Saturday evening I was walking Sampson and Delilah. As always I was on high alert watching for potential triggers.
As we rounded a corner I saw it, a little Jack Russell on the other side of the street. I recognized the dog at once, as one we usually pass in his yard. He always barks at us and is usually jumping and biting at the fence.
We were about 30 feet away when the woman walking him had him sit.
I have a big problem with my dogs walking past other dogs. Typically if the other dog is in their yard I can coax my dogs off with a cookie. If the other dog is on leash, it’s a whole different story!
Sampson is typically worse than Delilah. He wants, no he NEEDS to meet that other dog. He starts jumping and bucking like a freaking bronco. One of course feeds off the other, so then Delilah starts in. She usually lunges and barks.
This is how I found myself literally wrestling my dogs up the street. I had Sampson by his harness in my left hand and Delilah somehow managed to squeeze herself between my legs, so I had her harness in my right hand.
I could hear the woman speaking to her dog, it didn’t sound good but I had my hands full and couldn’t really look.
We got past the dog but I knew we had a bigger problem. I knew where the other dog lived, and I knew we were going to pass the dog again. I practiced calling the dogs back to me and giving them cookies. I got a handful of cookies ready thinking maybe if I threw the cookies in the road, the dogs would concentrate on that and leave the other dog.
Sure enough we turned the corner for home and there they were. She downed her dog and I threw a treat in the road and my dogs exploded. Sampson bucked like a bull with a rider on and Delilah lunged. As I tried wrestling the dogs past her, I said “We have to get better at this.”
She responded, “He’s aggressive with other dogs.”
Oh and he was on a retractable leash, but I didn’t realize that until she accidentally dropped it. Suddenly the game had changed.
Here he came creeping at my dogs. So I dropped my leashes.
The woman was upset and I said, “It’s okay.” And it was for the first few seconds and then her dog snarked at Delilah and Delilah gave it right back.
I had managed to find my way across the street and called Delilah, who came right back to me. Sampson was a bit harder but eventually he came. It was over in less than a minute.
My dogs were now standing docilely by my side. The woman’s dog was in a down and then she bent over, she had her palm raised as if she was going to hit him and she said, “Bad boy!”
“Please don’t hit him,” I begged.
She looked up at me and said, “I took him to a trainer who told me to shake this in his face when he does that.” She opened her palm to show me a small chain, similar to what you would use when chaining a dog outside. “I don’t actually hit him.” She finished almost sheepishly.
I was horrified. Here this woman reached out for help with her dog and she was given advice that was traumatizing her dog even more. I tried to explain as best I could how I felt it was not the right thing to do for this issue. That her dog was probably frightened and didn’t understand why she was punishing him. I told her I use lots of treats and I thought a positive trainer would be able to help her and her dog. I finished by giving the the name of a positive training center not too far from us.
I’ve given lots of thought to this incident since it happened. How I could work my dogs better, how I could get them to react differently. I’ve thought about going to her house (minus my dogs of course) and giving her my card and asking her to e-mail me so I can forward some blog posts that might help her understand what’s going on with her dog.
I also considered seeing if she wants to practice walking our dogs past each other, maybe help each other out.
So many dogs, so little time.
That poor dog! I hope she at least contacts the positive training center. You’re doing a good job with Sampson and Delilah, it’s just really hard managing two dogs their size, especially when a neighborhood dog is being mis-managed in their threshold area. One thing I would definitely suggest to her is getting rid of that retractable leash and using a regular one. I hate those damn things, especially in the wrong human hands! She needs to put that chain in the trash, too! The blog post forwarding idea is a good one, too!
About the only thing I could suggest would be to take Sampson and Delilah on separate, short walks past this dog’s home in order to make working on their focusing on you easier. (That’s why most trainers suggest not taking multiple dogs to the same training class.)
I know it’s difficult to manage separate walks — they give us such pitiful looks when we leave! — I have a hard time doing it myself! But it will probably pay off, and you won’t find yourself literally tied up in knots.
Do it, do it, do it!! With BD I am just desperate to find some friendly people that I can work with him with (does that make sense!!) Having someone who knows how to control their dog while I work with mine would be a god send!!
You may also want to show her this http://suzanneclothier.com/the-articles/he-just-wants-say-hi I found it amazingly helpful!!
my dogs do the same barking and lunging thing when they are all together one on one or in small group sthey are fine. As for the trainer there are so many awful ones out there. I once watched a vet who claimed to be a training expert take a dog aggressive dog and repeatedly choke the dog with a choke chain even knocking him to the ground while exposing him to other dogs. It was awful. These days if I saw that Id speak to the manager and the vet and tell them what I thought of them but I was much younger then an dnew less about training. Thank goodness I learned
retro rover
Interesting. Don’t take this wrong, but none of the dogs in your situation acted appropriately. The woman should not be using a retractable leash. Using a different lead would probably solve her problem. But I also have a similar issue with harnesses because they give no control either. You cannot control the dog’s head so you cannot control the dog. You may want to consider a training collar. You can’t have your dogs pulling you all over. I worry about them pulling you down again. I think if both of you get the correct training equipment, the idea of training together would be fabulous!
