[LuckyD]

We took Lucky to a very busy people park over the weekend. The trip involved a fairly long car trip. When we arrived, we put on Lucky's harness and walked her normally. I tried to keep her attention on us and give her simple obedience commands and her favorite treats. It didn't matter. She was a nut. She pulled like never before on the leash and she barked at many people and dogs.

She's been around people and pups through walks, neighbors, and puppy obedience class as well as through "yappy hour" which is a socialization hour held by our trainer weekly. I also take her with us in the car when we go places and we'll bring her to public places where she's welcome. However, she's never been around such a huge crowd of people.

So...will she outgrow this or have we failed her on the socialization? I kind of feel like we just need to expose her to crowds more often to get her used to lots of people but I'd like to know what else I can do so we can make her well-mannered in public. Is just taking her around crowds frequently going to solve her problem?

For background, she's generally a pretty good pup. She doesn't seem fearful usually, although it's totally understandable that such a big crowd would freak her out when she's never been around so many people. However, there were so many pleasant pups walking with their owners it was embarrassing and frustrating to be wrestling with our girl.

I want to be able to hang out with our girl wherever we are headed. Am I expecting too much?

Any advice welcome. Thanks!

 

[KCandMace]

Hi! Closest to you I have been is Kyllburg. Nice area you live in.

I wouldn't give up on her at all! She is still a young pup. We are still at the basics as KC is only 3 months.
I bet someone here has some great advice!

 

[Brightelf]

Hello from Schweinfurt!

Are we near eachother? (I am rather new in Germany)

You are doing an excellent job with Lucky! Try not to worry so much. But, you are expecting a bit too much of her just yet in such a new and crowded situation.

Next time, get to the new place, and--- stop. Yup, really-- just stop!

Find a park bench, and sit. Have her in a down-stay. Do this for a good, solid 20 minutes. Boring, huh? Trust me.. dullsville.

But, it helps her learn that when we go to new places, we chill out and relax, because.. oh no, the next thing to happen is obedience drills!

Yup.. after the nice 20 minute rest, do some sits and downs. Click and treat if you clickertrain. Try heeling, sots, downs, and comes while on lead. Busy girl she will be for you!

Doing the 20 minute down, plus following that with obedience, will set her mind that she must relax in new situations, and she had better watch you.. because you will be needing her to sit, down, heel, come, etc GREAT time to work on focus excersises, too!

Good luck with Lucky!

 

[KCandMace]

She is up north of me on A62. Just a little north of Bitburg.

 

[Brightelf]

Thanks Danielle.

 

[LuckyD]

Yippee!! You guys will know where we went!

We took Lucky to Keukenhof in Holland to visit the tulip park. It was beautiful as you probably know. What a wonderful place! We had a great time. I highly recommend the trip if you haven't been. It took us around 4 hours to get there from here. The park closes at 7 pm and after closing the crowd really died down and we were able to enjoy it more. When we first arrived it was packed.

Thanks so much for the advice. We'll keep it up and try out taking her to the walkplatz and *just sitting* for awhile. It's frustrating not to know how much is enough when it comes to getting Lucky used to new situations. We're really trying to work at making her a good family friendly pup since we have children.

Do you all know any good trainers in our area? We have been using some girls from a local kennel but the more experienced girl has just moved and we'd like to find someone who's familiar with the breed. Our German is

Do you guys ever get together? The weather is so beautiful, finally!

Thanks again!!

 

[LuckyD]

...ooops, better finish that thought or I'll have to say our English needs help, too!

Our German isn't very good yet and Lucky has learned commands in English so a bilingual trainer is a necessity.

Thanks again!!

What a great board!