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4.5 months, passing by other dogs

1K views 5 replies 2 participants last post by  Jenny720 
#1 ·
Bear has been doing very well with most of his exposure we have been working on. I posted a thread earlier about his problem with joggers and working on it he has been doing great. A jogger past him last night and he glanced over and just continued sniffing the grass. He has been great with people, passing by or if they want to say hi to him.
Other dogs are a problem. We are in a small town and we haven't really passed that many other dogs walking. The best shot of seeing any are at the same recreational park that the runners practice, even then we only see one occasionally. He has been around my beagle an my senior dog. He is very submissively loving to my curmudgeon senior dog. Never any bad experiences there. He also plays sometimes with my eldest son's shepherd mixes, no problems with them either.
The first stranger dogs he saw he was afraid and the owner wanted to meet and I was backing up trying to keep him behind me saying he was not ready to meet other dogs. They were big and scary looking but friendly. He barked at them afraid. Another dog he saw was being walked by a guy on a skateboard. He barked, scared they guys dog and derailed the skateboarding. It ended up the guy was a friend of our son. So he wanted to talk with my husband. Bear reacted with a mixture of fear barking and wanting to play. The dog was friendly, but backed up when Bear barked. I was trying to keep Bear behind me. The best encounter was at Lowes in the outside garden section. Another dog was there and again the owners wanted to talk. They kept their dog back and Bear did fine sitting looking at him for most of the time, but at the end he barked, but I think it was not fear, he was wanting to check him out or play.
I'm not sure how to get him to ignore and pass other dogs when everyone wants to come up and talk, and the lack of enough passing by dogs to get him desensitized to.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
It could your pup is excited it could be he is unsure or a mix of both. Just tell people you are training your pup to ignore other dogs. The most important thing is to keep walking because if you stop and tell them they will walk right over anyway. I know might it appear rude and I did not like to appear rude but it is what you have to do for your pup. Do you have a friend or relative that has a dog or pup your pup can go for a walk with them and socialize with a one on one encounter with a pup or a really good dog that is good with pups. If there is unsureness even a little it will help with that. If its excitement a walk together will help with that. When we first started walking our pup Luna she would constantly bark at Max,our older gsd, on walks jumping on him trying to play -it was constant corrections. We have lots of woods here and I took her off the leash and occasionally she would bark or jump on Max - I noticed she was much more excited on the leash. I found I Corrected her much less and would correct her with no or leave it or enough and she would stop. now we can walk together nicely on the leash. As was previous chaos walking down our street.
 
#3 ·
Thanks Jenny,
I have not taken Bear walking with our other dogs because I wanted him to focus with training and treats we would do on the walks. That is a great idea...my senior dog is pretty chill with other dogs, so maybe walking them together he would see what she is doing and learn from her lack of reaction. He does watch and learn things from the other dogs. Thanks!
 
#4 · (Edited)
Hi I agree you first want to teach your pup how to walk on a leash and focus on you before walking with other dogs. My point though was to -set up a one on one meeting time where your pup can meet another pup or dog who is good with dogs -outside your primary family (not your own dogs)but dogs you know to be safe from a trusted family member, friend or trainer. It may help if your pup is slightly unsure. I then was explaining how I walked my own dog on leash and pup off leash to curb the excitement our pup had when we walked together.
 
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