Wife and I went on a leisurely 3/4 mile walk around the subdivision with Emma on her leash. She learned heal quickly and how to keep pace beside me while exploring everything in the road. however she also learned not to walk between my legs or do circles around me - a couple of stepped on toes solved that
We have a lot of dogs in the subdivision - some friendly, some not, so we were watchful of who she met. The first was male full size poodel that still thinks it is a puppy - a very sociable dog. We asked if we could approach and owner said OK. She was very interested in Emma too.
So we started to approach slowly, dogs were 20 feet apart and Emma freaked barking and wining and trying to hide behind me. We stopped, and reassured Emma it was OK. After a bit we tried again and the dogs got nose to nose and then the poodle tried to sniff around Emma, in a friendly manner. Emma was in a panic to get away, so we stopped and separated.
This is the first dog Emma has really met sense litter separation. Poodle owner said we should try and make a play date later as her poodle seem to respect Emma, and backed off at her yelping during the sniffing. Poodle did not bark or make any aggressive sounds at all.
As we were separating another horse owner road by with her dog, a border collie. Emma looked, barked, then hid behind me - again this dog was 30 some feet away. At least she did not bark at the horses. The poodle and the collie along with owners went the other way on the loop for thier walk.
When we passed them again, Emma was again very upset, hiding behind me. Neither of the two dogs approached this time so we were able to pass.
Boomer the neighborhood love showed up without his owner - running loose as usual. Boomer is a mutt - part husky, part who knows what, but he wiggles for joy at any attention. He used to play for hours with my golden and is very easy going. Emma was a little bit less agresive/panic this time, and did get nose to nose, then went bizerk, trying to get away from me and Boomer. She had me tangled badly in her leash as she ran between my legs to get away. I knew Boomer would not harm her so I took Emma aside (about 10 feet away), had her sit and tried to calm her down as the wife held Boomer. Boomer never barked, just sat and wiggled.
Emma just kept looking up and at me and wined as I reassured her and rubbed her down, she was shaking looking back and forth at me and Boomer. in a few minutes she did settle down and was able to walk past Boomer without further incident, but kept looking back as we walked away.
These were all adult dogs a lot bigger than her.
Ema is 14 weeks and will be going to puppy class next month (3rd is the first class). I really want her not to be afraid. Should I take her to the local pet stores and see how she does, or have her meet the Poodle again in our fenced yard with her off the leash. The poodle owner is very willing to help with this.
At the end of the walk, she seemed a tired happy puppy - ready to take on my daughters cat - whom she has no fear of yet. Cat is just about as big as she is, and fortunately very patient - no claws yet, just hissing.
Any suggestions?. I don't want to ruin this part of her life and want her t be in control as she passes dogs in the neighborhood.. So folks know I did not force Emma forward, just kept her on the leash and let her move on her own, which was usually backwards.
Thanks