DRJ5150

Blunt is fine. Its the best way to make sure people understand. What I should say, though. Is I don't wait until he is dragging on the lead till I address the problem. When running I'll see a dog coming up, I'll tell him to leave it,check his chain, keeping him at heel etc. Even though he is looking at the dog he won't always try and chase it. I guess him ending up on his hind legs would be the most extreme example I could give. I probably should also clarify that it's when he starts showing signs he's getting excited that I move him away and we start again. Having only one attempt at the dog park so far. His behavior was a lot better just watching the dogs. I do understand that him bounding up to other dogs can cause them to retaliate, and thats why I want to sort this issue out before he is off the leash. I just picked the dog park because I wanted somewhere to train where I knew there would be dogs. I'll be reading up on the look at that game. Thanks

Hi all. First post. I have 2/3 year old male German Shepherd. I rescued him from the pound about a year ago. When I got him he was all bones, kind of timid and had had no training. In the last year he has learnt all the basic commands, ie sit stay etc, can work on hand signals, and in the last couple of weeks he has figured out heel. He hardly barks. He gets on very well with my other dog, a female 4 month shepherd x staffi (another death row rescue) and before her a 12 year old female shepherd who is no longer with us. Overall I'm pretty happy with his behavior and he has come along way from when I first met him. Now, the one behavior he has that I can't quite figure out how to change is he 'lunges' at other dogs when on the lead. If I am running or walking him, as soon as he sees another dog his attention just switches to them. Depending on the dog, he will race of towards them. A quick check on the chain does little to snap him out of it. Its not that he wants to attack the dog, he's happy to see them. He is just so keen to meet them that he focuses on nothing else. He will go to the point of the leash where it is tight and even end up on his hind legs in his efforts to get there. Once I get him back we continue our run. He gets at least an hour walk/run everyday so I don't think its an issue caused by lack of exercise. Even on the end of an hour run when he is getting tired, he can still muster up enough energy to get as excitable as if we had just started. I have just starting taking him to the dog park. I am leaving him on the leash and just letting him watch the other (better behaved) dogs before I'm going to let him off. I am going to a distance where I can make him lie down and stay, so he can calmly watch without getting himself worked up. Once he's calm I'll take him a bit closer. Once he is calm, I'll take him to fence and let other dogs approach him where they can sniff each other through the fence. If he starts getting exciting, jumping or barking etc, I walk him away and make him lie back down till his calm and we start again. I also walk him along the fence in heel position so he can get used to seeing other dogs without trying to drag me. I don't think he is aggressive and he definitely isn't trying to attack the other dog. He doesn't bite or growl. I think he overwhelms the other dog who might snarl at him out of fear, because he is a bit 'full on' as he introduces himself. Can anyone see problems with this approach or have a similar experience? I am aiming to get rid of this behavior so that I can safely walk both my dogs together when my X is old enough to go on bigger walks. Thanks for reading. Cheers