Puppy meeting other dogs when terrified

[susan198130]

My puppy is almost 15 weeks old and we've just started taking him for walks. I live near a beach, so this morning I took him there for a walk on his lead, but there were a lot of other dogs there, not on leads.

Every time my dog sees another dog, he freezes and will sit down. Once they've passed, he will walk/run after them. I don't know why he does that as I don't let him do that as I'm walking in the opposite direction, plus they might not want my dog greeting theirs (if that was what he was intending, although I doubt it).

So this morning, a dog smaller than mine (not a puppy) got very excited near him. I could see he wasn't aggressive and just wanted to play, but my dog just started screaming and panicking. So I picked him up. The owner of the other dog gave my dog a treat (he asked me first), then he calmed his dog down and by this time, my dog had calmed down. This man said I should put him down now both are calm as he'll need to get used to other dogs. I was really unsure, as I know he needs to get used to other dogs, but I don't want to traumatise him by doing it the wrong way.

He starts puppy training in a week's time, but in the meantime, what is the right way to go about this? Do I steer clear of getting too close to other dogs, or is this man right and I should just leave him on the ground and not make a fuss?

Don't pick your dog up when he's afraid. It means his control is taken away, plus he'll think there's actually a threat.

Yes, you should let him have brief, controlled, positive interactions with appropriate dogs. Although the 8 weeks socialisation window (8-16 weeks) doesn't mean 'cram in everything even if your dog doesn't like it', it it important in giving your dog different experiences. If he doesn't meet dogs very soon, you'll have an issue! Especially if he views you as protecting him from other dogs - that means he'll think they're a threat.

If you have a friend with a steady, calm dog then arrange a walk. Gradually come together, let them sniff, move on. You can increase the ante etc - someone on here will be able to give a better outline of how to do so.

I wouldn't go to busy places, with lots of off lead dogs running around with a nervous pup.

Go in quieter times and find a good place to let her sit and watch without being bothered by others. Then slowly build up from there, never putting her in a situation where she feels scared.

Great, thanks for the advice. Will give it a try. Hoping his puppy training will help with the socialisation as well.

Meet other dogs from a distance. Go to an open space where there are other dogs but you have space to move away. Keep your distance, as soon as your puppy notices another dog stuff chicken into his face. Move closer, more chicken. As soon as he starts to appear fearful take a step back.

Rinse and repeat until you can meet other dogs. The chicken will help him realise other dogs bring good things and are nothing to fear.

Don't under any circumstances pick him up. If another dog suddenly appears move away quickly. The calmer you are, the calmer your pup will be. Once away go through some basic training he knows and feed plenty of treats. Then slowly move back towards other dogs.

Don't expect too much from training. Pre warn the trainer. If they don't ask you to work on his fear in a far corner of the room (by just feeding chicken and giving attention) then the trainer is not a very good trainer and you need to find another one.

Agree with all the above, tbh I'd let him approach other dogs too when he goes after them. Then recall him and give him a treat.

Try to avoid picking him up.

I'm the owner of a small dog. When she was a puppy I always kept her on the ground when other dogs were around, even big dogs.

Although, having said that you do have to be very careful not to put too much pressure on a puppy or put him into a situation he's unhappy with. It very well might be that at this stage the beach is too busy for him.

There's nothing wrong with him sitting down when he comes across other dogs, he's just sizing the situation up and probably hoping to show he's no threat. A lot of dogs will lie down and even show their belly if they're very unsure when meeting another dog.

If he's a bit nervous why not take him to the beach, or anywhere else, come to that and sit with him on a bench so he can watch what's going on at a distance.

It will give him the opportunity to take everything in without being part of the crowd.

Don't worry too much about the socialisation window. Take it slowly and go at his pace.

Thanks for all the advice. When the dog came over to him today, my dog was climbing up my leg and around the back of me and I hadn't really looked into how to deal with this situation, so I just picked him up because I was worried he could become even more petrified of dogs, but then it makes sense that me picking up could incline him to think there was a real threat from this dog when there really wasn't.

We'll take it slow. Good idea to just sit and watch for a while. I quite enjoy just sitting on the beach to be honest, so will see how that goes as well.

Absolutely DO PICK YOUR DOG up if they are showing signs of fear and you can not increase the distance.

