What's okay and what's not okay

[selzer]

I think your dog has matured a lot since seven months old. Lots of dogs are butt-heads when they are teenagers. But with training and exposure, they learn to put their faith in you, and they also learn that everything isn't so scary. I think you need to catch up to her. I think she has gotten over herself a bit. There is nothing wrong with being cautious, you should be, practice keeping a safe distance between your dogs and others (human and canine), but also practice confidence. Because if you are nervous about what your dog will do, that is transmitting right down the line.

Think of it this way. If you boss tells you to do ABC, you go and do ABC. If your boss hesitantly tells you to do ABC, then it makes you a little hesitant too. Should I do this? What might go wrong? Why is he so worried about this? Dogs pick up on stuff, pharomones make a breath smell funny. They tell you to pop a peppermint in your mouth at the dog show, to mask the fear smell. Because WE can throw our dogs off.

[DTS]

Well thank you everyone for the advice or opinions. It makes sense and it helps me to bounce thoughts and ideas off people to help me get the whole picture.
I hope this trainer contacts me back and we can get help with what we need

[RowdyDogs]

I read your thread with interest, and I guess my question would be: if you're uncomfortable with it, what is wrong with not letting people pet your dog? I think in the US at least we have this idea that strangers have a sort of right to pet our dogs, and if that's not okay for whatever reason then our dogs aren't "good dogs." But it's kind of crazy--makes me think of those people who think it's okay to go up and touch a pregnant woman's belly in way. My dog is my property and when he's on leash with me in public he's basically an extension of my person. If I don't want other people to touch him, then they should respect that.

Maybe it's just because I've owned some reactive dogs, and I'm usually expecting my dogs to do something (even if it's just heel) when on leash, but I very rarely let random strangers pet my dogs, even my super-friendly ones who love new people. I've had some people get upset about it, but that's their prerogative I guess--I'm always very nice about it and give them a plausible reason why not. I also don't generally ask to pet other people's dogs, although I like chat with strangers about their pets. I can admire a dog without petting it (of course if the owner invites me to, that's a different story!).

I'm uncomfortable having most strangers pet my dogs because I've seen even adults do some crazy things--one guy suddenly grabbed and twisted my poor ACD's ears hard, making my dog cry in pain and take a few days before he was comfortable being touched there again. This was just a random encounter on the street with a friendly guy who seemed fairly knowledgeable about dogs. It was bizarre. I know my dogs aren't going to bite, but I don't trust strangers to be nice to them.

So in other words, if your dog isn't lunging/barking at people as you walk by, and she apparently doesn't bite but rather tries to escape when an unforeseen circumstance does arise (like the kids at the campground), then I don't see why you should be apprehensive about taking her out in public at all. Just tell people she is in training or whatever and don't let them pet her.

[DTS]

So just an update for anyone who was reading this thread:

we saw a trainer today. She has GSDs, trains and titles in agility and other sports, and has grown up around police K9s.
She started us on doing a front recal and jasmine picked up on that quickly.
we were off leash in an enclosed baseball field. she started by just walking on the outside of the fence. i think jasmine barked maybe once and i called her and she came.
she then stood next to my BF outside the fence and Jasmine ignored her and was focused on the BF. She then joined us in the field.
Jasmine excepted her and she did some commands with her and threw the ball for her. She then had us do some OB with her aorund.
After a while Jasmine met her neutral dog. Jasmine was offleash inside the field and her dog was outside.
At first she barked w/ hackles and they did a nose to nose sniff and she began to wag her tail, play bow, and do an excited high pitched i want to play bark
Her dog was introduced inside the fence and they began to play.
We did some OB around her and her dog and we began clicker training.
She is giving me a book to read called "catious canine" and we will continue with the clicker training, Watch me, and leave it commands
She reccomends anytime we see a dog or person to talk to her very excitedly about this new person or dog.
im pleased with how it went. She said that she is very do able and this can be fixed with training and cosistency which i will am more than willing to do. She also suggested a certain no pull harness with the clip in the front (not too sure what it was called) so we will look into that as well and view our options on what equipment to use. She also suggested a leather leash.
So we will begin working on this