# Maisy meeting new dogs on walks...



## MiniPoo (Mar 6, 2014)

I don't know what type of collar you are using, but you might consider adding a halti collar. Either use 2 leashes or tether the halti to a neck collar. Read up on the gentle leader and halti to see if that might work for you.

I had a 45 lb PWD who adored children and of course you can't have him jumping on children. I used the halti during his first year and he was no problem. After he matured I did not need it.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

I have this problem from time to time, as well, Shellie. It can be so frustrating - especially the judgement from passersby who choose to interpret Maisy's playfulness for misbehavior or even aggressiveness (I hear that from time to time).

I guess, strictly speaking, it is a kind of misbehavior, since our poodles need to be able to walk nicely on leash and ignore distractions, but hey they are still puppies too! So, I'd cut Maisy some slack there as far as letting the judgement of others making you anxious about her behavior.

I'd approach it as normal behavior which nevertheless needs to be channeled into more socially appropriate channels. 

It seems that Maisy isn't going to respond much to treats when she is highly excited - and I totally get that, as Dulcie is the same way (in fact, she rarely responds to treats at all). That makes things more challenging for you of course.

Something I am having a little more success with lately is some intensive play as close to home as possible before the walking part of the outing. I live int heh city and this is challenging to pull off, but I have found that a couple of quiet streets over, there is a park where we can play some fetch. If you have a yard or a park nearby, I'd say start with an in the yard/park strenuous game of something Maisy enjoys until the initial surge of WALK TIME! energy has been somewhat expended.

During the playtime, I would do some basic training drills. Have her sit, wait, stay, down etc. before throwing the ball/swinging the flirt stick/whatever game she enjoys -- then reward her by continuing the play. I often offer a little regular type of treat like half a zukes or something and sometimes she takes it and sometimes doesn't bother with it. Lots of praise too of course.

Now here is the extra step I use with Dulcie. It's messy but it has been working. My highest value treats (frozen, chopped up cooked pieces of chicken r beef) only come out in emergencies and for training recall. It also helps if the outing is BEFORE a meal, so she is hungrier.

So, in between the games of fetch and after lots of repetitions of Sit, Wait, Stay and so on, followed by more fetch -- I then put her in a sit and wait and then I walk about 20 yards away and go behind a tree. Then I shout OK, Over here Dulcie!" in her recall voice and she dashes to me (we've done it for months) and I reward her with a delicious rapidly thawing lump of beef or chicken from the baggie I have secreted in my pocket plus tons of excited praise. Immediately we go back to fetch (more reward!) and the bag of amazing treats is out of sight again. I might do that one more time. 

Then, when she is playing fetch and coming back to me and sees another dog and I call the same recall -- when she races back to me, WOW the amazing treat is produced again and tons of praise. what a good girl for coming when another dog was nearby!

By the time we are heading back for home, while she is still going to ignore the most ordinary treats, she now knows that I have the thawing (and a bit messy by this time) beef or chicken in my pocket. Walking on leash on the sidewalk past other dogs is much harder than ignoring other dogs in the park while playing fetch. So as we walk home, I talk to her a lot, keep asking for eye contact (not just when other dogs approach) and offer a steady stream of little tiny tidbits of the frozen meat to keep that focus on me as we pass other dogs closely.

It is a work in progress. Dulcie was better in the spring and then backslid over the summer while I was preoccupied with some intense family business and not training as consistently. It's interesting though that she has improved again very quickly with a lot more attention paid to this issue. All of the above was mostly to train for the lunging to play with other dogs issue, believe it or not! Though it all obviously was great reinforcement training for the other skills, too.

My point is that by doing the other training first and letting her know you have something extra special in your pocket - as well as tiring her out a bit first - you can help her to succeed at passing other dogs while on leash with a bit more calmness. She is already tired and had lots of play and she also knows that there is a lovely treat that just might be more tempting than trying to play with a new dog on the street while tethered to you (which, let's face it, can't actually be very rewarding - especially after a great playtime off leash or dragging a leash!).

So that's my story and hopefully something in there will be helpful to you! It sounds to me like Maisy is a very friendly pup with good socialization to other dogs, so that is a positive thing to bear in mind when you are frustrated!


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## Shellie (Jun 3, 2015)

*MiniPoo*... Thank you! I will definitely look into some other collars. She's currently sporting a cheapie Walmart collar with a basic 6 foot lead that I usually fold in half while we're walking.

