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Making Friends

Discussion in 'General Dog Chat' started by JacqueZ, May 7, 2019.

  1. JacqueZ

    JacqueZ Forums Enthusiast

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    Mango's never been the friendliest dog, getting her in the winter when she was to little to go on walks, meant socializing was an issue; after her first heat and spay that shyness turned into fear aggression, and we've worked really hard the past two years on being able to walk past other dogs calmly. She's doing great with that this year, but she still has issues with other dogs getting to close. Which was a worry since my sisters dog passed away and she was finally ready to get a new one.

    They picked a little chiweenie (ChiChi), and I made a point of going over and getting it's scent all over me a few times, and we held the phones up so they could bark at each other, and we hoped desperately that we'd be able to introduce them successfully.

    On Easter, a month and a half after my sister got the dog, we decided to give it a try, and she brought her over. We had my sister spend the first 30 minutes holding the puppy, and mango was leashed so we could pull her back if she got weird. And it worked. They sniffed at each other and were cautiously distant without any large issues.

    But, she brought her over for a second, quieter visit, today and it went really well!! They sniffed around each other in the backyard. They chased some toys together, they chased each other and by the end Mango would fetch her toys and drop it at the puppies feet so she could have a turn. It went so well, and I'm so happy that we're making progress like this. I watch my nieces in the summer and hopefully this means chichi can come over with them and not be stuck at home all alone!

    Now to just keep working to get Mango comfortable with larger dogs...like the golden retriever behind us that she likes to bark at, while he sits and stares affably at her.
     
    corbinam, KarenCurtis, ghggp and 5 others like this.
  2. ghggp

    ghggp Moderator

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    Absolutely awesome progress! Sounds like you are well on your way to more positive interactions!
    Bravo!
     
    Calliesmom likes this.
  3. JacqueZ

    JacqueZ Forums Enthusiast

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    I really hope so! It's been such a relief being able to walk down the street without any issues. Hopefully we'll be able to do parks more often this year too, it was so stressful always fighting with this. I hated that walks had turned into such a negative activity that I dreaded doing them. I think the turning point was me starting to pick Mango up whenever we had to pass dogs. It seemed like that action left her feeling secure that I wasn't going to let anything happen to her, and let her know she didn't have to force herself into contact with other dogs, even if Honey wanted to meet them.

    Now when we walk down the road and one of the neighbor dogs start barking and leaping around Mango looks right to me and focuses on the treat in my hand. Even if she gets overwhelmed and starts to bark, if I tell her to focus she calms down really quick, and there's no lunging. Honey's making progress with cars driving past too! :) (Because of course when one dog starts reacting to things badly, the other is going to get stressed and start acting out) She's really good about sitting down off to the side when they pass now. If it's exceptionally busy she'll end up too stressed by the end of the walk, but we're down to about one bout of barking and chasing a week, if even that.
     
  4. ghggp

    ghggp Moderator

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    Good idea to pick her up! But, I have the opposite problem that you have. Liam is so fearful and always darts behind me am my trainer told me to never let him do that as he needs to know I will protect him. As long as he does a sit stay at my side he will learn to be OK.
     
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  5. Caro

    Caro Moderator

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    That's fantastic. Tully never completely got over her fear of big dogs, but she did love her girlfriends who were all bigger than her.
     
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  6. JacqueZ

    JacqueZ Forums Enthusiast

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    I didn't try it for the longest time, because everything I had read said that carrying dogs wouldn't work/will make the problem worse...and certainly it didn't help with Honey's car lunging at all, other than making sure she couldn't reach them. But exceptions to all the rules I guess! It's nice that you have a trainer to talk to and work with Liam with, I know he'll get there for you!
     
  7. JacqueZ

    JacqueZ Forums Enthusiast

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    That's funny, I know they say girls are supposed to be harder to introduce, but I honestly think all of mine prefer females to males too.
     
  8. Caro

    Caro Moderator

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    You'll tend to get people with big dogs telling you not to pick up a small dog. I encourage people with a small dog to consider picking up their dog to remove them from a situation. When a dog is scared or overwhelmed, picking up the dog is far better than dragging them out by the lead. You're right Jacque, it does give them confidence - confidence that you will handle the situation and they don't have to. The problem is when you pick the dog up and don't leave/deal with the situation and your dog still feels unsafe and loses trust in you. Car lunging is different as it's not really a fear thing and they don't really want you to stop it!
     
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  9. Sharon7

    Sharon7 Moderator

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    I have definitely picked mine up on the occasion where I thought it was warranted. Hasn't done them any harm. I would do this more often with Ally, especially at the Collie rescue house, where she was a midget among 8 - 9 big Collies (who were all very sweet, actually). She would just get overwhelmed and when I picked her up she'd settle right down, although ordinarily she HATED being picked up.
     
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  10. JacqueZ

    JacqueZ Forums Enthusiast

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    That was when I figured it was probably the right move, Mango doesn't like being picked up, especially by me, she's a small border collie, but that's still decently big. But after the first few times she started jumping into it to help. It's ridiculous, because I'd be carrying her past little shitzu's as well as big breeds. She is such a baby.
     

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