[SirTeddykins]

Teddy went to the park today and every time he wouldn't stop barking at the sight of another dog in the distance, I reeled him in on his extend-o leash and made him lie down and be quiet for ten seconds, praised him and let him run in the direction of the dogs as a reward for being quiet. It seemed to work ie when he saw dogs he made moves towards them, as I allow him to greet, but didn't bark as much? I understand that being on the leash is not natural for dogs so they lunge, bark etc. but I am trying to teach him some manners because, on more than one occasion, a nice meet/greet turned into a potential fight because Teddy doesn't shut up! For example, a female husky wanted to play today but was accompanied by a smaller dog who greeted Teddy very sweetly, initially, but then became aggressive so I had to pull Teddy all the way into my arms with the leash. Not a nice situation because, obviously, something horrible could have happened had I not been quick on the mark.




He has definitely improved in his behavior once he meets up with a dog, though. He is quiet and doesn't jump up on them like he used to which is great. He used to not shut up no matter how long the dog tolerated him before so I'm relieved there's some improvement in this area.


Also, after making sure that Teddy was calm in the house before walking, I walked in front of him and out the door to force him to follow. As I'm locking the door, he barks uncontrollably (and sounded like a pig squeeling!) which I assume is as a result of either anxiety or excitement. I, therefore, made him lie down again for ten seconds and praised him for holding position quietly before commencing the walk. Each time he chirped or whined during the walk, I repeated this technique. It SEEMS to be working but I don't want it to work because its novel instead of correct if that makes sense?


However, he started chirping again and barking when we came back home and I was trying to fit the key to open the door. I repeated making him lie down with a command, holding him in position with the harness, commanding him to be quiet and praising him after ten seconds and releasing him from position. However, he did nip at me so obviously he was still stressed or overly excited.


Anyway, opinions/thoughts appreciated. I hope this post makes sense! It's very hard to sneak time in between preparing dinner and everything else that goes along with running a house on borrowed time!