Socialising Dogs

[BC Crazy]

I agree with everyone's comments thus far

Staffyluv, Zig is YOUR dog.... You call all the shots with him... You have every right to have him mix or not mix with whatever dog YOU choose. No instructor or anyone else.

You know your dog best. Nobody else. You were totally within your rights to take him out of that scene. I would of done the very same thing. I commend you for doing just that.

I used to lack confidence in this leadership area as well but having Stella who as you know is reactive/nervous, she has taught me tonnes & I have loads

more confidence now & no hesitation in letting people know I don't wish for their dog to go near Stella. With some folks you have to be a bit more direct than I would like to but so be it.

Zig has come such a long way & you have put the hard yards in with him. He is a real credit to you. Keep up the great work :)

Edited May 20, 2013 by BC Crazy

[Staffyluv]

Thanks BC - Like I said, I really wanted to know if I had done the right thing by pulling him out and telling the instructor (and other dog owner) that I wasn't happy for Zig to meet face to face with this dog due his the other dogs previous record.

Corvus gave me a good suggestion how to handle it a bit better if it ever happens again - just move my dog away and get on with it.

[mitnpowa]

The instructor needs to a little more reading on canine behaviour and calming signals, etc. He may then understand more of what the dogs are communicating. Your Zig indicated quite classically what he wanted and was forced to do otherwise, not a good idea. Both dogs were put into a situation where their fight/flight instinct could very easily have been 'fight' due to their inability to get away, and with the instructor in the middle???? Not a position I would want to find myself in I can assure you.

It would be interesting to know what the other dog is like when he is not around such a large group of dogs and not being 'corrected', he may be very stressed and acting out as a result of the environment he finds himself in. Lots of praise for doing the right thing IMO, far outweighs lots of corrections for the wrong.

[Staffyluv]

mitnpowa, the other dog is a nice dog (with people). There is one other dog that he play bows with - but the play doesn't go any further than that, just the bowing bit.

He doesn't appear to be an overly stimulated dog when he is on his own with his owner - quite calm in fact, when he is just standing around. He doesn't seem to be overly interested in treats for training or pats (he is happy to let you pat him but he doesn't get a waggy tail like so many other dogs do when a person pats them).

He isn't an in your face dog - he is quite but you can see he is tense (he holds himself very stiffly) and he stares down other dogs all the time. It is like he is frozen in place sometimes he is so still when he is staring.

There is one female Sibe in the advanced group and they can't be anywhere near each other - lots of snarling and lunging if they are.

He seems to stand very quiet and then he just launches at a dog. There are obvious signs, he is tense, his ears are forward and he is staring down whatever he is about to lunge at.

There are a couple of us who have tried to point this out to the owner but she doesn't see it.