Just curious, what venues do you guys use to work on training with or around others and their dogs? Do you belong to a club? continuously take classes? haunt the exterior of local dog parks? I'm looking for ideas.

Still struggling with Greta being rambunctious around other dogs, trying to figure out what the best path for us is. Seems like if I could have a time to regularly practice focus and engagement around others doing the same thing it would help. She's making progress, but slowly.

It seems silly to pay for the same class over and over mostly for the venue, but taking your bonkers pup/dog to a place where others are just taking their dog to relax and play seems rude. Eventually I think we'll join a local dog-friendly walking/hiking group but she's not up to 2-3 miles yet.

I also thought about starting a 'train together meetup' at a local park for anyone in my area already taking classes and looking for some out of class practice, but I'm not sure I want to be responsible or liable for that. I'm guessing I might get hit with people expecting me to teach them something, which I'm not prepared (or qualified) to do.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving

By "rambunctious," you mean she tries to play with the other dog(s)? And her attention is taken away from you while she focuses on the other dog(s)?

If that's it, then I could dig up some desensitizing threads and link you. We have some good detailed ones here.

This post was aimed at dog-reactive/dog-aggressive dogs, but the goal is the same -- to desensitize your dog so that she is able to focus on you and your training and to relegate other dogs to the background. http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=24232&page=3#251762

It's all about distractions.

I can easily find more threads on desensitizing if you like.

Nothing wrong with a class for the initial training.

From there a good club could/should help in proofing on distractions.

Going inside where you wouldn't run into many other dogs could be a Home Depot or other big stores

Taking your dog inside a Petsmart. etc can be a big help with distractions BUT your dog has to be up to the level with all the yappy dogs there.

Going to a dog park AND STAYING OUTSIDE OF IT can be great especially if you can stay at a distance from the fences to slowly build distractions.

Dog parks inside are a disaster waiting to happen because most folks there think the dogs should be hugging trees instead of peeing on them.

A large dog park near me had a Great Dane kill an old Golden and it happened in seconds.

They can be a disaster!

I was adding to my post above while Bob was posting.

What he is saying is exactly what the desensitizing threads talk about.

I'll find a couple of detailed ones tomorrow and link you.

Thank you Connie!

So funny, Bob -- while I was posting I was hoping that you'd see the thread and post!

Your comment "Going to a dog park AND STAYING OUTSIDE OF IT can be great especially if you can stay at a distance from the fences to slowly build distractions" is perfect, IMHO. (Carolyn too mentioned the exterior of dog parks.)

(I stay away from the entrance/exit, too ... too many people have no control of and no attention on their dogs as they go toward and through the entrance. )

Dogs, no matter how they are raised are still pack animals and when they meet, sooner or later then will want to determine pack order.

That can go easy but if one decides to challenge that order it can be a HUGE issue and then the pack mentality takes over and then you may have dozens of dog out of control.

The "average" dog park participant has no idea how to break up a dog fight and it normally should involve TWO experienced owners.

I wish there were some statistics on how often this happens but I suspect it's kept hush-hush so as to not destroy the image of all the dogs merrily playing together.

Bottom line is no matter how well YOU understand dog behavior and no matter how well YOUR dog is trained you have NO control over the other dogs and idiots........I mean owners.

Connie and Bob have already covered most of what I was going to say. About the clubs, if you have a dog training club you like, by all means, make use of it. Depending on the type of club, you don't necessarily have to just keep taking classes over and over. Look for a club that allows its members to come in and use the facility outside of formal classes. That's what I did when my dogs were younger. Our club is in a building with four different rooms (well, three, but one can be divided in half). Members may come and find a room to train alone, or they may set up a training date with a couple other people. Occasionally, there will be a larger group that gets together. All of those scenarios make for great opportunities to train, depending on the level your dog is at.

I also made frequent use of my local parks (not dog parks). The parks I chose do not allow off-leash dogs. We might occasionally encounter another dog being walked, which gave us an opportunity to work on distractions, but for the most part, it's a quiet environment, with the occasional human walker, bicyclist, or skater passing us. Plus, the occasional squirrel to work on ignoring! All good opportunities to work on training.

I was also going to suggest places like Home Depot, Tractor Supply, etc., as many of them allow dogs, and there will be distractions inside to work on but not likely any other dogs at the particular time you are there, and if there are, it's easy to stay away from them if you wish. With pet stores, you never know how many other dogs will be inside, so you may want to hold off on those for a little while.

It's a long process that can be challenging and frustrating at times, but things will improve.

Thanks all-

Yes, Connie, by rambunctious I mean she seems to want to play. I have let her approach a few dogs whose owners offered and were on-board with this, but not many. I hate to say it, but even the owners of other pups in the puppy class we went to took one look at her and stayed clear (even though their dog was doing the same thing ). Makes me sad that the GSD is so often perceived as a dangerous breed.

We already go to Petco 1-2x per week to get a treat or something. I can definitely see improvement since our original foray into that area. I usually find a quiet aisle to do a few minutes of sit, down and hand-touch unless it's especially busy.
I found one home depot by us that doesn't disallow pet dogs (they don't allow them either, but they won't turn you away...), but I haven't made it there yet. We also go to the park 1x per week during little kid football and cheerleading (very entertaining lol) and stay a distance away which is good practice. Haven't made it to the area next to the walking path yet as that's too much of a distraction right now.

The strange thing is that even the "clubs" in the city don't seem to have non-class time available. Maybe that's the difference between IPO/Mondio/etc clubs and pet obedience training clubs, not sure. There is a Mondio club run by a really lovely woman in our general area but it's an hour away; I was kind of hoping for something closer.

As a side note- at 11 months does 1/2 mile to 1 mile easy walking on the path seem reasonable? I want to start building her up but don't want to push it.

eta: we're on a hiatus at the moment from public places since she went into heat for the first time on the 19th...

That thread link was very helpful, Connie, thanks!