MEETING HUMANS AND DOGS ON A WALK
Question: How does my dog meet another dog on the walk?
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Answer: THEY DON’T
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Two of the most common reasons why dogs become leash reactive towards other dogs is 1/ They are encouraged to get mentally aroused/excited about/seek out meeting other dogs on leash without being taught how to heel calmly and properly and how to stay tuned into the handler and not fixate on distractions (other dogs!) 2/ When they have been enabled/allowed/encouraged to excitedly seek out other dogs on leash that ‘meeting’ has gone horribly wrong.
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The way to avoid creating leash reactivity is through calm and polite leash training, advocating for your dog, holding them accountable for their calm and polite leash manners and saying ‘NO’ to on leash meetings.
Advocate for your dog when someone tries to let their dog approach your dog without your consent. This is SUPER common and a lot of folks struggle with how to advocate for their dog without conflict. The vast majority of the time, you’ll encounter reasonable and understanding people who will graciously disengage and control their dog. But, sometimes people aren’t so understanding and they believe that their sense of entitlement to interact with your dog is more important than your wishes or dog’s well being and in those cases you will have to be more assertive in advocating for your dog. (I’m a fan of ‘My dog doesn’t want to meet, thank you!’ And then I simply walk away.). Being a strong leader for your dog isn’t always easy, but it is always necessary and sometimes it requires some broad shoulders to carry the unpleasant stuff so that your dog doesn’t have to.
Question: How do I greet a human friend on the walk?
A lot of folks struggle with advocating for their dog and how to deal with people and other dogs while also advocating for the dog at your side and holding him accountable for his polite manners on the structured leash walk. When greeting a human friend, we will both put our dogs into a sit/stay and keep ourselves an appropriate distance apart before chatting... dogs are not pressuring one another nor entering one another’s personal space. If we want calm, respectful and polite behaviour from our dog towards other people and dogs, then we must teach them how to hold their composure and their commands and not undermine that work by allowing unwanted pressure or repeated over excitement from other dogs and people entering their personal space.