*nifty*... Wow, great information! You really seemed to understand everything I was saying in my post. I will definitely try wearing her out a little bit first. Usually we go straight to the walk after I get home from work, which I can see now that she is probably in an excited state because, well, Mom is home


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Shellie said:


> Usually we go straight to the walk after I get home from work, which I can see now that she is probably in an excited state because, well, Mom is home


Sounds like that is it for sure! 

Good luck with the new plan!


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## ericwd9 (Jun 13, 2014)

Another way:
When another dog and handler are approaching, ask if your dog can meet and greet their dog. If not, have your dog sit and stay sit beside you and treat when the other dog has passed. If yes, have your dog sit and stay sit beside you and allow the other dog to approach. when close by allow your dog to meet and greet with no reward needed. (the meeting is reward enough) Do the same when greeting humans and if needed practice the sit and stay sit while walking alone first (with treats) In time your dog will sit and wait each time you meet anyone. It becomes routine. and no treats will be required.
Eric


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## lisasgirl (May 27, 2010)

Oh, Shellie, I do feel your pain. In our case we don't have a yard, which means potty breaks happen in the designated "dog area" in our apartment complex. We are only just barely getting to a point where Archie can relieve himself while there's another dog out there at the same time, and even then we have to put a good amount of distance between them or he's so distracted/excited that he forgets all about peeing. Luckily our apartment is right next to that spot, so it's not a big deal if we have to leave and come back a few minutes later. But still, it's very inconvenient.

Anyway, I agree that wearing him out at the beginning of a walk helps a ton. His reaction to other dogs at the beginning of a walk vs the end of a walk (plus a little off-leash play time, typically) is worlds different. Building some training and behaviors into the beginning of a walk helps too - it's like it helps him remember that he has to turn his brain on. So we start off with lots of close walking, sitting to open doors/gates/before crossing streets, etc.

When we pass other dogs, I either ask if he can greet, or I briskly say, "Let's go!" or "Keep walking!" And then shorten up the leash and walk really quickly for a minute. The sudden change in pace helps break up his attention. He's getting to the point where I can usually give him the cue word and he'll turn away himself and just keep walking now.

If other people step off to the side first, do you feel comfortable saying, "Go ahead - we're working on training" or something and waving them on by? I need to work on this myself, especially asking humans to help Archie practice polite greetings. But it could help.

We have to pull out the _really_ high-value treats when on a walk, by the way. Stuff he never gets inside. None of the inside treats will cut it because strangers and dogs are just so much more interesting, but he can be enticed by a piece of a hot dog if I make it really easy for him to get it. One of the training classes we went to actually advocated feeding treats continuously at first while the dog sat calmly for people walking by, just a steady stream of treats the whole time they were sitting calmly and a dog or person was nearby, then slowly easing off so he eventually gets just one or even no treats for sitting calmly. Eventually it becomes a habit.


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## Critterluvr (Jul 28, 2014)

I personally use the Freedom No Pull harness and it works wonderfully, no pressure on the neck and makes it so much easier to control your dog.
You can attach the lead to the martingale ring on the back or on the chest or even both for more control.....suchas when you are passing other dogs. 

I too have used a halti and it works well too but my dogs hated it, the nose is a very sensitive area.


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## kayla_baxter (Jul 17, 2015)

I generally don't allow on leash greetings, so I focus mostly on default attention and impulse control around other dogs. I use Look At That methods, click and treat for looking at anything any everything that could be a distraction. Falling leaves, strange noise, dogs, people, etc. the second my pup turns his head towards something I mark it and reward. He gets so used to being rewarded that when he sees something distracting he automatically looks at me. Then I can ask him for another behaviour without him just leaping towards every little thing that distracts him. Fletcher is 7 months and I've only had him 3 1/2 weeks and we can now easily walk by other dogs on the sidewalk. I also have him at the pet store with me 40 hours a week so I use every dog that comes in as a training opportunity, but he only gets to meet the dogs I know are stable and only if he's calm and polite first. 


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## BrooklynBonnie (Jan 16, 2015)

Similar to what a couple others have posted, we had to just get as many walks in as possible where we did not stop for anyone/any dog. Mochi would spin, leap, jump, yelp, shriek, and bark whenever she saw a person or dog behind or ahead of us on walks. She used to refuse to move until they got to us. It was really hard to get anywhere with her during this phase, but gradually I started by avoiding busy streets, and if I saw someone down a street I would purposely turn that way so Mochi always had someone in front to start. If someone ended up behind us, I'd turn of that street ASAP so they'd be out of sight.

