Man there is some good stories and well trained dogs you guys and gals have.

The only problem I have with dogs off leash is when the owner thinks calling the dog fifty million times is having the dog under control. When I am walking my 5 month pup and a off leash dog aproaches it is my job to insure no negative impacked on my puppy. My reaction is attacking the off leash dog. First a deep
low voice "beat it" if that does not work I charge it. So far it has never got past that point. My wife thinks I am rude but if my dog gets attacked there goes much of my time and thousands of dollars down the drain. Then i have to find a good home for the pup and find another pup. This has only happened a couple of times but the dog owners have never said a word to me yet.

Steve

 Quote: susan tuck

Call some farmers or buy your own property???!!! Gee Beth, if only the rest of us had thought this up. What a great answer. Believe it or not, some of us live in the city (no farmlands) & some of us can't afford to buy a "tracking" area. What do you suggest, all knowing one?

What I suggest is that the laws in public areas apply equally to everyone - regardless of real or imagined dog training skills. All of us have a choice about where we live - balancing all aspects of life. You DO have a choice to work with other property owners to make arrangements for dog training that might better fit your training goals if public (leash law) areas, and the public in general are interfering with that. I face this every day on behalf of a whole group of people. It can be done. IMO, abide by the laws in the areas you train, or find private areas to train where you can make other agreements.

I don't like having loose dogs run up to me in public areas where there are leash laws any more than you do. But I don't think *I* have a right to have *my* dogs off leash because *I* somehow fashion myself *better* than the other guy on any level.

Beth

Steve: Well Said! When in doubt, PUNT!!!

 Quote: steve mcdonald

... if my dog gets attacked there goes much of my time and thousands of dollars down the drain. Then i have to find a good home for the pup and find another pup. Steve

I don't understand. Do you mean if your dog suffered some sort of permanent physical injury?

 Quote: Denise Milic

 Quote: steve mcdonald

... if my dog gets attacked there goes much of my time and thousands of dollars down the drain. Then i have to find a good home for the pup and find another pup. Steve

I don't understand. Do you mean if your dog suffered some sort of permanent physical injury?

My pup is 5 months old. Really just a baby. If a dog looking friendly walks up then bites her neck and tosses her around
then she will probably be dog aggressive and no good for a
PPD for the rest of her life. Confidence gone dog no good to me.
And that is if she is physical fine.

Steve

 Quote: steve mcdonald

 Quote: denise milic

 Quote: steve mcdonald

... if my dog gets attacked there goes much of my time and thousands of dollars down the drain. Then i have to find a good home for the pup and find another pup. Steve

I don't understand. Do you mean if your dog suffered some sort of permanent physical injury?

My pup is 5 months old. Really just a baby. If a dog looking friendly walks up then bites her neck and tosses her around
then she will probably be dog aggressive and no good for a
PPD for the rest of her life. Confidence gone dog no good to me.
And that is if she is physical fine.

Steve

You can just give her to me there Steve, I'll take your "broke" dog.

I got two GSDs from police/Sch lines and they started out dog aggressive for who knows what reason but I've fixed it, I don't believe thier confidence is broke one bit

 Quote: dennis jones

 Quote: steve mcdonald

 Quote: denise milic

 Quote: steve mcdonald

... if my dog gets attacked there goes much of my time and thousands of dollars down the drain. Then i have to find a good home for the pup and find another pup. Steve

I don't understand. Do you mean if your dog suffered some sort of permanent physical injury?

My pup is 5 months old. Really just a baby. If a dog looking friendly walks up then bites her neck and tosses her around
then she will probably be dog aggressive and no good for a
PPD for the rest of her life. Confidence gone dog no good to me.
And that is if she is physical fine.

Steve

You can just give her to me there Steve, I'll take your "broke" dog.

I got two GSDs from police/Sch lines and they started out dog aggressive for who knows what reason but I've fixed it, I don't believe thier confidence is broke one bit

Thats great. I love a happy ending. If I ever have a problem in that area I will PM you.

 Quote: dennis jones

There is no need for your dog to socialize with anybody but your family and other pets. Teach your dog to focus on you then slowly increasing the distractions using redirection and with quick correction and even faster reward imho is the best way to get dog aggresion under control. Two of my girls are dog aggressive but they've been trained to ignore other dogs unless of course the other dog is stupid enough to get inside my dog's "queer zone" acting agressive themselve. basicaly they give the attitude they get. If you truly believe that dogs need to socialize with other dogs, do what I did, get more dogs, I have four GSDs in my household who get along just fine. Ed has an artical on how to introduce a new dog into your pack, guess what, it works, but you must be prepared to rehome one of the dogs because regardless of what you do, they just will not get along.

I should have been more specific about the classes, sorry about that. I eventually want to get him trained for personal protection and he would have to be around other dogs in that training scenario, I'm guessing? Guess private training is available. Also, in the meantime, I want him to have fun doing some agility just for play and there are plenty of dogs in those classes. I don't think my pup necessarily needs to socialize with other dogs, but was thinking that might be good for him at this point, so his species doesn't constantly represent a threat to him. Wholeheartedly agree with desensitizing him to other dogs rather than socializing, just not quite sure how to do that on walks since these loose dogs persist in approaching him and it's not always immediately obvious what their intentions are, so I have to watch the loose dogs every second. Was hoping a puppy agility class could help with desensitizing, but they may not even let him in now.

He's never been attacked or bit, his aggressive barking came about because other dogs barked at him aggressively, so is it safe to assume that a dog need not be attacked to become dog aggressive? I'll do more work having him focus on me, correcting and rewarding. Just so uncertain about how to do that when we're out and about and approached by another dog, can you tell?

 Quote: Mike Arnold

I really get twisted by people who literally impose their dog psychology on me. If you walk toward me with you dog(s) under control, and give me time to make sure my dogs are tuned into the possible meeting, then there is a chance the dogs can interact. But don't assume, and be in control of your dog.

Ditto. If the guy's dog had been on a leash, there would have been controlled approach, I could have corrected my pup as soon as he started barking without my fearing the other dog attacking him, and it may have ended up quite a different scenario (maybe).

Great story Mike - great desensitizing work done with your dogs, since the other dog was there the whole time when they were being worked.