Dog meetings: Checking for correctness

[bridget246]

A lot of dogs are afraid of Bridget. She is always in their face full of energy that can be overwhelming to other dogs. Instead of not allowing Bridget to meet the dogs I've decided to try to get a little more control over that first encounter. I tell Bridget to sit wait. Then I allow the other dog to walk up to Bridget first. They sniff her and then I give her the okay to sniff them back. This seems to be working well. It doesn't seem 100% fair to Bridget but she has a bad habit of getting too dominate during play if I don't allow the other dog to make the first move.

During the approach I watch the dog and Bridget to get idea for the energy between them. Bad energy means I tell Bridget to return, praise her, apologize to the owner and walk away. I understand that not all dogs display tension in the same way. My dog training has only begun and sometimes I might be wrong in reading the other dogs approach. I'd just rather be safe than sorry and try to look at Bridget to get more of a idea if I'm unsure. Sometimes dogs will display things I don't notice and if Bridget does notice it so I count on her when I'm not sure.

When I first got Bridget I thought growls and barks were the only displays of emotion. Then I learned about a few others. One day I had a "come to Jesus moment" and realized there was a ton of non verbal communication that I was completely missing. My lack of training and expecting other handlers to know their dogs has in the past resulted in me putting Bridget in danger, twice. Took me awhile to realize not everyone cares about training their dogs and actually getting to know their dogs so I can't depend on them to do so.

Side note: Yes, I use wait. It is different from my stay. Stay for me means your going to be here for awhile. Stay sit/down means stay in a sit/down without doing anything else. Wait for me means this is going to be a short amount of time. I had to use this when training the come command without breaking stay and a few other tricks I wanted to her to do that required her to be still first. I never wanted my stay to be affected by this. It is a personally choice.

[xchairity_casex]

yup that can be a hard lesson for people to elarn first hand especielly when you dont know much about a dog body laungue!

congratz on educating yourself and hel;ping your dog and other dogs around you ;)

[DandD]

It sounds like you are doing a fabulous job!! It may not be 100% fair to Bridget, but better that than have her be in a bad situation. I admire your diligence in your training with her