It's so embarrassing when we're out...

[Elle]

Harry used to ignore other dogs, and not be bothered either way, but on Sunday, there were more ppl about than usual. So... Harry and I were having a lovely long walk along the sea front, but every single time he sees another dog (i.e every other minute!), he hides behind my legs. He was even scared of a Yorkie who just wanted to be friendly... how seriously embarrassing is that!

I don't know how to teach him not to be afraid of other dogs as the only dogs in my area are all farm dogs and I don't have any 'doggy' ppl friends who live near, let alone anyone with a Chi. The only dog training places are nearly an hour away and what with my recent health probs, I can't really go that route at the moment.

It all stems from where we live... i.e. in the middle of nowhere. Our next door neighbours on one side are half a mile away, but the other side are a bit closer as their barn conversion and stables used to be part of our property (before we moved here). The trouble is, they have 6 really hideous dogs (lurchers & whippets mostly) who are so badly trained, even I am genuinely scared of them. The dogs they used to own were lovely, and just used to wag their tails at me and want to lick me, not savage their teeth and snarl at me like this pack do. What's even sadder, is the 2 old dogs used to be friendly, but have turned nasty since the 2 pairs of young vicious ones joined the pack.

Anyway, my plan is to take Harry down to the sea front every day, where he will come into contact with more pet dogs (instead of just farm dogs) but how should I treat this? I'm assuming that if I pander to his being scared, that it will only encourage it, and so I'm planning on doing what I did the other day, and just trying to calm him and not pick him up, but let him see the other dog's not going to hurt him.

Is this the right way to handle it, do you think?

[Sarah]

Yup just socialise him as much as you can! If you have a Ringcraft class take him there if it's not to far lots of people taketheir dogs to mine just to socialise them

[Elle]

I'd love to take him to a ringcraft class Sarah, but my nearest one is over an hour away I can't wait to move to be honest, but I doubt that will happen much before the end of the year.

[Sarah]

Oh yeah I suppose that's a bit far mines 40 mins and that's enough for me Terence is one like 10 mins closer but I hate it there

[Lucy]

I think your plan for a daily walk along the seafront is the best idea. If you can, try and talk to as many dog owners as possible so that Harry isn't just seeing them and walking past but can actually stop, have a sniff and stand with them for 10mins or so.

Its embarrassing, Gambit is still like it

[tallulahcouture]

hello
I can sympathise, as Lula is wary of bigger dogs and random objects (trolleys, kids bikes, heavy crowds) We do a lot of work to combat this. We go to training club and have daily dog walks in parks, road walking, in town....all the busiest places. Despite this she is still sometimes nervous.

Our trainers are all about positive reinforcement and what you are suggesting about daily sea front walks etc is great as it de-sensitizes Harry against all the 'scary' things.

At our training we have to reward and praise when Lula negotiates a scary obstacle without any reaction and try to act casual when approaching somthing we know she will react to as it transfers to the dog and they'll will pick up that maybe there is something to be nervous about.

Good luck with the training...i'm sure it'll be no time at all and Harry will be his chilled self again xxx

[Elle]

I didn't realize Gambit was like that Lucy, I just assumed because he lived with other dogs (albeit Chis) that he would be fine.

[Elle]

Apr 19, 2011 14:11:56 GMT tallulahcouture said:

hello
I can sympathise, as Lula is wary of bigger dogs and random objects (trolleys, kids bikes, heavy crowds) We do a lot of work to combat this. We go to training club and have daily dog walks in parks, road walking, in town....all the busiest places. Despite this she is still sometimes nervous.

Our trainers are all about positive reinforcement and what you are suggesting about daily sea front walks etc is great as it de-sensitizes Harry against all the 'scary' things.

At our training we have to reward and praise when Lula negotiates a scary obstacle without any reaction and try to act casual when approaching somthing we know she will react to as it transfers to the dog and they'll will pick up that maybe there is something to be nervous about.

Good luck with the training...i'm sure it'll be no time at all and Harry will be his chilled self again xxx

Thanks. The sad thing is that Harry was a fiesty little guy when we got him and not even a vacuum cleaner right next to him has ever bothered him, even now. It's just the neighbour's dogs that started this behaviour, sadly.