How To Solve Dog Distraction

[dooliekoolie]

I'm not sure if anyone can help or recommnd a web site to help me but I have had problems with my dog showing strong dog distraction whilst passing dogs behind fences or on the street. He doesn't have any aggression he just wants to investigate and this leads to him crying when approaching dogs behind the fence and dragging me towards dogs on the street. (and boy he knows where they are before I can even see them)

I have tried to pull him away but he just gets stronger. I have seen obedience and agility dogs working past other dogs so maybe someone can help. Hope its not to late to stop him doing it as he turned 3yrs in April.

Karen

Edited August 2, 2008 by dooliekoolie

[Jigsaw]

What sort of dog is it? Not a koolie by chance is it!!!??? They are very dog friendly dogs (I've got one) and I'm still working on the distractions!

Have you done any obedience work with him? How long have you had him? Does he have any other dog friends he can play with? Does he walk nicely on lead when there are no other dogs around? Sorry for the questions but it gives a better idea of where you're coming from.

Dogs have an opposition reflex so the more you try to pull him in one direction the more he will oppose you, so pulling him away will rarely work. It takes a lot of training to get a dog to the stage where it will ignore other dogs and distractions completely!

ETA: Your title refers to a young pup but your post says he's 3 years - how old is your dog??

Edited August 1, 2008 by Jigsaw

[PAX]

My Koolie is anti social so this is not a Breed problem.

I can only suggest you work on increasing the things that you can give your dog as a reward, eg. playing tug or games of fetch if your dog loves balls and other retreiving games.

You need to have something of greater value to your dog than the dogs' it wants to play with.

My dog is an obedience/ agilty/ and herding dog, but I am the greatest value to my dog as I am the person that makes all these things happen.

[dogdude]

Totally agree with Pax's post!

Too much dog on dog play will worsen the situation too. Work on making yourself more valuable.

[Tonymc]

I have to agree totally with Pax and Dogdude.We must be the pathway or key to the dog gaining acess to activities of high value and drive satisfaction. Tony

[dooliekoolie]

What sort of dog is it? Not a koolie by chance is it!!!??? They are very dog friendly dogs (I've got one) and I'm still working on the distractions!

Have you done any obedience work with him? How long have you had him? Does he have any other dog friends he can play with? Does he walk nicely on lead when there are no other dogs around? Sorry for the questions but it gives a better idea of where you're coming from.

Dogs have an opposition reflex so the more you try to pull him in one direction the more he will oppose you, so pulling him away will rarely work. It takes a lot of training to get a dog to the stage where it will ignore other dogs and distractions completely!

ETA: Your title refers to a young pup but your post says he's 3 years - how old is your dog??

Thanks for the help.

Yes he is a Koolie. I have had him since he was 7 weeks old, he has plenty of dogs at home to play with and he is quite submissive. It is only when he is on lead. I have not done any obedience with him but I have done some herding with him. When he is with the sheep and off lead he is so much more rsponsive to me.

I will try the other suggestions ie tug games and see if this can take his attention away from the other dogs and onto me.