Oh how I wish I had found this site before I found my dog... When we got Tanka, I was concerned about making sure he was well socialized. We went to really really early puppy classes, the kind where all the puppies play together, and then you call them and treat. it was great. Tanka loves dogs, all sizes, colors and shapes. Cats, too. Even later puppy classes had play time at the end. Problem is now he thinks every dog is a potential best friend. I got a dog that loves dogs, A LOT.

Is there any way to fix that? Is there any way to get him to the point of just ignoring other dogs. It has been a while of not letting him greet and play with other dogs, and he still whines and cries to get to them. I mean awhile, probably 2 years. I just don't allow him to get to the other dog, and I reward him when he looks at me. Of course you always have the times of free neighbor dogs who run out to you, and small yappy dogs at the park who's owners think they should be free and not on a leash because they are little.

Is there something else I can do, or is this just a time thing, maybe a couple more years? Or is this something I messed up early and big enough that we will live with it from now on?

Oh, and same with people. Everyone was a party, now everyone is a party. I have had a lot more successs with people, unless they talk to him, or they are here at our house.

Thanks, Julie

IMHO, good obedience training will solve your problem. You can work with a good trainer, or get some videos and train him yourself.

^^^
That and the loose dogs shouldn't be allowed to run up, ever try talking to your neighbors? Other people you can't fix but neighbors sometimes its worth a try. Just tell them you are working on your dog's obedience training now and ask them not to let that happen anymore. For the future, you can always have a play pal for your dog but only on YOUR terms.

Thanks. If that will help, then we should get there because we are working on his obedience. We always have been, but not as much as we should have been. Daily life OB, but not structured, and he needs structured, and a lot of it. From now on, we are going to have an ongoing list of things that we need to work on, some fun activities, some mental activities. I spent a lot making sure he was tired, not near enough making sure he was mentally worked.

We have another dog, so Tanka gets a chance to have a dog buddy at home, so that makes me feel like he gets the dog interaction.

I wish talking to the neighbor's helped. There are very few around here who think keeping a dog contained in any way is the right thing to do, and we have neighbors who have aggressive dogs who are allowed to be out unsupervised. it is extremely frustrating. I talked to my closest neighbor about putting his pit bull behind a fence. he said he didn't like the way a fence made his place look. But he admitted he didn't know what she would always do when she runs out at people who walk down the road. I made friends with her a long time ago when he would tie her out to a tree all day. But I don't trust her at all going by with a dog. if I see her out, we go the other way. He has let her out after we were already up the road and I have had to call him to put her back up so we could get back home without having a problem. it's not the dog's fault, but they are the ones who will pay if anything ever happens to anyone.

I am not by far the only one who has troubles with dogs on their walks. I think it is an epidemic judging from reading posts on the board. It's sad really. But then if all dog owners would be responsible, the world would be a different place.

Your neighbor's are as bad as the cat owners next to me. That really sucks they don't respond to you talking to them. What about the laws? I know in some places you have to be careful about doing that even.

You're right, its an epidemic thing. Loose dogs with stupid owners. I only walk at a few places and even then I am paranoid. There's a pack of loose pitbulls near me, I cannot even walk to the store one way....then another way there a aggressive loose lab so much for that store...most of the streets near me are too ghetto. The people are afraid of my dog but the dogs are what I am worried about. They don't even have to be aggressive, just the whole out of control thing I don't get. At the very least its very annoying when one runs up.

I drove him to an out of the way park awhile back. I wanted to just put my foot in the water after working on the martingale. It's going really well, and then I se a guy coming twoards me with a little tiny dog in front of him. Guess what? The dog is loose and comes running right up. Tanka behaved very well and just looked at this little dog standing under his nose. But see here in is my problem. I can't get him behind me when another dog is involved, and that leaves him between me and whatever situation may arise. I don't want that.

The guy is then in a panic. Really, now? he runs up and he says he's friendly, but he did attack a big dog like that once before. I said, please pick your dog up. And I added for good measure. I really have no idea what he would do. I could have won America's funniest videos watching this guy trying to pick his dog up without getting close to Tanka. As soon as he had that dog up, it went crazy snapping and growling. He never even flinched at it, just allowed it. I'm thinking, man if Tanka was doing that right now, you would call the police and have us banned from the park. But I can GUARANTEE you that we will see that same guy and that same dog loose at the same park.Even though had Tanka not been friendly, it could have ended very badly.

Not being free to walk safely in either direction from my house is a constant source of frustartion. I remember having this same discussion I think last year on this board. It is epidemic.

I am not an outside cat person. I think cats need to be kept inside. They decimate the bird population, and I don't allow cats to hang around my yard where I feed the birds.

LOL I know the type! They panic when something happens they should have prevented...one guy got mad at me for kicking his aggressive lab. That is as brain dead stupid as driving a car with no brakes and panicking when you cannot stop....then blaming the car in front of you for not getting out of your way.

It is interesting to see the problem from the other side. I spend so much time with my reactive dog, envying those people whose dogs are calm and friendly and can hang out together on the soccer field. Then, every once in awhile, I hear high pitched screams and barking from the field. And I know another fight has broken out. We always stay on the other side of the fence, just watching the goings on.