When you have a big, scary German shepherd like Leo with a big, scary bark, you get used to other people thinking they need to keep their dogs (or their small children) safe from your dog. Meanwhile, my job is to keep Leo safe from situations that overwhelm him. Since last month’s “That’s a dangerousContinue reading “Scary Dogs Need Protection Too”
Category Archives: socially awkward
Now who’s reactive?
You know how dogs can become fearful after a bad experience like another dog getting in their face at the park? That happened to me a few weeks ago. With another person. During the springtime, our go-to weeknight walk takes us past a ball field and up a little hill. I try to time itContinue reading “Now who’s reactive?”
Running out of Cheese
In my last post, I wrote about a de-facto off-leash area. If everyone else’s dogs are off leash, why can’t ours be? For me, it’s an issue of manners. People who don’t have reactive dogs (or people who don’t KNOW their dogs are reactive, especially those whose dogs are small) think it’s perfectly fine forContinue reading “Running out of Cheese”
That one dog who ruins it for everyone
Dog parks are risky for reactive dogs – all dogs, really – but we’re lucky to have three off-leash areas that aren’t usually too crowded where we can manage our well-socialized dogs. We leave as soon as a small, uncontrollable child arrives, or at the first sign of an unstable dog. We tend to rotateContinue reading “That one dog who ruins it for everyone”
Facing adversity with positive training and string cheese
Leo’s leash-reactivity has been so well controlled that I decided to increase the criteria with a more challenging walk. Just kidding. We accidentally encountered unexpected triggers because we went later than usual. We walk this route a couple of times a week, and it involves passing some sports stadiums. There are often games on theseContinue reading “Facing adversity with positive training and string cheese”
Surf’s Up with the Pups
Just kidding. They don’t swim. A better title would have something to do with the dead crabs littering the rocky beach. We are so lucky to live in a place where we can regularly find safe places to play with our pups off leash, both in the snow, and on the beach! (But see Monday’s post aboutContinue reading “Surf’s Up with the Pups”
What happens at the dog park
I try not to write too many posts about the wacky and/or horrifying things that happen at the dog park. I know and trust lots of dog professionals who think off-leash parks are terrible places where bad behavior gets reinforced by clueless dog owners making the wrong choices for their dogs. I agree. But IContinue reading “What happens at the dog park”
When you know better, you do better
I accidentally posted the perfect blog last week for this month’s Positive Pet Training Blog Hop theme: Improvements/Successes. If you haven’t read Leo vs. the Track Team, check it out after you read this one, and be sure to hop on down the Linky List of my fellow bloggers. To continue on the theme of Improving asContinue reading “When you know better, you do better”
Leo vs. the Track Team
Leo redirected on me last week during a walk. Things had been going just smashingly and we hadn’t had a reaction worth reporting in a long time. On this walk, he was triggered by a pedestrian and a bike on the other side of the road. He barked, lunged, and redirected twice on my leg.Continue reading “Leo vs. the Track Team”
P is for Park
I’ve written before about the two dog parks in town, but due to my self-inflicted rules for this All-Positive A to Z Challenge, I can repeat the name of only one of them: The Good Dog Park. (You can probably guess the name of the other.) Now there’s a third, henceforth to be called TheContinue reading “P is for Park”
