Oh, Abbie...

[meggels]

What do you guys think.....

Abbie is a fearful dog, though she has come a long ways in the past six months or so since I moved back to CT and got my own place (and can control the energy and excitement level in the home). BUT, one thing is that half the time we are out (off leash) it seems like she has gotten into the habit of trotting up to people growling as they walk by. I know it's a fearful dog behavior by her body language and the fact that she runs up growling and then runs away. I'm afraid she's going to progress to nipping someone.

We just ran into a nasty couple that lives in the complex in the parking lot. I had her at the high school next door playing in the snow. She's been cooped up all week and needed to burn some serious energy, and taking her for a walk does not cut it, so I really like to give her off leash play time in more remote areas. We were walking back through the parking lot to go inside and she did the run up to them growl thing. The woman said "come near me and I'll kick you"" and started going off about dogs being on a leash. I see her point, I do. But I'm also annoyed because most dogs aren't going to get sufficient exercise just going on a walk.

Only thing I can think of is to try and collect her and get her with me till they go by. I thought I had her attention with the squeaky toy, and she was paying attention a bit, but then after a few seconds of focusing on me she ran up to them.



this is just frustrating to me because I know her and know she's not a bad dog, but people, esp people that aren't dog people, just hear a dog growling and assume it's aggressive. They are a-holes so I'm sure they will report me to management on Monday for her being off leash (even though several dogs here go off leash).

[luvMyBRT]

I think it would be a good time to begin connecting new people with something positive for Abbie, since she does seem afraid of them.

When out on a walk and you see a new person approaching watch Abbie closely. Whenever she looks at the person say "yes!" and follow with a high value treat. Anytime she looks at you while the new person is around say "yes!" and follow with a high value treat. Once the person is past or gone the treats stop. She will soon learn that new people equal high value treats.

You can also carry some treats with you and if a dog friendly person wants to pet her, instead you can give them a few treats to throw to Abbie. This way she will begin to learn that yummy treats come from new people.

Until I knew for sure that she wasn't running up and growling at people I would keep her on a leash when you see new people approaching and work on the re conditioning. I do the same thing with Duncan and find a remote place for him to run off leash....but around people he is always on a leash. With his size I don't want him running up to random people.

I really hope they don't report you! That would suck. I know Abbie is a good girl.

[meggels]

I think for sure, in the parking lot, we will have to stay on leash. I hope they don't. I'm not a fan of these people, word on the street (or in the complex) is that the husband is abusive, police are always getting called. Just the other day he was being so nasty to her right in public (verbally nasty).


I looked at Abbie, with snow all over her face, tail wagging, and said, "Don't worry, they just aren't happy people".

If anything I think it'd be a slap on the wrist, and I will say to the manager how I see several other dogs off leash, so...

I don't think anything would actually happen...hopefully.

She loves Murphy and is nice to me, so I dunno if she'd do anything. But I will be keeping Abbie on her retractable when we are out in the parking lot. Will try to do training sessions too out there on a short normal leash. And she is going to be coming to a store with me that I demo in and staying by the register for socialization, so I will try to work on the praising and treating with meeting new people.


She just needs that off leash time, she was SO happy out here tonight. Running through the snow, burying her squeaky in the snow, jumping over and through snow banks, and then she just laid in the snow bank lol.

[DaneMama]

First I would work on recall, and a solid recall. If you have a dog off leash you should have the voice control that is essentially an invisible leash. You call her, she comes. Every time. Not to mention she turns on a dime. This is very easy to train.

Total Recall:

I would use her food (she's on kibble still right?) as her motivation. Get rid of the food bowl and her feeding times become recall sessions. Start out in a low distraction area (in the house, or yard) and call her to you. Every time she comes, jackpot her with 20-30 pieces of kibble rapid fire all in a row. Give plenty of exuberant happy verbal praise. If she doesn't come, don't call her more than once. You want her to come when you say her name one time and only one time because in some situations by the time you say her name twice it's too late. Also, say the cue as close to the exact same thing every time...don't get into the habit of saying "Abbie come" "come here Abbie"...you want to be as exact same as you can.