It will not make your dog more fearful, it will not create a habit. It will reassure your dog and give them more confidence. Your dog was already fearful by leaving him in the fearful situation the fear would increase. By picking him up the fear would decline and your dog would be able to assess the situation calmly.

I actively teach my small dogs a behaviour to indicate if they need to be picked up. They will put their paws on my feet - I do not hesitate to pick them up in these situaitons - these are confident, professional scent dogs!

You do need to then look at the situations that your dog finds hard and gently work up to them. Always give your dog distance and choice to move away.

I disagree with those saying not to pick him up.

Your puppy has to learn that he can trust you to keep him safe. If that means you pick him up for a bit to reassure him, that's fine. It's unlikely to be forever and it won't mean you have to do it every time you see another dog!

However I would also stop going to such busy places - beaches with off-lead dogs bounding around on them are going to be very overwhelming for a young puppy.

Go out when it's quiet and where you can create a natural distance between yourself and other dogs. I do the three second sniff rule with puppies - so allow them to greet and sniff, then move along so nothing negative can happen.

Leash reactivity is common in dogs so I don't like allowing them to greet for too long, and only ever do so with the owners permission.

People who say don't pick up have obviously never had their small dog attacked. If I think my dog is in danger I will always pick it up.

@Brownlongearedbat

People who say don't pick up have obviously never had their small dog attacked. If I think my dog is in danger I will always pick it up.

Exactly.

It's 100% the right thing to do if your dog is scared or in danger of being hurt. It's not the same as carrying them around constantly - it's about protecting your dog.

The life-long consequences of a bite or an attack are far worse than the potential consequences of protecting your dog from harm.

Obviously, you pick your puppy or small dog up if it's in danger or scared but I think there's a tendency with a lot of small dog owners to pick their dogs up as soon as a larger dog comes along.

That isn't helpful as the dog never learns to behave normally around other dogs.

Ideally you want your dog to learn to walk past other dogs with minimal reaction and interaction, it'll never learn to do that if you whip it up off the ground every time another dog comes onto the scene.

It's very important when other dogs approach to look at the dog's body language. If the dog looks aggressive or even overly enthusiastic then obviously, you want to protect your dog and picking it up makes perfect sense, although if the other dog is aggressive then that could result in both you and your dog being injured, a risk I imagine most dog owners are willing to take.

No one's suggesting for a moment, that you just leave your puppy or small dog on the ground to take its chances with every dog that comes along.

With a small puppy, or a nervous adult dog, of any size, though, it's far better not to put it in crowded, overwhelming situations where it's going to come across lots of other dogs and need to be picked up because it feels scared or threatened.

Thanks for the further advice. The dog that approached him the other day did seem very friendly, not aggressive, but my dog just completely freaked.

There's just so much conflicting advice. I've read don't pick them up because you are essentially confirming to your dog that the other dog is a threat, but then I've also read that you should.

He went to puppy training last night and he was absolutely fine with all the other dogs there, although a different situation because the dogs were all on leads.

When I've been taking him to the beach now, I've been avoiding going near to dogs, so we walk more out of reach of them, but this evening a lady was walking her dog. She was quite far away but I could see her dog was desperate to come and say hello to mine. She asked if it was ok, I said yes, then she asked if she could take him off lead. I said yes, and my dog actually was fine. They both had a good sniff of each other, then they had a little play, then we carried on further along the beach where there was a man with a much older dog and my dog went up to him and sniffed him, so I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that he's getting more confident.

He's forever trying to play with my cats who do not want to play with him, so I just think he would really enjoy being around other dogs.

Lovely, sounds like he's gaining confidence around other dogs.

There was clearly something about the dog that made him freak out that he didn't like.

It's the same as when we meet new people, when he meets other dogs he'll like some of them, others he won't like.

My dogs isn't bothered about meeting other dogs generally, but over the years she met one or two that she's taken to.

Usually though, she'll just walk past most dogs without any reaction or acknowledgement; she's really not a dog's dog, much prefers people.

I met a lady last week walking her puppy. I have a 3 year old border collie who loves little puppies and is very gentle. Her puppy didn’t want to meet my boy, but he went near enough that she could see he was friendly. I met her again this week and the puppy straight away came up to my boy to say hello.

You obviously love your puppy very much

My pup was like this now she loves other dogs
Your own just needs to meet others