Hard to believe he’s only 11 months old 🥹🥹 my perfect angel boy
This was the extent of my puppy’s involvement in our oven installation. He’s learning that it has nothing to do with him. Strangers coming into our home are neither a threat nor exciting.
I have worked with countless dogs who’ve had a negative experience or bit/charged a plumber, mailman, mover, electrician, etc. To be completely honest, it is not a random service provider’s job to train or entertain your dog. Nor is it their job to be educated on appropriate interactions with strange dogs.
The respectful thing to do (for both the stranger providing a service and your dog) is to keep them out of the way, where they can safely and calmly observe the situation without being involved. If your dog is stressed out by random people in your home and you will be preoccupied and unable to guide them, the best thing to do is either to crate them in a completely separate area of the home, crate them in your car, or send them out with a walker, where they can be relaxed and the service provider can perform their job in peace.
And to be clear-I do strongly believe that it is important to teach dogs how to handle direct interactions with both familiar and unfamiliar humans. But a complete stranger coming into your home to do a job that often involves making loud noises and moving around heavy objects is not the time for this.
No tools, no rewards, no obedience, no micromanaging. @konapotamus at liberty on a backclip harness+unlocked flexi combo passing a dog barking at her while being handled by her awesome moms who have truly put in the work.
This is our end goal for reactive dog clients we work with. A trained dog who can feel comfortable enough to make their own decisions navigating daily lives.
I was inspired by a recent question on a FB group to share how I deal with off leash dogs.
1. I manage my environment. AKA whenever possible, I choose wide trails with high visibility and low traffic. Obviously, I can’t always control these things (hence steps 2 and 3) but this is an important factor to mention. I see people repeatedly going to the same places where they get rushed over and over and there are 20 off leash dogs and they are the only on leash dog handler. Are those other owners at fault for having out of control off leash dogs? Yes. Is subjecting yourself (and your dog!!) to the same thing over and over again going to help your situation? No. If I show up at a park or a trail and see a bunch of off leash dogs arriving we turn around and leave.
2. If they are far enough away, I will politely greet the owner and let them know my dog isn’t friendly and I’ll be pulling over so they can pass with lots of space. I will usually put my dog in a middle or just hold them behind me on a leash. At this point, most people will leash their dogs and pass us. I get the occasional “it’s ok he’s friendly” and I calmly let them know my dog isn’t and to please keep their dog away because I don’t want there to be a fight.
3. If the dog is charging, far from their owner, or the owner has refused to take control of their dog, I will use increasing levels of force to handle the situation myself. If they were willing or able to help me, they already would have by this point. Getting in a fight with this person will not help me reach my goal (keeping their dog away from my dog). I’ll start with spatial pressure and yelling and escalate as far as I need to defend my dog. Most dogs are soft and will turn around and leave us alone at this point. Sometimes it is necessary to make physical contact but in my experience those situations are rare (see steps 1+2)
I saw an unexpected off leash dog on my hike with Atlas this past week so figured I’d include thi
My boy 🤩 he maxed out at 8ft today (.5ft over the required 1.5x standing height for WC1)
