Ddog can smell the woman along the road before he sees her and goes ballistic - wtf

[SirChenjins]

This is getting ridiculous now - what do I do?? She's an innocuous looking older woman who walks a lot locally and for some reason he absolutely hates her - goes absolutely mental at the end of his lead, and this is often before he sees her. I had it this morning - we were in a small wooded area and all of a sudden he completely lost the plot. Continued to do so as we were walking the short distance back to the car and who did we see in the distance? She must have passed by the entrance to the woods a couple of minutes earlier.

DH is just back from a walk and had similar - older woman in the distance, ddog sniffing about in the grass and then, bam. Plenty more examples like this.

If we happen to meet her face to face on a path unexpectedly then all hell breaks loose - his reaction is really extreme. I know she had a dog that was so reactive he couldn't be walked, but I think that dog is dead now.

How on earth do I stop it?

Can you speak to her without ddog being present? If yes then ask if she would be willing to help retrain ddog since it's probably all related to her reactive dog. Lots of treats and yummy hot dog sausages would be involved and possibly a towel with her scent on to begin with.

I feel a bit odd approaching a complete stranger to ask for her help to train him tbh. I've tried loads of high value treats the moment we see her, altering our walks as much as possible and immediately walking the other way before ddog sees her - it's the fact that he can now smell her even though he can't see her and then reacts massively.

I think you are rewarding the wrong behaviour if you are giving treats when he goes mad. I would try stopping dead the moment he starts , ignoring him by turning away from him, then tell him to sit still without looking at him. The moment he does, treat! Repeat until he stays calm

No, I don't give them when he goes mad - I use them as a diversion if I see her before he does and I can't immediately turn away and walk in the opposite direction. It's impossible to get him to engage, he's too trigger stacked at that point to get him to sit.

The problem is that he's smelling her before we even see her - the last few times I haven't even been aware she's in the vicinity until he goes ballistic. His sense of smell must be amazing.

Maybe he’s on to something?
has she had her patio relaid recently?

😂😂

Dogs do have very strong sense of smell. It's crazy what they can detect.

My ex partners dog started behaving strange around his grandmother. She had cancer diagnosed a few months later.

I wonder if the lady is on certain medication, recreational drugs or alcohol for or maybe she has a medical condition that your dog is aware of and reacts like this. My dog is reactive to certain dogs, but we’ve yet to meet a human that he goes mad at.

My dog is like this with a man who walks up and down our road, no idea what the root cause is. She even started when he was out of sight. Not sure it is fixable in our case tbh

My dog used to do this with postmen. I swear he must have been able to smell the letters because it wasn't just ours, it could be any.

You're going to have to befriend the woman, find out more details about her life and then report back to us. It's the only viable answer.

My dog hates my neighbours son they are elderly and he often pops in and out, dog goes bananas he can be pottering about the garden,and I swear he smells him driving up the street ! Some dogs are just picky i probably would turn your dog around when you are walking him.away from her,

It could be this, i often wonder re the neighbours son because he has a specific illness my dog is usually stupidly friendly towards everyone except this man !

I'm on it @NoviceScoutMum!

I never thought about medication etc - that's a really good suggestion, it might very well be the case. I do a lot of scent work with him and he's really good at it, so maybe he's picking up something. I should introduce tenners into our games and get him to sniff out the money.

I always walk him away from her if I see her (usually with him spinning like the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character at the end of his lead) but it's when I don't see her that it becomes difficult.

Maybe she’s a ghost lol.

Poor woman just going about her day and Tanzanian devil passes by 😀

I know I have apologised profusely and she's been very gracious - probably the result of having a very reactive dog herself - but still mortifying.

Fortunately he's a 10kg cockapoo so he's well under control on the end of the lead, but still.

Yeah it isn't great when they are reactive. You probably feel worse than she does.

Yes i was thinking that!!

I've just asked him - but he's taking the fifth

Cutest dog.

Interesting the illness/ medication point. Maybe that is it with mine and the poor guy who walks in our street

@SirChenjins Your dog looks guilty about something....maybe the woman knows his secret past and he's scared of the truth getting out!!😁

😂😂 he does a bit, doesn't he?! I reckon he knows more than he's letting on.

He is saying nothing is he but she knows what she did 😀

😂😂 I'm starting to feel a lot less guilty about his behaviour now!

DH is just heading out on a walk with him - I will report back on our devil dog.