Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike_and_Me  Thank you so much, Joan, for the reassurance and much needed wisdom. reading your reply makes me believe in my own intuition. Thank you.
I don't know why I feel like I owe any explanation to those strangers, but probably because Mike's my first dog and hearing those comments makes me feel like i've somehow deprived the dog of the dog's happiness. If it makes sense.
How is Cody doing now with other dogs around? |
It's human nature to feel like you need to explain yourself to ppl. Always go with your gut feeling, you have nothing to prove to anyone. These lil yorkies have big dog attitude, out of fear they will fight. Every member on this board will do what ever it takes to protect their baby and you are no different then anyone here. Dog parks to me are dangerous, you have a bunch of dogs all running loose, anything can happen, you can have dogs that know each other, play great together then one day bingo, a fight breaks out. You can take Mike to stores like PetSupplies, PetSmart, PetCo where there are other dogs. Train Mike to "leave it" if you have not already taught him that. Put him in the baby seat of the cart and just stroll up and down the isles, keep his leash short, just enough leash to keep him in a sit position. If he sees another dog and growls tell him "leave it" then turn the cart around and walk in the opposite direction. You can also stand outside the store where ppl and their dogs trickle in and out, but not stand close to the entrance, this gives Mike a chance to see other dogs of all sizes, if he growls at them tell him "leave it" give him a treat only if he stops the bad behavior. You can also take him to stores like Home Depot or Loews if you have these stores, it is never to late to socialize a dog, Mike at a year old is still a puppy and can be socialized with other dogs. Not all dogs are born liking other dogs.
Cody has gotten worse over the last several months lol, now in the baby seat of a cart he wants to lunge at other dogs. Vet visits are humiliating for me. I never had a dog act so bad and aggressive, ppl look at me as if it's my fault, I roll my eyes and say he's a rescue. I have found a dog behaviorist 2 hours from where I live. She has a small group of small dog walks, she watches the dogs behavior around other dogs then works with that. These walks are once a month, but she has training sessions during the week. I wasn't able to make the last walk, I am waiting for email on when the next meet up is.
You can also do a google search for a dog behaviorist to work on Mike's fear of dogs. It is nice to have a dog that is dog friendly but if it's not meant to be and he is all that you say he is, happy, loving, friendly with those he knows then it is what it is.