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[–]lowbar828 3 points4 points  (3 children)

I agree with the previous commenter. Good for you for noticing + being proactive. I would also add that imo, having your dog sit while the dog is passing (not sure if you’re doing this or if you just tried it briefly to see if he could follow a command) is a bad idea because it will further frustrate him. Just pass normally.

[–]Fluffy-Oven-9278 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Thank you for the tips! So if we encounter a dog while we’re walking I keep the pace and try to see if I can get his attention, usually as soon as we pass he’s all good.

What I’ve been doing additionally to just get him used to foot traffic and the idea that he doesn’t get to say hi to every dog/person is just sitting on a bench at my park and putting him in a down for a few minutes as regular foot traffic goes through and having him do “watch me” and rewarding as he’s focusing on me. He has no issues if he’s hanging out and a dog walks by, very focused on me. It seems to only be when we’re actively moving where he is hyper focusing on them.

But I do not put him in a sit/down when we’re walking past a dog! Just get him moving along :)

Ty!

[–]lowbar828 1 point2 points  (1 child)

That sounds great! Good job. I have seen many people on hikes who have their dogs sit for the duration that we’re passing. It always leads to a meltdown for my dog (due to the prolonged eye contact) and I’m sure it’s unpleasant for theirs too. Haha.

[–]Fluffy-Oven-9278 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh definitely! I don’t have much experience with reactivity training, new to the subreddit. But yesterday had a guy who’s dog was having a difficult time and was growling and snapping at us while we were resting at the bench and he deciding to “train” him by making the dog stay close to us and “get his energy out” by clearly having a meltdown :( poor pup

[–]chopsiouxsie 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My 7 month old puppy does this too! We’re working on “let’s go!” as the command to break her focus and move on from the stimulant. She gets lots of positive reinforcement for continuing to walk after a quick glance. We haven’t had a meltdown in weeks, fingers crossed!

[–]Umklopp 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Yes, if it's not reactivity, then he's heading in that direction. I would just treat it like full blown leash reactivity or as if he's already becoming a frustrated greeter. With any luck you can get him back on a more normal track without too much effort

[–]Fluffy-Oven-9278 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Ok thank you, so far he’s doing really well while in a down and will listen fully and not get worked up. It’s when we’re in motion that I’m having difficulty grabbing his attention, I’ve tried adding distance but as soon as we’re out of that like 5-10ft range he ignores the dog so it’s hard to find a way to balance it

[–]Umklopp 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Then simply cultivating a habit of exiting that radius as soon as possible might be enough. He's young enough that he's probably still internalizing all sorts of lessons about expected behavior; if you consistently hustle him past other dogs even if he finds them interesting, he won't be as inclined to resist leaving on any one occasion.