Puppy socialising help pleaseeee

[MumEOC]

So we have a puppy S. Spaniel
5 months old wouldn't hurt a fly and is great with my dogs and kids and people. But when certain jumpy hyper dogs try to play with her or jump in her face she has a snap at them. She will sit next to them and walk with them and not be bothered by other dogs. Off lead trained and recail is good and sits and stays

Just worried incase it's turning into aggressive behaviour or she's just warning them off her. She will let dogs sniff her and walk round her and when she's off the lead she will walk along side with her and when dogs run towards her she heps a little and runs away. She wont chase other dogs to play like most puppy. she's so focused on her ball and fetch. Maybe her working line of family history and that's how they are. She gets the right amount of excerise round dogs

Any help is welcome at all and any advice

Dont worry you have the perfect dog!

I would cut down on interactions with off lead dogs you do not know. She is politely telling them and you that she does not want interaction with full on probably rude dogs and wants her own space. Help her achieve this and she will not need to snap etc.

If she is pushed into the situation she is not happy with then she may have to up her response (and may appear aggressive) so do let her have space. She does not need to play with other dogs to be a happy dog.

I have wcs collies and lab. The collies and wcs are way too busy to want to bother with other dogs. They are focussed on me and the dogs they dont know just get in the way and they will do anything to avoid interacting .

The young lab however is another story......sigh

Socialisation really is learning to walk past dogs. I will let my pup have a quick sniff then call on. No onlead meetings at all as it’s very hard to get them right.

My pup is cautious of big, rough dogs. So we try to avoid them as best we can. I’ll also pick her up if she looks stressed. It’s my problem to solve. Not hers.

Work on keeping her with you on walks but it sounds like she is doing well.

I strongly avoid interaction with other dogs. I work on focus on me. My dogs have a few carefully selected friends

As others have said, she doesn’t need to meet other dogs, good socialisation is about learning to ignore them.
Be careful you aren’t causing a ball obsession. Fetch is very bad for dogs joints, especially puppies. Play other games with her instead and work on building a lovely relationship with her.

My boy will happily sit/lie next to other dogs or walk alongside them on the lead, but actively avoids off-lead dogs. He has a couple of dog-friends who belong to family and friends, but really isn’t interested in socialising with random dogs in the park.

I’ve had plenty of sociable dogs in the past and they were allowed to mix with appropriate off-lead dogs, but it just isn’t his nature. They were all socialised/raised in the same way by me, he just prefers his own company and to be with his people, I think other dogs just get in the way of his mission to sniff every square inch of the park.

We’ve done a lot of work around him focussing on me when asked, which is helpful, but he’s only little, so if there are boisterous off-lead dogs that are clearly not under their owners’ control and he looks worried, I have no qualms about picking him up and removing him from the situation. (I have trained a signal for picking him up though, I don’t just grab him if he doesn’t want to come up.)

I wish my puppy (20 weeks tomorrow) didn't want to say hi to every dog. We didn't even get out and about until 13 weeks, and certainly didn't make a bee line for other dogs once we were out, so I can only guess her love of dogs is her nature. Delightful to see her playing in the right circumstances, but I'm not sure we'll ever nail lead free walks :(

I've noticed (most - we've met a couple of playful ones) spaniels are only a step down from collies in aloofness towards other dogs in favour of owner and/or ball obsession. So maybe you just have a typical spaniel?

@Sapin why is fetch bad for joints? Is it the same level bad for all dogs? Obviously there is such a huge body shape variation. I've been encouraging fetch this last week to provide a distraction when other dogs are about and it's probably the only thing that's really helped so far. She's half lurcher and absolutely loves to run. Running after the ball doesn't seem that different in body movement to when she meets a dog she can run with. Or am I missing something?

Have you tried engage disengage training? Also called Look At That or Click the Trigger? It really is very effective. So the idea is they look at the scary or exciting thing, then re engage with you. So to begin with they look then you say 'yes', or 'good' or whatever your marker word is (I use a clicker or 'yesssss!' if I don't have it on me) then feed a treat. See thing = treat. Eventually they will hear the marker and look at you for the snacks. Then they will see thing then look at you before you can mark them! It teaches them to look then focus back on you. Much more powerful than traditional training because playing is much more rewarding than anything you can give them.

