He Just Wants To Say Hi

[dee lee]

Met a boxer on our walk this eve. Jarvis is desperate to meet all people and dogs. I asked his owner if it would be ok to say hi. Jarvis went and sniffed (his nose this time!) but the boxer got jumpy so we just said bye. Jarvis was disappointed. I just think he can't understand why anyone wouldn't want to say hi (human or canine!).

Part of them growing up is learning to deal with that disappointment. It's good socialization and teaches them (eventually) how to behave.

It's up to you to monitor his behaviour, watch for signals that the other dog isn't interested, & act accordingly.

Good work on recognizing when to say bye to the boxer.

[RubyBlue]

"Since Lab puppies often resemble a cannonball crossed with a Sumo wrestler on drugs and consequently like heavy duty physical contact (preferably in mid-air, at great speed)"

Perfect analogy - picturing it now....glad I didn't have anything in my mouth.

[erinonthefarm]

Anyway thanks for the info. Jarvis is obviously an 'in your face' friendly kind of dog so I will keep a close eye on him (and keep him on lead until he is older and wiser).

I wouldn't worry too much at this point. It's pretty common for puppies to be 'in your face'. They are babies and they believe everyone will love them. The best way for them to learn how to behave is experience. As they get older they typically grow out of the impossibly exuberant greetings and calm down a little. Kivi was about 10 months old when he started thinking twice about approaching every single dog and loving on them. Erik was about 14 months. I got pretty excited and proud of them when they started making sensible decisions about other dogs. It's a coming of age. Before that they will just approach every dog and they need you to keep an eye on them and hover over them and stop them from approaching some dogs that are giving them the eye and growling.

That puts my mind at rest a bit, my 14 month old dog is exceptionaly rude and has been bitten several times by other dogs for staring and getting up in their face (this happened after against my better judgement I let him off lead at a training session) I try and stop him from staring all the time by distracting him but I feel like the day will never come when he will be less confrontational. Maybe when he gets older, as he wasn't well socialised until he was about 9 months due to our remote location, he will get a bit better.

I was pretty excited when Sniper achieved an off lead recall recently in the bush, albeit without any other more interesting distractions around :rolleyes:

[Tassie]

I must say I give the same advice to puppy owners in my puppy class that we give to children in dog bite prevention classes - do not (let your puppy)go up to another dog without asking the owner's permission first - that way you can get an idea of the other dog's child/puppy tolerance. We practise friendly puppy to puppy greetings in class, and often have a bomb-proof older dog in the class on lead for polite greetings. But as the owner of 2 dogs, one of whom has quite a large personal space and zero tolerance for puppies or rude dogs,and the other who can be quite rude himself if given the chance, I like to err on the side of caution.

[corvus]

I must say I give the same advice to puppy owners in my puppy class that we give to children in dog bite prevention classes - do not (let your puppy)go up to another dog without asking the owner's permission first - that way you can get an idea of the other dog's child/puppy tolerance.

I don't bother asking anymore. IME it means nothing. Everyone I've ever asked has said yes and several of those dogs snapped anyway, which completely did not surprise me, although it surprised the owner. I just trusted the owner, who I somehow thought would know better than me. So now I trust my own judgement and ask out of politeness if I'm not sure if someone wants their dog to interact or not.

[Odin-Genie]

A good article. But I have a problem with the human analogy:

Sitting quietly on the mall bench beside my husband, I was minding my own business when the man approached. I glanced up as the man sat next to me. He was a bit close for my comfort, so I edged a little closer to my husband who, busy reading a book, ignored me. Still feeling a bit uncomfortable with the strange man so close, I then turned my head slightly away from him, politely indicating I was not interested in any interaction. To my horror, the man leaned over me and began licking my neck while rudely groping me.

When I screamed and pushed him away, my trouble really began. My husband angrily threw me to the ground, yelling at me "Why did you do that? He was only trying to be friendly and say hi! What a touchy bitch you are! You're going to have to learn to behave better in public."

A lot of things which would be considered shocking for humans (for example some breeders posting here that they have to to hold their screaming bitch who doesn't want to mate to ensure the mating takes place) do not apply to the dog world. This is an attempt at shocking people.

