Think my pup has become a frustrated greeter!

[Aria20]

So pup is nearly 18 weeks has been really good in general and easy to train (apart from digging up the garden!) I've followed "easy peasy puppy squeezy" methods, we are doing "puppy school" training classes in person there are 5 other puppies and owners plus the trainer. I've taken her to lots of places and exposed her to many different experiences/noises/smells etc she's met sheep, goats, ducks/geese, deer etc and all been fine. She met people of all ages and nationalities, wheelchairs/walking sticks, pushchairs, bikes/scooters etc.

I thought I was doing a good job. She walks nicely loose lead and she sits if she sees another dog in the distance and she WAS staying sitting nicely even if the dog got closer and looking at me to wait and see if I said it was ok to greet the other dog - sometimes I'd allow her if the other owner said ok, sometimes not if I could see the other dog was either nervous or not under control and my pup was ok, I'd give her treats and we'd walk on. BUT now she sits for a bit and then as another dog comes closer she gets over excited and starts pulling the lead to get to them and jumping around like a loon, she will not "look at me" even for chicken, she just has her focus on the other dog. I try to distract her before the other dog gets closer and offer treats but often she only has eyes for the other dog... if they come over to say hi, she is fine not aggressive at all, just over excitable and wants to play. But of course not every dog wants a hyper puppy trying to get near them and play so I want to nip this in the bud!

I think this started when a small hyper off lead dog ran over to us when she was on lead. The dog seemed friendly enough and wanted to play but of course she was off lead, owners didn't call her back or put her on lead so I had to take my pup away and this is where I think the problem began. What can I do to fix this? The same dog is always bloody off lead in the park at the same time we go so I started going elsewhere, but it seems the damage has been done!

Just increase the distance between your dog and the other dog. Make sure your dog is calm if not calm no interaction with the other dog. If calm you can move nearer if loony dog move further away.

Pick very carefully the interactions you allow her to have. So prevent interactions with high energy wind up dogs but allow interactions with calm well behaved, usually older dogs (i they are happy to meet your dog of course).

Trouble is Polly, she is calm until they get closer and then she doesn't respond to my instructions or to treats so by then she is no longer calm. She starts doing this excited dance where she's on back legs and sort of clapping front paws together and she's pulling at the lead which she never used to do. It's pure excitement, desperate to play but it's not always appropriate.

Then dont approach if she is being a loon.

I don't approach, it's off lead dogs approaching her that's the main problem. On lead dogs in the distance I can manage her as she'll stay sitting until they get closer!

It is vital that you keep your distance if she is over reacting. So walk away from the dogs approaching.

You need to work out anyway that you can to prevent this from happening, walk at a quieter time, walk in a different location. If this behaviour is allowed to continue you will be that owner with the dog that charges over and you have no control of.

I have started trying to go at different times and we do go to different places, annoyingly though this is mainly happening at our local park/field which is convenient place as only 5 min walk.

If I avoid going there for now so my dog isn't in this environment, when should I reintroduce going there again as I don't want to have to avoid my local field but of course I don't want to make the situation worse and get out of control! It's annoying as she'd been doing so well and now I feel like I've failed her

You haven't failed her at all

If you can work on focus on you in quieter areas, so at home, in the garden, on quiet walks, when dogs are in the distance etc.

For focus I dont mean just looking at you but maybe playing a game of tug, or asking for a hand touch that you reward, of just walking in a different direction and saying lets go and rewarding her for turning around. Also though do reward eye contact a lot at home, and out and about.

As she gets used to focussing on your when in a boring situation then you can start to add in distractions.

It may be having someone else in the garden and getting focus on you, or when you see a dog a long way away she focuesses on you.

If you are adding in distraction expect shorter focus time but increase the reward.

At home in boring locations expect longer focus time and always reward.

When her focus is mrore "focussed"! You can try the areas again, expect a bit of regression but reward reward and reward for small amounts of focus. Go into the park and play tuggy, go into the park and ask her to sniff for food on the ground, if this is too much go back to a quieter location.

This may all only take a few days or it may take longer, it doesn't matter how long it takes at all. Go at her pace.

If there are calm dogs you can walk alongside then do this as well. Again keeping your distance so she is calm and relaxed.

What breed is she ?

"focuesses " ? what am I talking about!!!!

Thank you so much that's really helpful I will go back to working on eye contact and focussed activities this afternoon. Hopefully we can nip this in the bud quickly!

She's a working cocker, but she's not normally crazy lol at home she's very good at "settle" and other than digging in the garden if she gets a chance she hasn't chewed anything at home (so far!)

Ok the reason I ask her breed is if you can give her an outlet for what she is breed to do that will also help her to be calm and chilled (well a bit she is a working cocker!)

So she will love to sniff and need to sniff, encourage this. Hide her toys and get her to find them.

Make it easy to start with so she sees where you put them, then start hiding them out of sight.

Scatter feed all her meals in a small space to start with , then increasing the area and maybe in long grass. She will sniff it out.

Get her a training dummy and begin to hide this, you can then take this on walks and she will be so into you that other dogs will hold less interest for her.

Thanks @PollyRoulson really helpful. I just took her on a very short 10 min round trip to the shop and we saw 3 other dogs but all were on lead and a reasonable distance away and she sat and was calm, we didn't greet any of them as we didn't go near them and she was fine no pulling or trying to get to them.

