# leash excitement I've mentioned before how excited Joey gets when meeting other dogs on leash. Its not aggression (there is no teeth or snarls or growls) but he lunges and barks excitedly when he wants to greet another dog. I've tried every training technique I can think of only to have minimal progress. I've tried… ## Thread In Behavior · started by _dlroberts · 11 replies - **Category:** [Behavior](https://nihonken.org/community/c/behavior) - **Forum:** [Nihon Ken Forum](https://nihonken.org/community/) ## _dlroberts · 2008-08-18T12:57:55.000Z I've mentioned before how excited Joey gets when meeting other dogs on leash. Its not aggression (there is no teeth or snarls or growls) but he lunges and barks excitedly when he wants to greet another dog. I've tried every training technique I can think of only to have minimal progress. I've tried redirecting with noise and/or treats which he completely ignores (he even spits out the treats). I've tried forcing him into a sit-stay or down-stay which works for all of five seconds before he's up and lunging forward again. I've had some neighbors kind enough to wait for 20 minutes while I continued to try to get him to remain calm. Nothing. I've tried walking away whenever he gets excited which works until we turn around and walk back toward the other dog. It then starts all over again. I've tried butt tapping with my foot (NOT KICKING, just touching) which also has no appreciable effect. When the other owner allows their dog to come close enough (usually despite my objections) Joey will jump up and try to dominate them by pawing at their face. I know he's still young (7 months in two more days), but I'm really starting to worry that one day he's going to try this with a reactive dog and get destroyed. Any suggestions? ## tsukitsune (moderator) · 2008-08-18T13:47:31.000Z Ah, the Zen of dog meets dog. From experience with Tsuki's over zealous NEED to meet every single dog, we've determined that when she pulls until her nails are almost a part of the asphalt, she’s frustrated. She’s actually throwing a canine tantrum in a way. With her I think she did not have adequate elder-dog lessons on how to appropriately greet dogs. When she gets to meet a dog, she goes face first, jumpy, I'm always afraid she's going to be her stuff messed up by a not so enthusiastic dog! Its a work in progress, but this is what we're doing 1. Work on leash pulling - is he normally a good leash walker? If so, yay! Step one complete! 2. Getting Tsuki to realize that pulling does not equal getting what she wants, rather a calm approach or completing a sit stay will get you what you want. If she pulls, we do not greet the dog. If she sits, she gets to greet the dog. 3. If she does not respond to sit-stay, we stop dead, move a few feet until she is by my side again, make her sit. We repeat this so many times its not funny. This works because they tend to learn to look at you when they want to move again, and reinforces the 'watch me' command and the 'leave it' command that we use with unwanted attention grabbers, like bunnies or something. If she's not with me mentally, its a wasted training session. 4. Chose the right equipment - Tsuki does OK on a regular harness, but an easy walk is better for her and a 4 foot lead or shorter until its mastered. And I try to remember that inconsistency is our worst sin with training something like this. We have to remember to convey to her that before you meet a dog, you must learn to pass a dog - CALMLY! I'm sure you've tried all of this already, but I hope it helps a little! This is actually on Tsuki's expectations "chart". Its a work in progress still! :) ## tsukitsune (moderator) · 2008-08-18T13:48:51.000Z oh! and equipment and training wise, I try to keep it all 100% positive reinforcement, no painful equipment as to not exacerbate the issue and have her associate pain/bad things with other dogs and thus prevent on leash aggression. ## _dlroberts · 2008-08-18T15:18:23.000Z Thanks Jen! I'm trying very hard to keep it positive. I'm not going to lie, I'm starting to lose patience with him. After I wrote this post this morning, he managed to break the retractable leash I use to take him out for potty breaks. At that point it was hopeless for me to control him and still hold on to Lucy. So yes, I've tried exactly that progression you describe. No luck at all. :-/ ## ljowen123 (moderator) · 2008-08-18T15:37:34.000Z Are you able to get Joey to heel? ## Sangmort (moderator) · 2008-08-18T16:25:26.000Z He actually spit out the treats? It's as if to say, "That's not going to work, & just to prove it to you, I'm not going to eat them either!" A Shiba Tantrum? :) ~ ## Romi (admin) · 2008-08-18T17:11:16.000Z I think you should try to find someone nearby with a pretty laid back dog. Do a lot of meet-n-greet training. Basically, there are 2 commands. "Say Hello!" and "Leave It". When you allow him to greet say "Say Hello" and when he tries to lunge or starts getting too excited say "leave it" and move a couple feet back and wait for him to calm down. And then....REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT! I think Joey is soooo excited that nothing matters to him except meeting that dog. So I can understand why he isn't taking treats or listening to your commands. Maybe another thing you can try is do some obedience training while other dogs walk by him. So he learns to be more focused on you and not the other dogs. I'm tellin ya Dave...you gotta sign up for those Obedience Classes! I think it would do a lot for Joey, especially since he has a hard time concentrating on you with other dogs around, this will really help since you will have at least 5-8 other dogs around you while training. ## JessicaRabbit (admin) · 2008-08-18T17:21:02.000Z Romi's right. Obedience class would be HUGE for him. It really is fun too. ## _dlroberts · 2008-08-18T17:39:09.000Z I know. I know. I'm a moron for not doing obedience classes. I'm sure it would help a lot. Its not that he has a hard time concentrating on me when other dogs are around. He is very good when we do obedience in the dog run (although I've never tried with more than three dogs around to distract him). This is completely an on leash thing. And even then, he'll concentrate on me as long as I concentrate on him (usually). As soon as I look away or release him, he's off like a bat out of hell. It sounds like everyone is basically suggesting I do what I've been doing. I guess I just have to wait longer. The problem is finding someone to work with that is willing to wait it out with me. His "tantrums" have gone on for more than 20 minutes. I don't mind waiting that long, but its tough to do the training if I need someone else to be there for that long to help. ## JessicaRabbit (admin) · 2008-08-18T17:42:31.000Z That is why classes rock. You have someone to do the work with you. A whole room even. You are not a moron. Not even close. I will tell you first hand the only dog of my three that wasn't in class is Moto and he is the one that listens the least. Now I will acknowledge that my other two are also know to be more obedient breeds but still... ## brada1878 (admin) · 2008-08-18T19:12:42.000Z I can't help you at all as our dogs are horrible on leash with other dogs. I can tell you this tho: I feel your pain. ;o) ---- ## Leonberger (admin) · 2008-08-18T19:22:06.000Z I'm sympathetic to your pain too. Kuma used to do pretty much what you described, not to so much extent. Just holding on to him and not letting walk/jump/scrape asphalt towards the other dog, and adding "leave it" or "no" got him to somewhat understand my point, as he doesn't do it as often as he used to, and definitely not as hard. But it's far from perfect, and occasionally he'll try it. --- **Navigate:** [Forum home](https://nihonken.org/community/?format=md) · [Sitemap](https://nihonken.org/community/sitemap.xml)