Last night when on a walk with Rocky I noticed something strange. Out where we live ALOT of people just let their dogs run. For Rocky safety I always walk him on a leash.
Rocky does not play with any of these dogs, (he has his own furkid friends of people we know) anyways about 1/4 mile up the road there is a family that owns GSD's. They used to have a male and female but I have not seen the male in a while. I saw the female yesterday.
The female was barking at Rocky. Not sure why, we were not in her "territory" but Rocky did not react. (My sister said she saw pups but couldn't tell if they were GSD pups or not. Not sure that would make a difference) He just looked at her and kept walking like she wasnt there. Previously, we had the male and female run at us, and Rocky basically ignored her and she would run right up in his face (while barking and growling) and back off. He was more interested in the male doing the same thing. I will admit that I think he was scared that time because he he had his hackles slightly up and he did bark once. (Really don't blame him, he did very well in the situation considering the male outweighs him by 40 lbs and he was walking, he just kept stopping to see where they were.)
However, I have noticed that if it is a male dog, he will stop and stare at the dogs. He doesn't bark, or growl at them. On ocassion he has tried to lunge towards the other dogs, but knowing his reaction I tell him to leave it before he even thinks about lunging, and he will continue walking.
What I can't figure out is how he knows the difference? He basically ignores the female dogs, and not the males. Does anyone else's pup do this?
Rocky does not play with any of these dogs, (he has his own furkid friends of people we know) anyways about 1/4 mile up the road there is a family that owns GSD's. They used to have a male and female but I have not seen the male in a while. I saw the female yesterday.
The female was barking at Rocky. Not sure why, we were not in her "territory" but Rocky did not react. (My sister said she saw pups but couldn't tell if they were GSD pups or not. Not sure that would make a difference) He just looked at her and kept walking like she wasnt there. Previously, we had the male and female run at us, and Rocky basically ignored her and she would run right up in his face (while barking and growling) and back off. He was more interested in the male doing the same thing. I will admit that I think he was scared that time because he he had his hackles slightly up and he did bark once. (Really don't blame him, he did very well in the situation considering the male outweighs him by 40 lbs and he was walking, he just kept stopping to see where they were.)
However, I have noticed that if it is a male dog, he will stop and stare at the dogs. He doesn't bark, or growl at them. On ocassion he has tried to lunge towards the other dogs, but knowing his reaction I tell him to leave it before he even thinks about lunging, and he will continue walking.
What I can't figure out is how he knows the difference? He basically ignores the female dogs, and not the males. Does anyone else's pup do this?