Butt sniffing is perfectly acceptable in the dog world. Put that in human perpective and see how it sounds

Edited November 8, 2011 by Odin-Genie

[Rusky]

I must say I give the same advice to puppy owners in my puppy class that we give to children in dog bite prevention classes - do not (let your puppy)go up to another dog without asking the owner's permission first - that way you can get an idea of the other dog's child/puppy tolerance. We practise friendly puppy to puppy greetings in class, and often have a bomb-proof older dog in the class on lead for polite greetings. But as the owner of 2 dogs, one of whom has quite a large personal space and zero tolerance for puppies or rude dogs,and the other who can be quite rude himself if given the chance, I like to err on the side of caution.

if you email Susan Clothier she will probably give you permission to print off her article and give to your parents. I emailed her years ago, she wouldn't allow us to use it in our booklet ...fair enough as it wasn't what I was asking for but printed with credits she was delighted to be of help.

[Nic.B]

Great article, thanks for posting

Not very long ago I was doing an intro with a fantastic medium sized mix female and an 8 month old working breed male for a family.

Both dogs were great with other dogs overall, though the working breed male was pushy and needed to learn some manners when meeting unknown dogs. He ran with my pack (large and small with no problems though he was introduced fairly slowly, starting with our dominent female)

As we walked together the working breed male could not help himself and occasionaly jumped about on the end of the lead and bounced about.

She turned her head away from him and gave a low growl. Her owners were shocked and upset as they had never seen that before.

I could see they were about to correct her verbally so let them know that she was well within her rights to let him know she will not tolerate that behaviour and that she was appropriate and well mannered in showing him the same.

The male took notice and realised he would have to change his behaviour if he would like to interact.

It was such subtle body language in many ways though so meaningful and worthwhile. I love watching dogs interact and teach.

At the G2Z summit a few years ago there was a speaker from the UK who used her own dogs as teaching dogs.

I have always said as a foster carer/rescuer that I only do half the work. My dogs do the rest bless them.

[rebelsquest]

Great article

[luvsdogs]

I read that article many years ago when I still had April. She used to snap & lunge at some dogs. I used to think it was all her fault, until reading the article & could see that it wasn't always her fault.

Great article.

[Trisven13]

Great article, thanks for posting

Not very long ago I was doing an intro with a fantastic medium sized mix female and an 8 month old working breed male for a family.

Both dogs were great with other dogs overall, though the working breed male was pushy and needed to learn some manners when meeting unknown dogs. He ran with my pack (large and small with no problems though he was introduced fairly slowly, starting with our dominent female)

As we walked together the working breed male could not help himself and occasionaly jumped about on the end of the lead and bounced about.

She turned her head away from him and gave a low growl. Her owners were shocked and upset as they had never seen that before.

I could see they were about to correct her verbally so let them know that she was well within her rights to let him know she will not tolerate that behaviour and that she was appropriate and well mannered in showing him the same.

The male took notice and realised he would have to change his behaviour if he would like to interact.

It was such subtle body language in many ways though so meaningful and worthwhile. I love watching dogs interact and teach.

At the G2Z summit a few years ago there was a speaker from the UK who used her own dogs as teaching dogs.

I have always said as a foster carer/rescuer that I only do half the work. My dogs do the rest bless them.

Yep had the same thing here about 6 months ago when we rehomed a 9-12 month old BC mix to a family with young children and an older female BC mix. Snickers was the most amazing dog, very clever and very good at learning lessons from other dogs - I knew that he was perfect for this family, he sat at the feet of the kids for a pat, walked beautifully on lead for them etc etc but I also knew that their older BC would have to put him in his place a few times until he learned where he was supposed to be. The wonderful owners that they were they were very worried about HER and so we all stood around in my muddy dog run (it had been raining for a week :rolleyes:) for over an hour and watched how when left to their own devices he pulled up before he got to her, his body language was incredibly respectful and by the end of it she was quite happy to talk to him. The last photo I saw had them curled up together on the lounge :D

[Nic.B]

So true Trisven, it is always so interesting and rewarding to witness.

Updates are the best

[corvus]

It was such subtle body language in many ways though so meaningful and worthwhile. I love watching dogs interact and teach.

This is why I love dog parks. So much goes on in them that is below the notice of most people, but it's really interesting when you start watching. Kivi has left me picking my jaw up off the ground several times because he handles tense social situations in quite complex ways with such success sometimes. I learn a lot from him.

[B-Q]

Great article!!!

[dee lee]

It was such subtle body language in many ways though so meaningful and worthwhile. I love watching dogs interact and teach.