Well, there is a reason Mom has toned arms…squirrels and other dogs. With us, Katie and Bailie normally walk right by any other dog, but I can be bitchy sometimes and if I growl or howl, it starts everyone going and it takes lots of arm strength to hold 160lbs of three dogs. We are pretty good about it, but the biggest problem for us is Bailie and critters. She just won’t stop, and no food will change that behavior. We hope she just grows out of it soon. Glad everyone was okay on your walk and hope that woman gets some better help with her dog.
I think it is awesome that you stopped to explainw why hitting her dog was not a good idea. I also love that you dropped your leashes so the whole leash frustration could be dealt with on their terms. I feel sorry for that dog. Jack Russell’s are high energy and barky anyways. That is who they are.
How wonderful would it be if both if you could practice working with your dogs together???
That sure is worth a try and if they get comfortable with each other it might be OK. Have a marvellous Monday.
Best wishes Molly
It would be super to have a WALKING BUDDY… fur you and fur all the dogs.
wow! Quite the experience!
I think it is a great idea if you guys work together with your dogs, and practice!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
I think you are in the perfect position to help this poor misinformed woman. Practicing together with your dogs, and hers, could be beneficial for everyone.
Good luck as you continue to work on passing other dogs without incident – that can be a real challenge 🙂
That poor dog! Good for you (offering some positive help and support) Walking in our very rural neighborhood we rarely come upon anyone else (human or canine) so I’ve not had to deal with this much. Today when I was at the vet I noticed there is FINALLY a local dog trainer. When things settle down with Rudy, I’m going to check them out. Not so much for training, but for opportunities for my dogs to socialize with other dogs.
Eeeshh…that would set me off in a bad way. Ziva is very reactive to other dogs bad behavior, lunging would turn her into a snarling mess.
I’ve got to agree with what 2browndawgs said, none of the dogs were acting appropriately. Different equipment and maybe training with the Jack Russell if the other owner is interested I think would help.
I also think Callie, Shadow, & Ducky’s mom made a good point.
Maybe train with your dogs separately until you know that you can walk them together without incident? Having a reactive dog and using positive training methods I know how hard it can be when you are trying to work and a explosion happens. We try to get Ziva to sit, and “look” when we are passed by dogs – but this is very hard when the other dogs lung to greet or otherwise (Ziva can’t be approached like that or she will bite). The last thing I want is for her to be in trouble when another dog was the one that started it. Off-leash dogs are another problem, again Ziva will bite if she is approached to fast or enthusiastically.
Maybe a gentle leader would help you to better control your pups on walks? The harnesses give them extra pulling power whereas the gentle leader would turn their heads and take away some of the pull.
Good luck! I hope you and your neighbor can work together and help each other on this. 🙂
Jason and I witnessed a woman abusing her dog at the off-leash park last month. I am still haunted by the incident both because of feeling so, so, SO very bad for the dog but also because I didn’t say anything to the woman. Jason and I had our three plus my mom’s dog at the crowded park, the dog had just bit another dog and that dogs owner, so Jason and I were working to keep our four away from the incident. But that poor abused dog. In retrospect, I wish I had done something, anything short of putting my dogs in danger to try to find that woman and guide her to a better way to treat her dog. Anyways, the moral is please, please talk to your neighbor. If I had it do over or ever saw the abusive woman again, I would. Perhaps you can make a differece for both your neighbor and her dog. Bonus if your dogs get some training practice too!
I totally feel your pain, one out of two of my dogs is reactive. 🙁
I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve pleaded with people to not hit their dogs. 🙁
Poor dog. It breaks my heart to see things like that. The person thinks they’re doing the right thing because they were told by a ‘trainer’. Thank you for taking the time to talk to her. It would be great if you guys could work together on walking the dogs. I did a similar thing with my neighbor when I had a reactive dog. It helped so much and gave us all a better understanding of each other.
I don’t think it could hurt to at least make the offer to her. I know that one of my problems working with Cricket’s reactivity is that I don’t really know a lot of other people with dogs that could help me work with her. I can’t know if she’s better when we hardly ever meet anyone walking (even though that’s my preference!).
Jodi
I think working with that woman is a great idea!!! I know that you are probably smarter than some trainers out there and I’m sure all the furbabies would benefit !!!!!
Oh before I forget I do want to write up my experiences with my two shelties and kidney failure but I can’t remember where to send it to – also I will be a little under the weather for a while after Oct. 13th I am having a total knee replacement then and I’m sure the first week I will have a hard time knowing who I am let alone where I am but I’m confident that my hubby and “girls” will take very good care of me.
So if you would E-mail me and let know where to send my story I would appreciate it
Thanks – Have a great evening!!!!!!!!!
Sherri, I have e-mailed you three or four times. Maybe check your spam/junk folder?
What a horrible all around experience. Poor Jack.
oh wow, another eventful walk, I think that lady needs a different trainer.
You are such a good soul. I hope you can help her more in the long run.
Oh goodness! I’m glad everything worked out okay. And I’m glad she was receptive to your advice.
SUCH a great idea to work with her!! You would probably both benefit. (Thank goodness she wasn’t hitting her dog… sheesh… but that chain thing? SMH.)
First of all a situation like that would have given me a heart attack, sounds like you handled it appropriately. Way better than I probably would have. Secondly what the heck is threatening your dog with something good for? Ugh, I really hope she takes you up on the offer and ditches whatever horrible person told her that to begin with.