Beach - busy with dogs all a bit much?

Hi,

Good Friday and we're away with our dog in Dorset (UK) we've only had her 3 weeks, she's a lab about 9 months old and had to be re-homed due to unpleasant circumstances which mean we don't know a great deal about her previous life and training although, generally, she recalls well so long as there aren't distractions and even if there are she will come eventually.

Well we went to the beech today and it went rather badly, off the lead she didn't want to recall. So we kept her on a retracting lead but every dog she saw she pulled and barked and barked and jumped, and barked..... She was on a non pull harness, I know that those she got to greet she just sniffed and went on her way but we need her to not go berserk when she sees other dogs.

When we 1st got her she would bark and try to reach other dogs but I thought we had gotten over that by saying no and praising when she was well behaved, however at home its a quieter environment and one only meets other dogs occasionally, today was much busier.

How should I best approach this situation or am I expecting a bit much at this age and our level of experience with her?

Have a look here:

Generally most of what looks like on lead aggression is barrier frustration.

The beach is a great place for training a dog (everything smells the same so for scent mad dogs it is almost sterile).

But this "sterility" can make the sight of other dogs all the more attractive as they are the ONLY thing of interest.


http://flyingdogpress.com/content/view/33/97/


http://www.clickersolutions.com/arti...ensitizing.htm

http://www.clickersolutions.com/arti...aggression.htm

Thanks for the reply, very interesting and useful articles. I've bookmarked the sites they are on for future reference.

I'm not sure that it was aggression it seemed more like excitement, but I guess the same thing applies about desensitising.

I guessed that my reaction wasn't good and those sites confirm it.

The approach is the same, as I said, barrier frustration looks, to the uninitiated like aggression (and provokes the same response from most owners and dogs).

But if you think you need help why not consult a good trainer?


Try here:

http://cleverdogcompany-sw.com/

http://www.talkdogwalkdog.com/first.html

Not sure how near you are to either?

HTH

I'm dealing with the same sort of thing. My 11 month old Lab basically has a tantrum when unable to get to another dog. Whether on leash or when he's on the balcony and sees another dog. He's perfectly fine when he can go to them but unfortunately many people do think it's aggression.

He also exhibits the same behaviour if he sees me getting ready to go out, thinks he's going for a walk and then finds out he isn't.

Thanks, for confirming that the approach is the same. At this stage the problem clearly lies with my reaction and thanks to those links I have some good pointers on how to tackle it. I intend reading the entirety of those sites as well, they look great resources.

She comes to work with me and behaves beautifully in the office, however time to get to training classes would be tricky and none are "near" but if I can't make proper progress on my own then equally there are some which are not ridiculously far.

You should really try and get to some training classes they can work wonders SB will know of any good ones near you.

Young dogs have an inbuilt need to interact with other dogs. It`s how they learn about being a dog. They need to learn correct communication, manners, what dogs to avoid, how to initiate play etc - and you can`t teach them any of that. Nor will they learn it in most training classes.
I would ask someone with a well-socialised dog if your dog can walk / play with them. This way your dog learns good manners from an expert - another dog.

Well our walk today was much better, much more like at home. We did a coastal path walk with plenty of other people walking their dogs.

She did react a bit to some dogs but I was much more chilled and she seemed to be too, there was very little barking but when she did telling her to come, sit or do something else worked well.

I think that there were just so many dogs, everywhere, at the beech yesterday and the more she reacted the more I did so it just escalated the situation.

We do need to do some more socialising with other dogs as she just wants to run up to and jump all over every dog she sees, off lead.

Good, I would concentrate on teaching your dog a reliable recall and down/sti/stand.

If you have both of those, problem sorted.

You will be more confident and your dog will look to YOU for permission to approach other dogs.

Many dogs (and owners) object to having a dog jump all over them.