So the trigger point is definitely seeing off lead dogs at the park! Hopefully as it's not every dog in every situation this will make it slightly easier to stop.

our working cocker is nearly 1 and is still a bit tricky like this

when you get to practising recall, it's going to be key that when you get to the distractions stage (after you've mastered it in the garden and at home), that you involve other dogs

it's still the hardest part of recall for ours though he is pretty responsive now! but it's taken an awful lot of work!

yours sounds quite similar in nature!

She'll grow out of it. Just keep her on the lead until she does. If s a dog runs over and she gets over excited on the lead then there's not much you can do about it, does it matter if she's on the lead?

@pollyroulson can I ask your advice on what is the recommended way to allow/not allow dog interactions with other dogs. The area we walk has quite a lot of dog walkers (forest) mostly nice dogs and owners although some owners do see dog walking as a social activity and look to stop for a chat. Whereas others just walk past which is fine. My dog is 5 months old and on sight of any other dog coming towards us she lies down and waits for them. She is a little nervous but mostly friendly and hoping they will say hello. I basically stand with her while she is lying down and as owner approaches sometimes dog comes over for a sniff. Which I let her do then encourage her to move on (dragging the lead a bit). Does that sound ok? Sometimes the owners pet her and say how cute she is which she likes although she does now expect everyone to say hello (although not barking at them or anything just drags me in their direction tail wagging).
Or should I be at this stage actively encouraging with a good life perhaps to ignore other people and dogs so I don’t set us up for future problems. She is a border collie if that is relevant at all. I know they can be less social dogs sometimes.

Sorry typo - good life, should be food lure !

Why would you want a life where you need to ignore other people and dogs?

@Turquoisesol Um after Bryonyshcmony comments mine will sound different!

I have border collies and wcs. The collies really do not want to interact with other dogs, they are humans after all! They will politely ignore other dogs but if no choice then they greet politely then immediately come back to me for their fun and work. That is what most collies prefer to be working with their person.

Re your collie I would not force any interaction at all, watch from a distance and then reward calm behaviour, the lying down maybe a herdy behaviour or may also be some anxiety so I would increase the distance between the dogs. If you do meet and greet no more than the 3 secs rule and move on.

If there is a dog that your dog likes and is more comfortable with then yes work on that greeting but again keep it very short and sweet.

I dont encourage interaction with all dogs at all when out on walks. They do interact with dogs I know and dogs that I am aware will interact in a appropriate way. We compete in dog sports so they see a lot of dogs and are not in any way deprived of dog company but it is selective company.

I avoid and will walk away from a lot of dogs. I actively walk in quiet areas.

Sorry but many dog owners have not got a clue about body language and the "He only wants to play" dogs cause so many issues that we just stay away .

I work on the idea that my dogs get all the stimulation and enrichment from me and our activities. With collies this is what most of them want and with the wcs they just want to sniff and sniff and those pesky other dogs just slow them down and get in the way of a good search.

If the highlight of your dogs day is their walk and meeting other dogs then the balance of your dogs day is incorrect.

Lots of good advice on here - my dog is the same so am following with interest. We tend to take her to places like the beach and common early in the morning so she can run around and play, and when other dogs arrive we put her on the lead because otherwise she would just run up to them. But she's better than she was as a younger puppy - she's one year old now and will occasionally choose to come back to us even if another dog comes into view!

Thanks for your advice pollyroulson I think the lying down is a mixture of nerves and a play bow. She is still at an age where she does want to play with other dogs. Although I expect this will be less so as she gets older. Some dogs she gets a bit nervy around after they sniff her. Others she gets cheeky and tries to play with. But it feels a bit like Russian roulette that one day she will get a fright. I guess keeping it to a couple of seconds sniff is the best soloution

PollyRoulson Can I chip in to ask advice please?
My dog.. 2 yrs old and a rare breed is what I would describe as a nervous greeter/bolshy. She is fine with old dogs, smaller dogs/dogs she knows.. but can be reactive to big fluffy dogs (she's big and fluffy herself!)... she wants to dash at them with a grrrr but then asks to play. On lead she may growl if they are to close.

I was assuming the best approach was to not let her approach any unknown dogs and to turn her away quickly if we see any ..I've gone back to a longline and we try to walk in dog free spaces. I think she is basically scared of anyone unknown but at the same time appears to want to meet them!

Is 'keep away' the best thing to do? She's fab once she has 'met' a few times weirdly!

@PollyRoulson

If the highlight of your dogs day is their walk and meeting other dogs then the balance of your dogs day is incorrect.

This is such a patronising and ridiculous thing to say. Some dog owners are absurd.

I would not let her approach dogs if she is reacting so grring or being bolshy but if you can parallel walk with these dogs and bring down the emotion first then I would let her greet them.

So you could walk behind them for a bit or ask to walk alongside them but with a large space between your dog and the other dog. When she is calmer then move closer etc.

However if she is happy meeting some dogs then I would concentrate on those meetings and avoid any that cause her stress.

PollyRoulson thank you. That's pretty much what I am aiming for. She's such a loving dog but a bag of (sometimes growly) nerves at the same time!
We are working with a (properly accredited ) positive behaviourist but it's slow going, as she is a dog with her own agenda, and not treat motivated (even the really good stuff like cheese) so getting her attention on me is an ongoing process!