's away from that dog. Skye goes to doggy day care 2x a week and loves it, I've never noticed any behaviour issues (other than the walking) and she loves the dogs there. She's also great when she's met my friends dogs and we go on walks together. Its when she see's a dog she doesn't know on a walk, or sometimes other people, she'll bolt and most recently, onto a road, thankfully again on a lead so I managed to get her back onto the pavement but it gave me such a fright. I feel she's well socialised, we've been to lots of places, she doesn't get to meet every dog but if she does I try to position myself in front of her if a dog approaches so she knows she's safe but that doesn't always work. If she does meet a dog on lead, I make sure I'm being calm and upbeat with the dog and owner, again so she can read the energy ok. I don't tense the lead when we walk past dogs or I'll try and give more space but as soon as she's seen the dog, that's her. The heckles are up, tries to run away and it ruins the rest of the walk. Its the same if she hears a dog barking that she can't see. She's never had a negative experience with an owner or a dog, so I'm at a loss. When approaching people, the tails tucked, head bowed and then she falls on her back at their feet so she's extremely submissive. If she's comfortable with the dog, she'll do the same to them. I'm trying the engage/ disengage training now but I'm struggling to find something that'll break her fixation. The bolting is also an issue as the bigger she gets, the more injury to myself and her she could cause. I use a flat collar for walks next to busy roads, and a harness with long line in areas where she's free to sniff and walk around. Neither has an impact on her response to these things. Has anyone been through something similar with their dog or any tips on how to help? I read somewhere that the bolting can mean they don't trust you to protect them which breaks my heart if its true because I don't know if I'm doing something wrong?