If you can't use her food during feeding times for training (time constraints, etc) I would work in a total recall work session at least once per day if possible. Instead of using her food, use the BEST treats you can find that are her favorite. I recommend a good variety mixture.

Progress up to more and more distracting situations as she becomes 100% in the previous context. If you notice her in a back ward slide in performance, go back to a lesser distraction context and work on it more.

Once you are 100% confident in her recall, and can take her off leash...reward her heavily for her automatic check ins (where she comes to you, looks at you, etc) on her own...this is what you want. You want her to come to you...eh...every 30 seconds to a minute to check in with you without you even asking.

That way when you're out on walks offleash you can call her to you whenever you see her displaying signs of people fear. Call her to you BEFORE you notice people in the distance. Before she gets aroused. I'm on full alert when I have my dogs off leash. I scan the environment as best I can...which means picking up on where ALL people, dogs, cars, cats, squirrels, etc are in my peripheral vision. Make mental notes and plan ahead. If you can't see far in front of you or around you, or whats around that next corner, over the hill....make sure she stays super close, or put her on leash.

I would also suggest you work on focus exercises. Basically this consists of her just looking at you in every context in life. Reward her every single time you are able to. Even in the house. This is another way dogs can earn their meals, one or two pieces of kibble for every glance in your direction.

As far as working on people socialization, this is hard. You would have to set up situations where you "run into" a friend while on a walk. Have that friend give a proper greeting to Abbie in the most non threatening way. This means while walking toward you, they make a very wide arc around you mean while tossing the most tasty treats out to her while they pass. You know when they are too close when she shows signs of stress. If this is the case, you have to have your friend back off some. Tossing treats may not even be an option if she needs such a large bubble of comfort zone.

Hope this helps some and isn't just me rambling along...

[werecatrising]

You've been given good advice about the training/socialization.
I can see where the people would be upset. If I were in your situation I would have apologized and assured them it wouldn't happen again.

[Liz]

Meggels, I love dogs, pet sit a lot of dogs and train in obedience for all breeds. I would be very unhappy being approached by an off lead dog who growled at me. It is hard to have a dog who is scared, nervous or acting out but I would not let her off leash knowing how she will behave. Sorry but it is up to us as owners to set good examples. My dogs are excessively friendly but they are not allowed to approach people until they are under control. Other people shouldn't have to deal with our pets idiosyncracies.

[meggels]

I agree and I understand why they were upset. It's such a short distance to our apartment from the parking lot, and it was 10pm, I didn't think we'd run into people out for a walk. I plan to keep her on leash from now on unless we are in a remote area where we won't have to be so close to people. If she's a distance away from people, it's not an issue, and I do want her to have a chance to run around and get exercise. But when we could be within 10-15 feet of people, I will keep her on leash.

Natalie that is good advice, thank you. I will work on that as well.

[meggels]

Also going to take her hiking more (come on spring, now I want it to hurry up) which will be good exercise :) She LOVED it when we went last week, and I'm sure it would be good for me too ;) Hiking is one form of exercise I do enjoy.

[meggels]

Also- I know the original post probably sounded very like "oh it's no big deal"...but I do feel bad and embarrassed about it. No one wants that dog that growls at people lol. Esp when you know your dog isn't "that" dog deep down...

It'll probably bother me for the next few days lol.


Though, I am not a fan of these people....I will say that lol. But they don't deserve to have a dog go up to them growling. But these are the people that saw Abbie months ago and she let out one little bark at them and the woman called her a stupid mutt.

[werecatrising]

I know it's frustrating. Quinn is a very fearful dog. I have done tons of work with him. He doesn't usually growl at people, but does when he is in a kennel and people walk by and look in. He doesn't do it with everyone, but the people he does growl at have to make a huge deal out of it. I just remember to be proud of the progress he has made.

Keep working with Abbie and keep her out of situations where she may be pushed past her comfort level until you have better control.