My Dog is REALLY Friendly

When I am out walking with my dog(s) I hear “my dog is REALLY friendly” all the time from others who are out walking their dog.  These people are not suggesting to me that their dog is merely friendly.  They are suggesting that we should allow our dogs to greet and say “Hi!” as if they are children.  I am always the one who says, “I am sorry… but I do not allow my dogs to greet when on leash” and I keep walking.  I know, from their faces, that they think I’m a snobby b&%$#. Why am I so rude? Do I not understand that this is how it’s done? We go out for a walk and when we see another dog we SHOULD allow our dog to go up to the other dog to socialize and make friends, right? NO!  And I’ll explain why in this blog.

The other scenario I hear about, when people have a puppy, is that as soon as the puppy has had all of their shots they can’t wait to begin “socializing” in the neighborhood with all of the fun and friendly dogs out there.  I cringe as I hear this because I have rehabilitated dogs who have had things happen on these socializing walks that have changed them forever. I have heard plenty of stories from dog owners about generalized aggression toward other dogs which, when sorted out, likely goes back to unfortunate incidences that happened while on walks. Let me explain…

A dog greets another dog by sniffing butts and privates.  Just keeping it real here. This is what they find acceptable in their canine world which is, thankfully, not our world.  I’ll draw a word picture for you.  You are out for a walk with your dog on leash.  Your neighbor comes along toward you with their dog, also on a leash. You both decide to let the dogs “”socialize.  The first thing the dogs want to do is to sniff each other.  Now, as humans, we think that isn’t right for heaven’s sakes, so we direct the dogs not to do that by controlling their desire to move this way or that. In so doing we are impeding both dogs from what comes quite naturally.  If you allow the dogs to sniff, as nature tells them to, and, in no time leashes and dogs are tangled up. You’re likely to have a fight between the dogs because they can’t move freely.

Now let me go on with this picture.  The next time you go for a walk with your dog and that same neighbor is also out walking their dog. Both of you are going to think it was the other dog that started the fight because, “certainly it wasn’t my dog that started the fight”.  So, as you continue to walk toward each other the tension you are feeling regarding the last exchange builds. Thee anticipated negative exchange between these two dogs is traveling right down the leash like an electrical current.  The dog feels it as anxiety and adrenaline and starts to tense up, anticipating something bad.  Now you come face to face with the other dog and owner and both dogs are amped up from what they have been picking up from you and within seconds one begins to growl and likely an altercation isn’t far off.  How could this happen?  Your dog is so wonderful at home.  Never growls at anyone.  You begin to panic thinking you have an aggressive dog on your hands. You don’t really but what you do have is a lack of understanding that this all could have been avoided by never letting your dog be put in an unnatural (for the dog) position in the first place.

Now let’s talk about that person with a new puppy who thinks that socializing the puppy is done by walking on leash around the neighborhood allowing the puppy to run up to every dog it meets and “greets” in whatever puppy format it chooses.  Believe me, it won’t be long before you wish you never started this behavior and here’s why.  First of all, your puppy is young and unaware, so some older dogs will give it a pass until that magical age of about 7-8 months old when sexual maturity hits.  At this point, mature dogs will expect your puppy will have gained some awareness of decorum and etiquette.  But, if your puppy has continually been allowed to rush up to other dogs, it will continue greeting everyone in the wild, crazy puppy manner it always has.  At long last, that once totally accepting older dog has had enough and decides to teach your puppy a valuable lesson by biting the puppy or putting the puppy forcibly to the ground.  When all is said and done, your friendship with the neighbor is bruised but your puppy is likely fine and the older dog has said enough is enough. Let’s continue with this picture. The next time you are on a walk, and you see that same neighbor and their dog, what are you thinking?  Your puppy was traumatized, the neighbor’s dog is aggressive and oh my gosh, what the heck is going to happen now when we meet?  I encourage you to refer to the previous paragraph.

The third scenario I want you to think about is this. Perhaps you have encouraged your puppy to rush around and say “Hi!” to all of the dogs in the neighborhood .  The puppy weighs 10 pounds. It’s no problem you think. It’s what you have to do to socialize the puppy.  Now, fast forward and that little 10 pound puppy is now a 75 pound brute! You’ve spent the first 10 months of the dog’s life teaching (by not teaching) lots of bad behaviors and now you’re out for a walk.  Here comes that neighbor again and your dog lurches into a full gallop, as it has always has, running toward that other dog.  Suddenly you have become a kite on the end of the leash and your shoulder is yanked from its intended part of your body. You are frustrated and upset with your dog, your shoulder hurts bad and you pray no other neighbors just witnessed what happened.  Reading this can you see where this started?  Your dog doesn’t know that, now he is 75 pounds and  the rules are different. Bottom line is, don’t be that person who makes these mistakes.  However, if that ship has already sailed I can help to fix the various problems that come from all of these scenarios.   Let’s get together to work on it. Click HERE to sign up for training.