Interesting point my trainer made about handling dog to dog greetings should they occur
Was just in agility class today and the instructor mentioned an interesting note I thought I'd pass on. To preface it, almost all of the class is off leash/ leash on but not being held with puppies and young dogs and the instructor's dog is always stationed on his bed nearby watching her train. Needless to say there were a lot of puppies that got distracted and kept trying to greet her dog and crawl into his bed to say hi.
To get to my point, the instructor mentioned that in these situations where two dogs are greeting nose to nose, it's in their best interest not to pull them away from each other by the leash. The sensation of pulling the dog away while they're facing each other creates a desire for them to lunge and pull towards the dog. This in turn can develop into reactivity/ increase the reactivity. Rather than pulling the pup away with your leash, you should grab their collar, redirect their head away from the other dog and walk them back to their crate/away from the dog.
I thought someone might find that interesting and hopefully useful. The general rule is never to let the dogs greet (as it is in this class) but I don't think I've come across anything about what to do if you hit the situation where your dogs do end up greeting.
Also, seeing a 14 week old aussie crawl into a very confused but going with the flow border collie's bed is just about the cutest thing ever.
Posted Jul 12, 2020, 9:13 AM UTC · edited
If you have a reactive dog and suddenly find that they’re nose to nose with another dog, sometimes time is an important factor and you might not have enough to reach for their collar vs using the leash to get them away; plus, some dogs will redirect onto their owners when reacting or upset. I’m not totally sure I follow the difference between pulling on a dog’s collar with a leash vs your hand, either!
As far as preventing reactivity goes, I find that the ideal meeting is a loose leash while paying very close to the dogs’ body language. A lot of the owners keep the leash tight enough for the dogs to sniff noses but not complete the natural progression of nose->butt, keeping them face to face longer than they would off-leash which can lead to conflict. If my dog is doing well enough to greet, I usually allow about three seconds of loose sniffing followed by a happy “let’s go!” and either gently pulling him away with the leash or luring him away with a treat
So is the nose to nose greeting the normal way dogs usually initiate the greeting? I remember reading somewhere you should never allow this and allow only butt sniffs, but my dog always goes nose to nose first. Haven’t had an issue with it but wondering if it’s normal or not.
To be honest, it can vary between dogs, but the typical progression for a natural, off-leash greeting is nose to butt, spending only a second or two nose to nose. Some dogs omit that part altogether, some dogs tend to linger which again can cause issues. I’ve found anecdotally that the more confident a dog is, the less being nose-to-nose for longer periods bothers them.
It's weird but my reactive Dog2 usually greets nose-to-nose. I can't think I have ever seen her sniff a strange dogs' butt.
Dog2 appears to have not been socialized with other dogs during her socialization window ... and probably taken from her litter way too young. She completely lacks understanding of dog language. I believe she may have spent at least some time with cats during her puppyhood though as she is much more comfortable and confident with them and seems to read their language better.
Yep, what works for one dog doesn’t always work for another! I’ve seen lots of dogs that are friendly but lack manners stay nose to nose because they just don’t know better, which upsets the greeting dog who may take it as a threat.
The point of the collar vs leash is to break eye contact on the dog. When you redirect head direction, they're not going to feel the need to lunge in the direction their head is now turned bc the dog isn't there. If you have a leash, they're still focused and pointed on the dog, want to stay there, and then will start lunging to stay there when being taken away.
Time isn't really an issue when the dog isn't reactive, this is just how to address the situation to not increase the risk of reactivity as a lot of popular agility breeds are prone to it.
For reactive dogs where time is important, I think this idea translates into use a head collar not just a harness/collar when walking your dog. You can redirect the head when he sees another dog from far away and you can also redirect if he greets without having to bend down and go for the collar. Susan Garrett suggests this actually, though she never gave a reason related to reactivity for this.
Well, since this is a sub for reactive dogs it makes sense that that advice wouldn’t really apply to most people here haha. You can certainly opt for a head collar, but in my experience that’s still introducing physical tension to a situation where it would be more ideal to have a cue to teach your dog to disengage/move away, like “let’s go” or “leave it”. I always try to encourage my dog and my clients to allow their dogs the choice to move away where it’s possible and safe to do so, rather than pulling them either by leash, collar, or head halter/harness.
I think this is good advice, when introducing my dogs the only times it’s gone from tense to fight has been when I physically pushed or pulled on one without breaking their eye contact. If I can make them look away, it breaks the tension. If I pull straight back or push on the dog in front of me, they’re triggered.
How you grab the collar matters.
My method is walk in close talking in a happy excited voice ("Hey guys! What'cha doin' ") and step close to my dogs paws. The dog's reaction is to look down at my feet, take a step back, then glance up with a "hey, watch your step" expression in her face. Now both dogs are looking at me and thinking about me, and I can safely get control of my dog's head without startling either into thinking the other dog is the one moving.
Also if your dog is collar shy, there's a collar grab game you can play during random times of the day to help reduce the anxiety. Just grab their collar, treat and mark good collar each time you grab it. Do it a few times a day, not when you actually need to control them, but just randomly and they'll soon get used to it.
I actually never go for a collar grab with a not-calm dog. I grab with both hands in the notch between the neck and the shoulders. When a collar slips, your hand and arm ends up passing right by all the pointy teeth. I bear scars from being in the middle of a failed collar grab.
I can either control the situation by creating space or hands on fur as a calming aid and signaling tool, or the situation is already out of control and I need a safer hold like a harness or rear end lift.
What do I do if my dog is reactive when a dog gets close to his private area? (Meaning his butt and penis) because he has no problem doing it to other dogs but not letting dogs do that to him.
My dog had/has that problem as well, it’s just a case of counterconditioning and desensitization! So with a calm dog that you know you can trust, allow your dog to sniff, then distract him with treats while the other dog approaches. You might not get all the way to sniffing the first time, or the other dog may only be able to sniff for a split second before you need to separate them to prevent a reaction.
Thank you! My dog always gives a caution bark and quickly flips himself when a dog smells that area bc sadly the next thing that's happened when he let it was another dog trying to hump him. When that action happens he growls and moves. This might not sound bad since he hasnt attacked but I rather fix it before it escalates