Loads of info out there on it. To a point it's natural for puppies to be interested in everything and you are going to have fails (but use the long line in potentially tricky situations - I do) but laying these kind of foundations does pay dividends when they mature. It does feel you are going nowhere to begin with but you are not. You are paying in to the future savings account so to speak. No training is ever wasted.

@Sapin

Thanks sapin... my partner has also warned me about this ball obsession because we can see it happening. We have cut her walks down to 25mins each on two walks and no balls just now because she's looking for the ball.

Yeah fetching is fine @Luckycat1 but to much fetching on pups is bad for the joints and to much exercise isn't good for the pups when they are trying to get bigger they are burning to many calls that's why am sure my vet said stick to 5mins for each months they are old on two walks

Thanks everyone I feel a bit better i do work on her training so will add on focusing on me as she's not really bothered with other dogs will happily let them sniff them and she will happily walk away and not bother with them xx

An example of how good it can be was we were walking along a fenced in track. Puppy off lead. Lots of check ins. No people or dogs around. There is one small cottage along the track. I've walked past it countless times with my last dog. Pup was trotting along then stopped and trotted up to a very rickety fence - something had caught her attention. Sheep! She could easily have gone through as she's a terrier - considering it's a well used dog walking area I was surprised to see them there in the cottage garden so exposed. Pup looked at sheep...then looked at me! So a huge 'Yesssssss gooooooddddddd giiiirlllll Pupppppyyyyy Naaammmeeee' and she came flying back to me, back on lead and we won't be going back again without the harness and long line!

Playing fetch onto a moving ball where the dog tends to pounce and turn quickly is horrendous for all dogs joints. From their toes limbs joints and back. Ball flingers should be banned! Also the adrenalin rush of the chase just hypes up the dog and is not a nice state for them to be in.

Releasing a dog onto a still ball - so have your dog on a wait and send them out is better but doing too much of this also damages joints if done too much. However a couple of formal retrieves back to hand on a walk is fine.

However you have a spaniel and ball obsession is in their genes. Use it to your advantage.

Hide the ball and send your dog off to scent it and find it. Let the dog parade around and carry the ball - telling them how awesome they are. No need to chuck it for them to chase.

Scenting for balls will tick so many of the dogs natural predatory motor patterns but not knacker their bones,

Start with easy searches, pretend to hide it in several locations and then send them to search. Build up to hiding it under leaves, in long grass ( obviously risk assess first) behind trees, even put it a bit higher up etc. Watch your dogs tail as they search, this is pure happiness to a spaniel.

I always tell people that ball flingers are sponsored by Metacam!

They make an excellent tool for remote treat giving when training the agility tunnel with food motivated beginner dogs ;)

@Luckycat1
info here about fetch and how it negatively impacts dogs
https://caninearthritis.org/article/on-throwing-balls/

Thank you for the link @Sapin I just read it and now feel terrible about throwing the ball! But am glad to have the info. They said there are other things you could do with your dog but didn't give many suggestions. You mentioned hiding and scenting earlier. I'm just wondering if it's OK for dogs to not run much then? As the alternatives (walks, searching for things) seem more sedentary than I would have thought ideal, but maybe I'm wrong and dogs don't really need to run? My pup is a mix of greyhound, collie, gsd and husky so 3/4 known for different kinds of running. She seems to love it, but maybe she's actually stressed by it? Sorry for the long reply and questions, I'm new to dog ownership and really appreciated your insight.

@Newpeep I haven't tried engage disengage training, but it sounds really effective, thank you for explaining it so clearly. I've been working on having her look at me more in general (wish i had started from the very beginning but you live you learn) and we're getting there, so it sounds a good next step. Glad it worked so well with the sheep!

@Luckycat1 dont panic! We’re all here to learn. I also have lurchers and they do need to run for their mental health - it’s what they are bred for. With the ball chasing the strain on the joints comes largely from the braking. You could have your dog run towards you for a massive fuss/ reward/ tug game. I have two dogs and they like to chase one another but run out of steam pretty quick. With the ball it can be over stimulating mentally and they can’t just stop if you keep throwing it. So running is fine/ excessive chasing in a line / fast braking etc without a warm up not fine.

Thanks again @Sapin that's so helpful. Seems like the kind of running that's best is probably with a friend then, which she does get if we're lucky enough to bump into certain dogs, but I think I'll try to be a bit more organised with dog meet ups. It's a good point that she just keeps going with the ball but will stop and lie down alongside another dog once they've played enough.