Morning walks are typically very relaxing around our neighborhood. Sure we run into the occasional fox, chipmunk or deer but more often than not, I’m right on top of those things and can quickly avoid or redirect. What I can’t anticipate is the dog owner that let’s their dog(s) out into the e-fence without checking to see if anyone else is around.
Which is how I found myself wrestling Sampson and Delilah last Sunday morning, while the woman in question gingerly made her way up her driveway in her pajamas and bare feet in an attempt to get her dogs under control.
Both of us apologizing as we dealt with our dogs.
I may have mentioned these dogs in a previous post .
I am The Peeper, a sweet chocolate seeker.
One dog is very docile (I call this one The Peeper) (s)he just looks, then runs to a different spot in the yard to see if there is a better vantage point. The other dog (I shall call The Speaker) because she is a barker. She will run to a safe distance and start causing a ruckus.
Delilah, my darling sweet chocolate, can be reactive with other dogs. Mostly I’m aware of what sets her off and work hard to either avoid the situation or work her with treats to help her through it.
I’m providing a public service. You know they want to pet me.
Sampson is reactive in the total opposite way. (These dogs are literally night and day in terms of personalities.) Sampson is very social and sees all people and dogs as potential friends. I’ve also been working him with treats when we approach other dogs and people.
Except this time I didn’t see it coming and I didn’t have my treats ready. It ended up being a frustrating experience and not a happy way to start the day.
Flash forward to a week later.
I slept in a bit so our walk was around 10:00 am which means more people are out and about. As we approached the house with the dogs I saw their garage door was open and the woman was outside working in the yard. This led me to believe her dogs were out there with her and sure enough they were.
But I was ready! I had my hand in the treat bag and I was doling out Jones Natural Chews lamb lungs as fast as I could. Both Sampson and Delilah had their attention focused on me. Our walk past the house was somewhat slow, BUT there was no wrestling involved. Neither one of my dogs paid any attention to what her dogs were doing.
My attention was on my dogs and making sure Delilah did not remove one of my fingers, but the woman and I managed a brief exchange.
“Hello.”
“Hi, how are you?”
“Good, how are you?”
“Good.”
As we passed the house I heard her say, “That works!”
Yes, yes it does. I’m hoping Sampson, Delilah and I are setting a good example for our neighborhood peeps and showing them there is a positive way to train your dogs.
Do you have a reactive dog? How do manage on your walks?
Yesterday I added 175 words to my book, bringing my word total to 44,664.
That was a excellent experience and great walk! Yeah for the lamb puffs. Yes more people should be aware and do some training and prevent some problems. I have a reactive Nellie who when outside in our yard here’s a car turn the corner has to run and bark and want to chase the car as we are screaming at her running behind to catch her before she goes out in the road and gets hit. She was hit very lightly once and she just never learns!
Sounds like you got it covered. Maybe peeps should try that next time we bump into Mr Stinky LOL. Great news about the book. We hope it is going well. Have a terrific Tuesday.
Best wishes Molly
That works? I’d have been tempted to throw a lamb lung at her head!!
Coping with BD is a very strange experience as you have to go against everything that feels natural. Ideally he needs to be kept off leash (muzzled) and I try to distract him by carrying a tennis ball and making myself far more interesting than the other dog.
I have read that by ‘marking’ seeing the dog at all (rewarding with a treat, giving him plenty of praise etc) identifies in his head that the dog is something different and can actually make him on edge when he comes across one, but by doing nothing it’s no big deal, nothing special, nothing to get worried about.
It feels very strange, but it *touch wood* seems to be working ok. Of course every time we see another dog at the moment my heart is in my mouth but that’s more because my skills at reading other dogs have slipped as I haven’t done it on a daily basis for a long time.
Mom relies on the same strategy. Watching like a hawk, saying, “Leave it,” and holding yummy treats for me to watch while dogs bark or be naughty and while people who don’t want to pet me pass by. I’m allowed to “say hi” to friendly dogs on leashes and people who love dogs, but “just for a minute” and “don’t be annoying.”
Love and licks,
Cupcake
Another prime example of why I despise invisible fences! But, I can’t walk my dogs in our “neighborhood”, so they don’t effect us anyway. The way people drive on this road, I wouldn’t walk on the side of it alone, never mind with two or three dogs in tow! So, they get most of their physical exercise chasing each other in the yard. Or, in Ducky’s case, at daycare. What I need is a car with room for Ducky’s crate as well as Callie & Shadow on the back seat; but unless we win the lottery, it’s not going to happen any time soon.
Now that I finished that rant…it can be difficult indeed to handle two reactive dogs at the same time. Been there, done that as the saying goes so I know where you’re coming from. But once I learned how to redirect my own energy, I was able to better control Callie & Shadow on our walks at the park — even without treats. That second walk was much better for you and the pups! Too bad the woman didn’t take the hint of her own words and learn how to make it work with her own two! ((SIGH))
That was perfect, You must be superwoman to wrestle those 2 big dogs. Torrey can be a handful all on her own.
Walks can be an EXCITING time… and one filled with STARTLING things… Not easy to stay Cool Calm and Collected.
Our big issue is Bailie, wabbits and squirrels. She goes out of control at the sight of them. Mom tried bringing treats but she wants nothing to do with them. We are hoping she grows out of this phase and becomes like me. I get all excited and may try to climb a tree, but I don’t let out hunting calls, or track furiously. It is work in progress, but now Mom has noticed that I am starting to get more excited as I might be learning from Bailie. It keeps Mom busy on our walks. We would much rather run into other dogs, or Mom would prefer that I should say.
I am impressed you can handle two large reactive dogs at once! I rarely walk my two together because they feed off each other’s reactivity. But I handle reactivity similarly….cheese is my best asset in those events! LOL I do encourage both of mine to look at the other dog and then turn back to me for a reward. For Sophie that means we can be pretty close to the dog and play the look at that game. For Swyatt, we still need to have a good amount of space separating us and the other dog.
Can you believe crazy wild hunt test Freighter is a dream on lead? Looks at other dogs, but is fine. Looks at squirrels and birds, but is fine. I wish we could recreate hunt test excitement to work on his obedience when his brain goes into self-employment mode.
I do use treats at times when I walk him and he is distracted to get him to pay attention to me. It usually works. Too bad we can’t use treats at hunt tests…lol.
Its always nice to find something that does.
Lots of Woofs from Earl and I at Earl’s World!
That’s exactly the way we worked with our reactive dog and how we keep attention from our overly social dogs. Treats and positive reinforcement are the best way to get through those situations. I’m sure you are setting a pawsome example for the neighborhood!
You’re definitely setting a good example! 🙂 Having two leash reactive dogs, I know how difficult it can be sometimes, especially when surprises jump out.
Great job with your book! Congrats on gittin er done! hahaha!
Mika is reactive. I am trying to deal with it the best I can. The main issue I have is that she does not care for treats, praise, toys, nothing! While we are on walks. So the best thing I can do, that somewhat works, is to avoid contact with other dogs. Sometimes it is unavoidable though, and the wrestling match begins! It sucks when you get caught off guard, and it can be embarrassing.
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
That’s great that you had a strategy the next time around and that it worked! I give you a lot of credit….these types of scenarios are exactly why I no longer try to walk more than one dog at a time. I get too frustrated/stressed/etc when we have run ins with dogs and I have a hard time getting my crew under control. The last time that happened, Leah wanted to run AT the dog, Toby wanted to run AWAY from it, and I was worried about being drawn and quartered. Or halved. 😉