Hi,

I have a 7 month old male husky who so far has been very good and a lot better behaved than I was expecting!

He seems to have developed a massive urge to go and greet every single dog he sees.  He will literally be on his hind legs trying to pull me towards the dog.  If he gets there he jumps on them, swipes at their face and gets very excited.  It doesn't seem at all aggressive, just crazy playful.  Interestingly he doesn't do it when he mets another husky.  He used to want to greet other dogs but once he had had a sniff he would walk away.  Now when we get him away he jumps all over the place or tries to go after them.

He does know the command 'leave' but he does not listen when another dog is involved.

Is this teenage behaviour? Does anyone have any ideas to how we can approach calmly? I don't want him never to be able to play with another dog, owners of different breeds don't seem to understand husky play!

Any help is greatly appreciated
Thanks

Maybe red light green light would work. Only moving closer when he is not pulling. Take the most tasty treats and try to get him away from other dog too once they meet. Then let him go back. I know puppy school has been helpful with loki as they have play time and use other dogs as distractions. It lets you practice with others trying to practice too. Maybe others have some thoughts too.

Dizzy used to be awful about this, although his approach tactic was a bit different. He would hit the deck and lay down, and even put his head on the ground, imagine a border collie stalking sheep. When the dog got semi close, he would spring to his feet and then go into full on husky attack play mode, and usually get corrected by the other dog. I've managed to break the laying down habit, but if he is wound up he will stand on his hind legs and jump and do his play growl, which actually scares people.

The thing that has been working best for him has been a combination of really high value treats (Diz is crazy for cheese) and well timed leash corrections. When I notice him start to glance or look at another dog I say his name and praise if I get eye contact, if I don't I put the treat under his nose (which almost never fails) and then get him to make eye contact as we pass, as we go by, I say "on by" and use a gentle leash correction if he breaks eye contact. Once we pass, he gets the treat. Usually after he gets the treat he starts looking back over his shoulder as he's walking, at that point, I'll give him a light leash correction to 'remind' him to keep going. I think in the beginning, I would let him nibble on the treat as we walked by. I use cheese, beef jerky, lunch meat, bologna, hot dogs, or liver, dog treats just weren't good enough to 'win' his focus. If he is really in a wild state, then I step off to the side and make him stand or sit and face me as the other dog passes. Since I'm in the city, it's impossible to take a walk without seeing another dog, so we get lots of practice.

Also, since it's still a work in progress, I don't yet allow him to meet and approach other dogs while we are walking on the leash unless he is totally focused on me. He gets plenty of socialization from day care and the dog park so he's not at the point where I want him to be yet.

My approach was a little different. I started periodically taking the dogs to the dog park. Now that they've gotten used to the idea that when we go for a ride, it's usually to the dog park, where they get to go nuts and socialize with other dogs and people all they want.

I know there are pros and cons to dog parks, and in many areas, they're not good. I'm just able to go when they're lightly populated, so there aren't TOO many interactions to be concerned about.

Now my biggest problem is dogs behind fences, and squirrels. THOSE disrupt nice quiet walks. Joggers and cyclists can too, if they come up on us too fast, but that's my mix's protective instincts kicking in. Generally I keep my eyes open for anyone coming from any direction, to prepare to pull over to the side.

If he misbehaves, don't let him greet the dog. When he gets to greet a dog or person when he is in that state, he will have it engrained in his mind that it is perfectly okay to behave like that. Prevention is the key.

Sheba used to do the same as Dizzy; stalk the dog and then spring into action. I would call her name and tell her "watch me". When she even glanced back at me, I would mark the behavior and treat her instantly. You have a less then 30 second window to mark a behavior and to treat the behavior before the dog has lost the connection. I would also give Sheba an "ah ah" if she started to protest and start howling. Whining is just fine with me, but sounding like you are dying and lunging is not.

What I did with Sheba as a younger puppy is take her to pet stores and the park all the time. I would put her in a sit, and make her stay there for 5-10 minutes at a time while dogs walked past us...but she couldn't greet them. We have to teach our dogs that not every dog needs to be greeted. I would work on "watch me" and keeping her under her threshold. I would give her breaks and let her walk around the store; but she would only greet a dog that I deemed okay. If the dog was over excited, nope. Only calm dogs were allowed; otherwise I would be takings 5 steps back with her training.

Work on a "watch me" or "on by". I just use "on by" with my pups because the are mature enough and know better than to cause a scene now. Teach your pup by showing him that not every dog needs to be greeted; and he can only greet dogs when he is calm and when you allow it.

Good luck!

I had another breakthrough last night with this issue and was thinking about this thread this morning on our walk. I say 'I' had a breakthrough because it really was a change in my behavior that created a change in Dizzy's behavior. I noticed that if I keep him at a good pace and just totally ignore other dogs on our walk and for the most part ignore Dizzy (aside from making sure he doesn't have enough leash to approach), he doesn't try to approach and doesn't fixate as badly. Then after we pass, he gets a treat. We made it almost all the way through our 45 min walk before I had to upgrade from kibble to cheese.

At times other dog owners make it hard and try to let their dog approach Dizzy to play and I just tell them he's not friendly. Usually I can get them to stay away with my body language, but sometimes I have to verbalize it. I either just say, "No, sorry, we're training," or if they really don't get the hint, I say, "He's not good with little dogs." On a tangent rant, why is it always small dog owners that let their dogs randomly run up to strangers dogs, while yapping their faces off? The look like freakin squeaky toys. Gr! I guess I'll just think of it as an added challenge. Anyway, controlling my reaction and making it a non-issue seemed to really help Dizzy. I also have totally stopped letting him play with other dogs on the walk unless he approaches standing up and semi calmly, otherwise it becomes a self rewarding behavior.

Im having this problem with my pup as well. Im afraid for her to be around small dogs. She literally lunges at them! She grew up with a 35 lb cocker spaniel and they play fine and there's never been a problem. But shes also scared of bigger dogs( my brothers pitbull whose super friendly!). She got out of my sisters grip one day and ran up to an old black lab and wanted to play so bad and was running around them like crazy and trying to chew on this dog she didnt know! s\Scariest thing ive ever seen i thought that the other dog was going to get mad and bit her! Luckily he was an older well trained dog and stood there the whole time and did nothing!