Puppy won’t leave other dogs alone

[heatseeker14]

Our 5 month old pup goes crazy when we are in close proximity of another dog. So far I have been rewarding calm behaviour. I ask him to sit when other dogs pass and give him a treat if he sits calmly. I thought I was making progress yesterday. He went to jump up at another dog a couple of times. He stopped jumping when the dog growled and sat still while I spoke to the owner for 5 minutes. Today he saw a dog he knows quite well and kept jumping up at him. The other dog eventually growled, snapped and pinned him down. He yelped and ran back to me. I thought finally he had learnt his lesson. I put him back on the lead and started to head home. The owner of the other dog walked most of the way with me. After a few minutes my pup was trying to annoy the older dog.
I’m so worried he will get bitten because he does not seem to learn. I keep him on a long line at the moment so he doesn’t make a beeline for other dogs, and I have also been working on keeping his focus on me. I only let him off with dogs I know or with the owner’s permission.
Should I be worried about his boisterous behaviour or is this something he will grow out of? Is there anything else I should be doing?

Can’t have a dog thread without photos of the hooligans.

@MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig, do you have to keep your dog on a long line around other dogs or do you just keep your distance? Our dog loves everyone too. He is okay until he hits a certain distance from another dog then there is no stopping him, which is why he is on a long line. I can’t see him being able to come off it for a very long time. I try to keep him focused on me. I have been training him to fetch a ball with treats and ask him to do tricks. I have also started to hide from him which has helped because he checks in even more now, but I still can’t compete with another dog 😄

heatseeker. Thank you for the reply. I understand, I expect you and many others are fed up with pups and dogs on long leads, snaking over the pavements and causing havoc to pedestrians! I was almost tripped by one puppy the other day who was on his way to the road!! People often don't seem to realise that they have very little control over dogs and they can run under the wheels of a car. I am sure you do not allow that! Good Luck. If you are still worried we can pm and I can give you the number of a very experienced trainer who sorts prioblems with the minimum of fuss.

I don’t use a long line, sorry but I don’t like them. Plus my lab is big, strong and fast and would break his neck if he got got up to a good run before the end of the lead. When we’re out in public I keep him on his lead and avoid other dogs. If we can’t avoid another dog I have to do the ‘watch me’ like a maniac until they’ve passed but if they’re obviously friendly I let him say hello. He usually loses interest after ten seconds thankfully. We don’t see many dogs when we’re out and about but we do a dog training class every weekend and he’s pretty good at it there, mainly because we’ve had lots of practice there!

Thanks @Percheron that’s very kind of you. I would never use a long line or an extending line on a path or close to a road. I bought an extending line before we got our boy but I haven’t used it. DH used it a couple of times early on, but I asked him not too because I think it will confuse him. Pup needs to be on a long line or short lead, anything in between is confusing. Hopefully one day off lead and on a short lead!
Well that’s what I think anyway. I’m sure other people use an extending line and it works for them.
Thanks for your reply @MustardScreams, our boy is awful on the lead. Takes me so long to walk him anywhere because I stand still every time he pulls. We were taught a way to train loose lead walking at puppy class. He was fantastic at class, but not so good outside of class! So many distractions. He is so switched on most of the time, but he still hasn’t got the message pull on lead = human stops. I have not helped our pup at all. Given out the wrong message. Might make a sash that says we are both in training please don’t talk to me.

@MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig, thanks for your reply. I haven’t found our classes helpful so far in terms of socialisation.
He whines during the class and tries to bounce on the other puppies on the way in and out. The other puppies don’t mind, but I don’t think it is helpful. I find it stressful to be honest. We have a recall session soon so hopefully that will help. I will also try to use the ‘look at me’ command more.

I had our puppy perfect at loose lead walking within days
DH has no patience to do the same though so she pulled with him
So he bought a long lead and now she’s a bloody pain every time I try to walk her on the regular lead
Brilliant

No advice, sorry, mine is the same - he goes still and sits and watches all other dogs, then decides they’re friendly and goes racing over to them to play. He’s been barked at but that’s as far as it’s gone. Most ignore him, and some - usually other spaniels or cockapoos - want to play. I’ve spent all evening reading Total Recall to get some ideas on being able to call him away. I do think he doesn’t approach the grumpy ones so he must be being a bit selective in his watching!
SnufflesDog I took DH with me to puppy classes - I knew I’d get nowhere trying to explain the class to him afterwards. Funnily enough he’ll listen to the teacher!

You can do the ‘look’ and practice heeling in the house. Make sure you’ve got high reward treats (cheese, hotdog, chicken or whatever he really loves) and reward as soon as there’s any eye contact/pup is looking towards you in the beginning so he gets the idea. Then progress to only treating whilst he’s looking. Then get him to sit, look and wait for a few seconds whilst looking before treating. Build this up over time.

With heel work there’s some great YouTube videos which I’ll hunt out for you to give you the general idea.

Practicing in the house is great because there’s little distractions. But obviously you need to be able to get him consistently looking when you’re out and there’s tons of stuff way more interesting. Hence the extremely delicious food! You can reinforce the ‘look’ command to get him to give you his attention whilst walking even when no distractions around.

