Oaks is now 4 months old, and I have been doing my best to take him out often and socialize him so he won't be stranger aggressive. Now he almost expects to meet everyone and he pulls and gets excited with every person we walk by. He's been really good about no jumping and I make him sit, but after the scene he caused at Home Depot today in line I felt the same as I do when my 5 year old acts up in the store and I don't want to bring him anywhere again!
How can I help Oakley realize we can't meet every person we come by? He became very agitated when I told him to sit stay in line with a lot of people around us who weren't giving him attention- causing him to bark like crazy. Should I stop letting him get pets from strangers for a while?
The other issue I'm running into is when we are out with my son on a walk or at the pet food store and people ask to pet Oaks, my son gets jealous of the attention (he's 5) and then asks the stranger to hug him. I've explained to him stranger danger, but I can see the issue with trying to socialize the puppy with people we don't know as confusing for him.
I guess what I'm asking is:
1. How do I stop the attention getting barking and teach Oaks to ignore people unless I say it's ok?
2. Should I disallow stranger socialization all together because its sending a bad message to my child?
How can I help Oakley realize we can't meet every person we come by? He became very agitated when I told him to sit stay in line with a lot of people around us who weren't giving him attention- causing him to bark like crazy. Should I stop letting him get pets from strangers for a while?
The other issue I'm running into is when we are out with my son on a walk or at the pet food store and people ask to pet Oaks, my son gets jealous of the attention (he's 5) and then asks the stranger to hug him. I've explained to him stranger danger, but I can see the issue with trying to socialize the puppy with people we don't know as confusing for him.
I guess what I'm asking is:
1. How do I stop the attention getting barking and teach Oaks to ignore people unless I say it's ok?
2. Should I disallow stranger socialization all together because its sending a bad message to my child?