My Dog's Friendly!!!
To many dog owners hearing this phrase can send shivers down their spine. As a responsible owner of an "Awkward But Awesome Dog", young pup or nervous rescued dog, when you are preparing to venture out for your walk you may be stressing about what may happen or how your dog will react. So there you are minding your own business and your dog trotting along on lead next to you when all of a sudden a whirlwind of flying fur comes hurtling towards you, the owner of this menace may or may not be in the vicinity. You look around frantically trying to control your dog who is spinning on the lead, lunging, barking or cowering away screaming in fear at the loose dog, and then you hear it "It's OK he's friendly!!" The truth is that in most cases these owners are unable to control their dogs and they don't have a reliable recall, so they let the dog be off lead to do what they want.
But let's not dwell on them, how can you be your dog's superhero? Remember 1 Bad Experience can over ride 100 Positive ones. You are your dogs' protector. You don't greet every person in the supermarket, so why should people expect their dog to meet every dog on a walk? Train your dog to focus on you or on a toy.
Create a "Bubble" with yourself and your dog, keep the conversation going between the 2 of you, maintain eye contact with your dog, if you look at the other dog or owner you are inviting an interaction, avoid eye contact and block with your body.
Train 2 Steps Back for focus. Have your dog sit in front of you then with a few treats in your hand take 2 big steps backwards, as the dog moves towards you lift your hands slightly to encourage a sit, reward close to your body and repeat. Once your dog is coming and sitting in front of you quickly and staying there focused on you, then you can walk forwards with the dog next to you and suddenly take 2 steps back, this signals to him to come and sit in front of you, reward and repeat. This exercise allows you to control your dog in many situations and it puts the dogs' back towards any oncoming dogs which signals to them that it's not their business.www.Awesome-dog.com917758404Gail Skinner
