Dog Goes Mad When On Leash Around Other Dogs

Lite sleepeR

Hi

I have a 1 year old gsd/lurcher cross. She's great most of the time. When in the dog park or with other dogs off lead she plays well, even with really small dogs. All she wants to do is say hi and play. If a og doesn't want to play she leaves them alone.

My problem is when out walking her on a lead and she sees another dog she seems to go mad barking and lunging. Just wants to go say hi and play! This happens whether the dog is coming towards us, the other side of the road or even a football field. If she can get their attention she will try.

How can I stop this as it puts other dog owners off even stopping to let the dogs say hi to each other and it scares some.

I have tried getting her to sit and be calm with treats etc but once she spots another dog nothing seems to work.

Any help or ideas would be really appreciated.

Lite sleepeR

Any ideas?

DBB

To be honest op, this is a reasonably big problem, and largely beyond the scope of getting advice from an internet forum. I think you'd be best served getting some professional help on this one, from an appropriately qualified behaviourist. If you let us know where you are, maybe someone can recommend such to you.

looking_around

choke coller?
___
Be firm, hold the dog closer to you and slowly walk away.
Hold the dog down, facing away from whatever she's interested in. Show her who's in charge.

__
And to really be shown HOW, go to professional trainer.

DBB

looking_around wrote: »

choke coller?
___
Be firm, hold the dog closer to you and slowly walk away.
Hold the dog down, facing away from whatever she's interested in. Show her who's in charge.

__
And to really be shown HOW, go to professional trainer.

And this is why I said this is not an appropriate place to seek advice op! A qualified trainer will explain to you why choke collars should not be used, why it is both damaging and dangerous to hold a dog down in such a situation, and why any talk of "showing the dog who's boss" is utterly outdated.
Cf http://www.dogwelfarecampaign.co.uk

A qualified behaviourist will show you, and explain to you, the how's and why's of the problem.

looking_around

looking_around wrote: »

choke coller?
___
Be firm, hold the dog closer to you and slowly walk away.
Hold the dog down, facing away from whatever she's interested in. Show her who's in charge.

That's disgusting advice!

Go to a proper behaviourist OP and if they start this "show her who's boss" crap, find another one

Lite sleepeR

Thanks all for getting back to me. I'll look for professional advice. I just thought it was my dog being a puppy and excitedly wanting to go and say hi, let's play. Thanks again

DBB

Lite sleepeR wrote: »

Thanks all for getting back to me. I'll look for professional advice. I just thought it was my dog being a puppy and excitedly wanting to go and say hi, let's play. Thanks again

Oh, chances are that's playing it's part alright op! Problem is that if it goes uncorrected, and the correction bit does NOT entail any form of physical or mental chastisement, then this behaviour tends to grow legs and become quite a problem.
Appropriate correction of these problems is one of the things that separates a qualified behaviourist from a cowboy!

fatmammycat

looking_around wrote: »

choke coller?
___
Be firm, hold the dog closer to you and slowly walk away.
Hold the dog down, facing away from whatever she's interested in. Show her who's in charge.

__
And to really be shown HOW, go to professional trainer.

This is really bad advice, man handling an excited dog is a quick way to escalate a situation and does nothing to address the initial 'oh mah god it's a dog, it's a dog it's a dog...' The only thing I've ever seen a choke chain do is choke a dog, they're pretty much useless as a training tool. What does it teach? 'Oh there's a dog, ow, I'm being choked, how do I feel about seeing another dog, it's causes me discomfort, maybe I should be mean to that dog for doing that.'

OP my dog is a dog-driven dog, he's a GSD and he is interested in EVERY dog he meets: big, small, old, young, doesn't matter, he's interested and although he's pretty sweet natured he can look rather intimidating.
Now my fellow had a distance where he was calm and collected from other dogs, and then if he was closer he'd be straining at the leash and trying to haul me in that dog's direction. So we worked within that calm frame. See a dog, okay, I'd call him, the moment he turned his head my way I rewarded, either food or his red ball –which he is dotty over. See a dog, look to me.
Eventually ( no really) I became more interesting than the dogs, as in 'hey, dog, oh look, red ball YAY!' It was a rather slow process as he's the kind of dog that zeros in on things anyway. But at around 9/10 months, he really started to relax about seeing other dogs in the distance, and subsequently dogs closer to him, to the point where I can walk him pretty much anywhere without him demanding to be let over to a strange dog. He still looks, I don't think he will ever not look, and he prances a little, but does not pull in that direction, plus he's still a big pup himself at 13 months, albeit close to 40 kilos.
Ironically off lead he's much more relaxed about approaching dogs, and is part of pack walks a couple of times a week which def helped with the 'hey dogs!' mentality ( it might be something if your pup could mingle and play safely with a group of even dogs, certainly takes the 'mystery' out of it all) I don't know it this helps your situation, but it very much worked with my dog. Best of luck.