You also need to make sure he’s got sit and wait down as well, as these are both incredibly important for being outside and on walks.

@Snuffles, I do the longer walk in the fields near our home everyday. When DH takes pup out it’s for a dreaded pavement walk = pulling. I don’t think he has the patience for it, but I also think he wants to give him some freedom which is why he prefers the extendable lead. I don’t like it because he pulls more for me after he has been on it. It will be better in the summer when DH can take him in the fields.

Heatseeker at the puppy class on recall all the other puppies recalled to their owners. Mine ran halfway to me and then spotted his friend and ran off to play with her. I am never more fun than another puppy!

Such a helpful thread.
How do people respond when the recall is ... err.... somewhat delayed
Reality pup does come back but today shot off to hassle someone on the field, completely ignored me and wandered around ignoring me before eventually returning. I just put him on the lead and ignored him - no reward. Icy silence was my response - but is that the right response? Normally when he returns promptly I do my happy dance good boy and treat but I assume that's not right if he hasn't complied?

@reality I’d worry then that I’m he learns if he doesn’t do it straight away he may as well take as long as he likes because he’s not getting a treat either way? But I don’t know if dog’s have that kind of logic

Extending leads are a bloody nightmare and teach bad habits IMO. They are also dangerous.

My younger dog was a very excited greeter when she was younger. I taught her the command 'close' (which means, stay within 30' or so and now and then a treat will appear) and I worked really hard on her recall and her sit stay. Even now if another dog comes over to play and she's at a distance her recall (normally vv good) goes to pot, but she checks in with me a lot so I can get control over her again quite fast.

IME dogs learn well from other dogs: mine once went perkily up to a very mature bitch in full-on 'Hello! It's me! I'm lovely!' mode and the bitch gave her a look of withering scorn: 'And you are who, exactly?' That took the wind entirely out of her sails and she was more respectful of older dogs after that.

@realitycalling make sure you’re not only recalling to get them to come away from something they really like. So practice recall even when they’re just trotting off ahead and give loads of fuss and a really sought after treat. This way they associate coming back as a good thing, not just when they really want to eat a squirrel/play with a dog and you’re making them come back.

My Welshie was a bugger for coming back, so I used an enclosed dog park either vvv early in the morning or late at night (he had a light up harness and I had a very powerful torch!) so there was less distractions and would hide after I’d called twice. As soon as he came back absolutely masses of fuss and treats. Even when you want to wring their neck you always have to treat and fuss when they eventually come back. It’s all about making you a fun and delicious thing to come back for.

If they don’t come back you have to go get them. That’s when you just stick them on the lead with no fuss. But if they start heading towards you as you’re walking stop, wait for them to return and fuss and treat.

Reinforce this at home as well, so call them and if they come fuss and treat. It’s just consistency, and they do get it eventually, mostly!

That's really helpful MustardScreams .
I'm just off for our delayed morning walk with a pocket full of treats and the most exciting persona I can summon up after a frustrating morning involving the car breaking down. I'm also going to ditch the extending lead for a week and see how that works out.

Thanks @MustardScreams, lots of very helpful advice. If you don’t mind posting a link to the heel work video, that would be great.

@GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman, I’m quite worried how far a dog would have to go to take the wind out of his sails. He is bursting with confidence and enthusiasm. I would love to find the dial to turn it down a notch!

I can imagine my puppy showing me up too when it is time for the recall lesson @MaryLennoxsScowl. He is the oldest in his class, but he certainly doesn’t act like he is 🙄 The other puppies are quite bouncy, but he is like a rocket.

We had a good walk today. I managed to get him to sit calmly when a couple of dogs walked passed us. I need to work on the ‘look at me’ command because I can’t hold his focus for long. He wanted to play with a lovely lab. I managed to call him to me, but once he had his treat he went to run back and only stopped because he reached the end of his line. I suspect if he was off lead he would have run up to the lab.
We had fun though. I hid from him then called him back. I love his happy smiley face when he finds me 🙂
I’ve ordered a new harness today because his current one does not help with pulling at all. It isn’t supportive enough.
I feel a lot more positive, thanks for all the advice.
@realitycalling, hope you had a fun, stress free walk today.

Thank you heatseeker14 . It was OK. It's easier with the short lead. He will look at me, but it's a quick look and then he's fed up and looking for something more exciting

Small steps and all that.

He is bursting with confidence and enthusiasm
In all honesty, a cheerful, extroverted, confident dog is MUCH easier in the long run than a nervous one. I've had both.

Have you tried training off-lead heel with a clicker and treats? I didn't discover this till my third dog and it teaches them self control as well as improving their on-lead walking. There's no reason why he can't be on the longline at the same time.

TBH I was surprised that mine was so comprehensively squashed by being sneered at by an older dog. It's funny what gets to them.

Our pup is just the same @realitycalling 😄

I know I shouldn’t moan about him being overly confident @GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have a fear aggressive reactive dog.

I really need to work on getting pup to heel because he pulls a lot on the lead. Tried standing still when he pulls but it hasn’t really helped. Did you find it hard to train your dog to heel off lead?