My OH and I took Cupar to a fun dog show. When we arrived he went into full on pulling mode. As a security precaution he had on his harness and the head halter. The halter helped a lot but he behaved as if I was the party pooper parent that brings their child home early and didn't let them even try the alcohol on offer. I wanted to take him home as I didn't think he was coping but friends and OH said he was fine. It was just too exciting for him. He stood beside my friends greyhound and never bothered her. A JRT pup was for playing with but every black dog or darker coloured dog got a deep growl. I had roast beef that he never tasted when offered . We entered the sausage catching event so I took the halter off. He pulled the whole time. I didn't exist. He had went completely deaf for the entire event. There was a 4 month old lab pup being taken by a wee girl. It pulled occasionally but it behaved beautifully. It sat when asked, it gave a paw, all by this 7 year old. I couldn't get Cupar to acknowledge that I was there, never mind get a sit. We live in a village, I'm lucky or in my case unlucky to meet more than one person in any direction on a walk. I visit the nearest town occasionally. I only take him to try and keep up with socialising. Where on earth am I going wrong. When he was tiny I could take him to all these places and he focused on me. We have been doing loose lead walking at every single walk. No matter where it is. I use the headcollar when I feel Cupar is finding it too exciting and I'm finding it painful, but we practice every day. So as not to reinforce pulling. We're now starting to get issues with dogs. He's either lunging towards them on a lead or off lead they're mounting my poor boy. He's nearly 14 months old now. I feel I now have to go back to the beginning with socialising him. Is that wrong? Is the answer to keep putting him in busier and busier environments . We took him in the campervan last year and he was a confident pup that took it all in his stride. He focused on me then. Now he seems to have forgotten me. Now if he was a human teenager I could cope with that. I did it three times ,but this ! Help. Oh and he got second in the sausage eating competition. Someone told my OH later that he was robbed it should have been a first. Although the sausage thrower was kneeling on the ground with the sausages in between his legs.
Oh I have laughed at the Sausage Eating Competion,brilliant!I think Cupar was robbed too,surely no dog can beat a Labrador in a sausage eating competition! Well done you for taking Cupar,I can empathize with how you must have been feeling ,we live in a busy city but Dexter isn't allowed anywhere.First of all don't compare yourself to anybody else....the little girl you observed sounds wonderful ,and what a great team she was with her dog BUT that doesn't mean you and Cupar aren't great too.You took him to a really full on event....those events must be mind blowing to most dogs,certainly young Labradors and certainly one that leads quite a sheltered life.Dexter walks all around our neighbourhood and usual places almost perfectly on a loose lead.....the moment we go anywhere else I would still put him on his harness because he would go straight back to pulling me without a doubt ,especially at dog show.We did exactly that last year ,it wasn't a particularly big event but Dexter had never been anywhere like it...to be fair he was actually very good but he was older than Cupar ( he'd just turned 2) and because it was so local I went with the attitude that if we last 5 minutes and then I've got to come home so be it....so unusually for me I was really relaxed about it .That made a massive difference.Did you feel quite anxious?Cupar could have been feeling that from you and that made him a bit more twitchy? You know sometimes it isn't as bad as you think......Whilst I'm not dismissing the desire ,need and enjoyment of great behaviour from your dog,sometimes we think it's worse than it is because we feel embarrassed that we aren't 'perfect' I know I do.I've really tried to stop worrying about that now, It's disappointing when you feel like you are putting the time in and you feel like you aren't getting the results you want but you will if you don't lose heart and just keep at it.Just grab the opportunities for socialization that you can .....I go to anything and anywhere I think I might be able to take my dog to expose him to something new.....but I always go with the attitude that if he's a nightmare,I'll leave!so far so good! Have I missed something you've mentioned earlier about something that has happened to him with a black dog?hence the growling? Why do you think the lead reactivity is starting?I've done quite a lot of work on that with Dexter....in our case Dexter can't cope with a dog that stares him out.I trained a 'look at me' cue that helps us get past anyone giving us the eye! You can start getting good eye contact with Cupar by rewarding him looking at you any opportunity you have ....I used to just sit with a bowl of treats or his dinner and the clicker and reward every time he looked at me.It works really quickly ,and once you've got that attention you can get it on cue 'look at me' Dexter responds well to 'having something to do' now when we walk past a dog that is upsetting him his 'job' is to look at me and not lunge towards the dog.It gave me so much confidence to have a strategy to deal with it ,taking my anxiety out of the situation again had a massive beneficial effect on Dexter. Hope I haven't waffled ,don't be downhearted x Best wishes Angela