But what worked best was consistently saying, "No!" and "Walk, walk walk!" whenever Mochi seemed like she wanted to leap at or stop for another dog or person. I always made her walk on the opposite side of the distraction (she's really good with the "curb!" command so she automatically moves to whatever side she's not on when I say this). A couple times we disappointed other people and their dogs as we zoomed past, but I would call out, "Sorry, we're training not to stop for everyone!" and now I can say that since probably 6.5 or 7 months old, Mochi is reliably focused when we walk. If she sees a dog she is noticeably interested and sometimes pulls a little to catch up to them, but I gently remind with spaced No's or "we're walking!" and she seems content to just look as we pass. She got it through her head that we're not stopping on walks. But the few times other dogs insist on greeting I allow it because she's so good afterwards with not stopping that I believe it's not causing any problem.

Sitting and treating never worked for Mochi either. She would sit until they got close then she went crazy and would not listen for anything, and treats were more often knocked out of my hand than anything but she'd sit and take it just before and just after the distraction was closest - but not during. No matter the value of the treat!

Good luck!


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## Shellie (Jun 3, 2015)

Thank you, everyone, for your advise! Since treat-training wasn't working, we decided to try a gentle leader collar. That has helped tremendously! She still gets excited when she sees other dogs, but she isn't quite as rowdy and it's much easier to correct her behavior with the new collar. Plus she looks so adorable in it


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I missed this when you started, but will add my 2 cents worth now. I think you should view the head halter as a temporary fix that will buy you time to teach Maisy how to be non reactive to the approach of other dogs.

You need to figure out what her threshold distance is and stay further away from other dogs than that. Encourage her to look at the other dog to acknowledge that it is there, but then also ask her to redirect her attention to you. As you do this you should be able to decrease the distance between you/Maisy and the other dog until you can pass peacefully with nothing other than a look at the other dog and then a check in with you. Look up the "Look at That" game and counter conditioning for further details.

I also do not let my dogs greet dogs we don't know on leash. It is too likely to get chaotic and if the street is busy could be disastrous. If you want to have Maisy be able to have dog friends then I would arrange play dates at your home or that of the other dog. Let them walk together near each other on leash and then have them enter the yard together and take the leashes off at the same time. Anytime dogs that are new to mine come to our home we bring our dogs out on leashes and take a short walk until all of the dogs are clearly relaxed, then we bring them all in the yard as described.


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## Dee84cali (Dec 16, 2015)

How do u guys feel about a slip lead?


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Dee84cali said:


> How do u guys feel about a slip lead?


I don't like collars that act by putting extra pressure on a dog's throat - slip, choke, prong, etc. The theory is that the pain or discomfort caused teaches the dog to self correct, but many dogs continue to pull or to lunge, and this kind of collar can cause considerable damage to their throats. There is a continuing debate on here about their efficacy, but hardly anyone would recommend them for puppies, and in the UK they are banned in most training classes. Have you tried a no pull harness?

It might be worth starting a new thread describing the issue you are dealing with, so that more people see your question.


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## Dee84cali (Dec 16, 2015)

fjm said:


> I don't like collars that act by putting extra pressure on a dog's throat - slip, choke, prong, etc. The theory is that the pain or discomfort caused teaches the dog to self correct, but many dogs continue to pull or to lunge, and this kind of collar can cause considerable damage to their throats. There is a continuing debate on here about their efficacy, but hardly anyone would recommend them for puppies, and in the UK they are banned in most training classes. Have you tried a no pull harness?
> 
> 
> 
> It might be worth starting a new thread describing the issue you are dealing with, so that more people see your question.



Thanks.. Well it was a random question to see what opinion people had on these collars. No issue here just work in progress. He just gets excited when he sees a dog, he hasn't socialized much due to his shots ( has his final shots Saturday yay!)


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Dee, look into an Easy Walk Harness! It has been a lifesaver for walking Maizie and our strong golden retriever as well. It's gentle, safe, effective, and it's even allowed for the Canine Good Citizen test.


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## Dee84cali (Dec 16, 2015)

zooeysmom said:


> Dee, look into an Easy Walk Harness! It has been a lifesaver for walking Maizie and our strong golden retriever as well. It's gentle, safe, effective, and it's even allowed for the Canine Good Citizen test.



I'll look into it thanks


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