27/05/2025
Yes yes yes!
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16EsHgUaXy/?mibextid=wwXIfr
"๐๐ฉ'๐จ ๐๐...๐ฉ๐๐๐ฎ'๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ก๐ฎ!"
What do you do when it goes a bit wrong? Today we were working with newly adopted Torrin on calmness in the presence of other dogs when a very friendly, very bouncy young dog charged into his space and kept coming back for more until she decided that, perhaps, she'd bitten off a wee bit more than she could chew (Torrin isn't aggressive but he is very big & a bit too full on with other dogs).
What did we do?
โข stayed calm
โข shortened the lead and held onto his harness
โข waited for the dog to leave (under other circumstances we may have moved but Torrin is strong and was already over threshold so, on balance, I felt it was better to stay put & minimise movement)
โข settled Torrin
โข checked that the other dog and their owner were ok
What didn't we do? Start berating the other dog owner. Should their dog have run full pelt at another dog? No. Should they have been able to recall their dog? Ideally, yes. Should their dog have been fully off lead? Probably not.
BUT...we're all human. How many of us can say, hand on heart, that neither we nor our dogs have ever made a mistake. How many of us, if we've not had a reactive dog, can honestly say we've really considered what impact one dog running up to another can have? Also, it's a public park and if we're working 'in the wild' then we have to accept there's a risk that we may be approached by other dogs because that's life, whether we like it or not. I have to accept some responsibility for the situation too...I'm normally pretty good at spotting, and avoiding, potential hazards but this time I totally missed it.
When things go wrong which is a better use of your energy? Becoming angry and berating people for not doing what you think they should? Or trying to make a bad situation better and helping your own dog to rebalance and recover?
If we're trying to teach our dogs that thoughtful responses are better than over reactions then perhaps we need to try modelling that a bit ourselves...?