Problems on the Leash

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KWebs
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Oct 14, 2008 3:59 pm
Location: Philadelphia

Problems on the Leash

Post by KWebs »

Hello Everyone,

About 4 weeks ago, I adopted a 7 month old mixed-breed puppy from a local shelter. I don't know very much about his background, except that he was brought to the shelter with his parents, who I am assuming he had lived with since birth. I suspect (although I don't know for sure) that he was kept in a crate for much of his first 6 months of life. Cooper is a very good dog - very eager to please and a quick learner. We have 2 other dogs that live in the house and he gets along very well with them.

I have been walking him every day since I brought him home, and he has been doing fairly well. Here is the problem - he is very reactive to strange dogs and lunges and pulls toward them when we walk past. Sometimes he barks or whines and sometimes he doesn't make any noise. It happens when we are walking past a dog that is in a back or side yard or when someone else is walking a dog past us. I have read a lot about what to do (distraction, etc.) when this happens as a dog is walking past us, but I don't know what to do when we are walking past the dog. I will sometimes turn and go the other way before he reacts, but in my neighborhood it is very hard to avoid every dog in a yard and sometimes I don't always see them before he does. I am not convinced he does it out of aggression, but I'm not sure it's entirely friendly either. Once he gets going, he gets so "wound up" that nothing distracts him, so I've been just saying "let's go" and walking him past the dog as he's pulling. I know that's probably not the best thing to do, but I'm not sure what I should be doing. After we are past the dog, I make him sit or "watch me" to re-direct his attention and we continue on.

I would love to hear any advice you have about how to handle this. I am afraid to let him go up and greet strange dogs, even through a fence, since it is impossible to predict how a dog or it's owner will react. He has met a few strange dogs that he has not reacted to, and of course the bigger the fuss the other dog is making the more he reacts. Should I even expect him to be able to eventually walk past a barking dog and not have such a strong reaction to it? Although I've lived with dogs most of my life, Cooper is the first dog I've been solely responsible for and I want to teach him well from the start.

Thank you very much!

-- Kristin
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