I adopted a working Cocker together earlier this year. He’s now nearly 18 months old. He’s gorgeous and funny, but a little anxious.
I’ve started to notice that he seems to have a fear of big dogs. When greeting them, he’ll often freeze while they sniff his face, tense up, then snap/snarl if they try to sniff his rear or if they follow him when I call him to me.
On walks, he’s off lead and only greets other dogs with my permission. I don't let him greet many dogs at all really - small or big. And if I see a big dog, I tend to give it a wide berth and call my dog to the other side of me.
The problem is that some dogs will try to greet him anyway and I’m not sure what to do.
My approach is to immediately call him to me to interrupt the greeting. But this often results in the other dog following my dog because they haven’t “fully greeted”. At this point, I usually block the other dog and send them back to their owner.
Friends and family have told me that I’m being too anxious/neurotic and that I need to ease up and just let him greet other dogs. And that I’m preventing him from gaining confidence by always calling him away, and by blocking when dogs follow.
Does anyone have any experience with this?
Also, if anyone has any book recommendations or training tips, I’d be so grateful. I want to find a new behaviourist next year to hopefully help, but in the meantime, I’d really appreciate any advice!
Thanks so much!