This is why I love dog parks. So much goes on in them that is below the notice of most people, but it's really interesting when you start watching. Kivi has left me picking my jaw up off the ground several times because he handles tense social situations in quite complex ways with such success sometimes. I learn a lot from him.

I enjoy watching dogs interact too. It's just unfortunate that it's the people who should be watching their dogs, often don't.

Or have no idea that their dogs are being rude.

I have an ongoing situation with a regular at the dog park Honey & I run through. It's a BC cross who feels it needs to forcibly round up and dominate Honey. I have had to have words with the owner on several occasions.

This dog is so rude & pushy & it really disturbs Honey to the point of her snapping at it as it circles us both.

Of course, the fool owner says "don't worry she won't bite". To which I have responded (more than once) "my dog doesn't like it & if she gets frightened enough, she might"

Usually that frightens the idiot enough to avoid us for a couple of months. But then she does it again...

Maybe I should print out that article & hand it to her. ;)

[Misteri]

Thanks for the link

[lovemesideways]

It was such subtle body language in many ways though so meaningful and worthwhile. I love watching dogs interact and teach.

This is why I love dog parks. So much goes on in them that is below the notice of most people, but it's really interesting when you start watching. Kivi has left me picking my jaw up off the ground several times because he handles tense social situations in quite complex ways with such success sometimes. I learn a lot from him.

Do you ever find it stressful? I know I do, seeing all this underlying talk going on between the dogs and the owners are oblivious. My partners German Shepherd Ricky was for example, becoming extremely stressed by another GSD who was being very rude and pushy, it was like this other dog was trying to push ricky into a confrontation.(Putting his head over his shoulder, growling, getting right into his body space).

I could see in the way Rickys face was tense, ears back, hackles going up, tail curling, lip curling a little that it was a matter of moment before he snapped at the dog out of most likely fear. I intervened, blocking the other dog from Ricky with my body and then moving Rickys attention to his frisbee and getting him away from the other dog. This all happened in a matter of moments of course.

My partner had no clue, and the owner of the other GSD told me off because I should "Let them sort themselves out"

[Rebanne]

I could see in the way Rickys face was tense, ears back, hackles going up, tail curling, lip curling a little that it was a matter of moment before he snapped at the dog out of most likely fear. I intervened, blocking the other dog from Ricky with my body and then moving Rickys attention to his frisbee and getting him away from the other dog. This all happened in a matter of moments of course.

My partner had no clue, and the owner of the other GSD told me off because I should "Let them sort themselves out"

for being a great owner and protecting your dog. As for the owner of the rude dog, well, it's not printable

[Poppy's mum]

As the walker of a small fear-aggressive brown dog, I so hate hearing other people say (in the case of a pair of careering labs heading directly for us on the street) "They're alright. They don't bite" or "Don't worry, my dog's friendly"... If you are on the street, walking your dog, you have a right not to be hassled by off-lead dogs getting in your dog's face. Luckily we moved away from the out of control labs who were often loose when we did our before-work walk. As a person, I found it intimidating to be charged by the labs. My little dog is so much better now we rarely meet off-lead out of control dogs. All he ever did was snap when they 'stood over him' so maybe he's like Cream.

As for dog parks - having read the problems people with aggressive dogs have when they take them down the park for their regular exercise sheesh! what can you say

Article contains some useful tips. Good article. As you say, should be compulsory reading.

[aussielover]

I find dog parks stressful sometimes. I don't really fear for her life or anything, but she is submissive and it usually leads to other dogs dominating her (humping usually, sometimes standing over her and not letting her get up). I always try to keep her away from other dogs that she doesn't know. she does like to go over and sniff but I call her away and this usually leads to the other owner thinking she is aggressive and then getting all panicky when their dog runs over to her.

I also hate people who make excuses for their dogs terrible behaviour by blaming it on your dog:

-it excusable for my dog to run around barking at your dog and nipping them (just like Dee Lee described) because their a border collie and just trying to herd your dog

- my dog is very friendly and you dog isn't because it doesn't want to play. My dog is just barking and jumping all over your dog because its trying to get yours to play

- Your dog is very submissive so my dog just wants to dominate her (humping). My response: oh so you'd rather my dog attack yours when it tries to hump her???

All in all though, the benefits of the off leash area and opportunity for free running outweigh the risks for me, so I continue to go.

It is also really nice seeing dogs play happily together.