Thanks Angela for the reassurance. I took Cupar and my grandson to a carnival a couple of weeks ago. I was probably more relaxed as I alone could make the decision to leave, so there was no pressure. Although he wasn't perfect but there wasn't as many dogs. I wasn't on my own at this event, having arrived with family in tow. So not the same opportunity to get up and leave. The dog show wasn't a big event but there was loads of dogs. He has never had issues with dark coloured dogs before. He walks beside a GSD on occasion. When we arrived there was a black and white newfoundland that lunged towards him, they both started growling. The deepest growl we heard was for the wolfhound or deerhound, it was huge, that dog really worried him. I forgot to add that he lifted his leg and peed on my leg, not once but twice. My granddaughter thought this was hilarious. His aim is brilliant. So I walked about with dog pee on my leg. He really had marked his territory. The dog show will probably be an annual event, unfortunately because of the association with Prince Charles, I think next year will be a lot bigger. If I want to take Cupar along he is going to have to be a lot more comfortable in this situation than at present. So lots of work ahead. I'm just unsure whether to keep taking him to these type of events , or leave him at home. Actually I wouldn't leave him home as I wouldn't bother going.
When harley was young I took her to a few dog shows and the first 2 she was really good (she was 5 months then 7 months old). When I took her to the next one she was 13 months.....very similar behaviour to Cupar. She pulled on lead (she wore a harness), wanted to play with every dog and human she saw and wouldn't calm down. I ended walking further away and slowly moving closer to the activities. Harley is well socialised. She has a dog walker twice a week and is with 3 different dogs each time. Rarely will we see no one on our walks. The first few times I took her on a forum walk I was really embarrassed as her lead walking was horrendous, she would be sooo excited she jumped up lots and she would be quite hyper. Over time she has got better, but when she sees everyone at the forum walks she has a mad 2 mins wanting to say hi to everyone then will calm down and enjoy the walk. Harley gets very excited when she sees Holly, Pongo, Benson and Casper as we walk together on a regular basis. It took me a while to realise that harley is actually quite well behaved and that most people who are dog owners (especially the ones on here) aren't judgemental. Because of this I relax more on all of our walks and this has helped. Also, at big events I'm much calmer and in turn so is Harley - she is 23 months old now and it took until she was about 16 months to calm down to how she is now. I'm sure other owners will understand and Cupar will get better with large crowds the more he is put in those situations
Charlie lives mostly in London - that wasn't the plan when I got him but, blah, blah, things changed. So, London is busy - the amount of dogs that live here and visit what open spaces there are has to be seen to be believed, really. Hundreds and thousands of dogs, and all manner of humans using mad contraptions. Charlie coped fantastically well until he was first on rest and all the busy places, and other dogs, was removed from his life. It took a long time to build it back up. It taught me that what dogs get to do day in, day out, is what they become good at and you have to work much, much harder at things that are unusual - even if those things don't seem to be particularly more difficult than other things your dog can cope with. The other thing that taught me this was taking my city boy to gundog training. This is a dog that can walk by swans, ducks, squirrels, rabbits, cats, whatever - and we can show off our stop whistle feeling smug - he can do the tube, Oxford Street, fairs and street festivals. But put spaniels hunting in front of him and he can't cope (although he can flush pheasants and sit to his stop ). Again, it's about what he can do in his day job vs what is unusual to ask him to do. Cupar's day job doesn't involve busy places. So if you want him to "do" busy places you've got to introduce them slowly and then keep up with it, so busy places become something he does. It's not enough to take a puppy to a busy place when he is young and think that's going to do for the rest of his life, it doesn't really work like that I don't think. Although it would be wonderful if it did.
Thankyou. I'm so relieved that I can continue on with socialising him. Last year when he was about 5 months he was in lots of busy towns and was such a brave wee pup. We had none of these issues. I'm so glad that it's normal. I shall keep up taking him into town . The more places and different things he sees the better.
I so agree with your plan , Sam still gets excited at new venues , senses heightened , but soon calms down . I would advise little and often
