Our Bossy Little Girl is Afraid of Strange Dogs

corbinam said:
What about just popping into doggy daycare? That way it isn't the full 8 hours, you can be there to watch, and you have the benefit of trying to find dogs with the best personality fit (at least to start).
Click to expand...

That's not really an option, as I work out of town, 40 minutes away. I'd drop her off in the morning and wouldn't get home for another 8 hours. The best I might be able to do would be to have my mother pick her up after a half day. Don't get me wrong, if I decide to give doggy daycare a try won't leave her there without first getting to know some of the dogs she'll be there with and making sure she'll be ok with them.
 
Last edited:
The doggy daycares we have here aren't too good so I'm slow in recommending daycares in general. It really depends on the dog if they are suited for that kind of environment. I know of pups who went in to one at 3 months and now at a year they have ALL kinds of problems (resource guarding, aggression towards dogs, etc).

I agree with Caro. I think you should organise small groups of equal sized dogs that are very mild and not over-the-top (so no adolescents! LOL!). When she's ok with that and has tons of great experiences with those types of dogs, then you move on to introducing her to dogs that are a bit more boisterous. She may never play well with the really crazy dogs, but why does she have to? We have certain preconceptions about our dogs and how they need to like all dogs and play well with all dogs, but it's just not like that. WE as people don't like everyone we meet, so we shouldn't hold dogs to a higher standard (tho' we know they are so much better than alot of people! :lol:)

Just take it slow, and let Ginny socialise at her own pace.
 
Is there a dog park near u that has a small dog run? Small dogs don't play as rough as goldens and other big dogs. She will probably have a better experience with smaller dogs. Or do u have any friends with calm or little dogs? you can arrange a play date. check out meetup.com, there might be dog play group in your area.
 
The dog parks in my area aren't too good. We have one a couple of blocks from where we live but there is no separate small dog run. As I said, we have a park 20ft from our house that we usually go to.

Ginny actually does have dog friends. Sadie and Ginny spend a lot of time with our neighbor's bc mixes and she has no issues with them. But as we're at the park so often, I need her to be at least comfortable around other dogs, if not friendly with them.

As for doggie day care, I do have misgivings about it too. If she were to go I would try to ensure that she was paired with calm dogs so that she could have a good experience. If I have any doubts about the dogs she'd be with I won't leave her. It also wouldn't be every day and maybe half days, if I can convince my mother to pick her up for me. If it happened I'm thinking once-twice weekly, half days for maybe 3 weeks.

No meet up groups near my area to join.
 
Last edited:
One other thing. Every morning between 8-8:30 am there is a dog walking group that goes the the park across from our house. They are a nice group of people and mainly have calm, well behaved dogs. Any that may act up stay on leash. We walked with this group last Saturday and Ginny did really well.

The only problem is, I leave for work Mon.-Fri. before 8am so I can only go on weekends (not to mention that I like to sleep in, but will get up early if it benefits Ginny). Is once or twice a week enough?

The weekend after Easter there is an agility competition where we used to train. I figured I'll spend some time there with Ginny and Sadie.
 
hmmm doesn't seem like you have a lot of options. half days at a doggie day might be a good idea. Just make sure the place doesn't take any old dog and does evaluations. Also, make sure they separate the dogs by size and temperament. Find out if the doggie day care has camper cams, so you can watch her.
 
I think any positive exposure is good. Obviously the more you do it, the better, but if all you can do is on the weekends, that would still benefit her, especially if the dogs are as well-behaved as it sounds.

Of course, I don't blame you for wanting to sleep in a bit :smile2:

An agility trial would be a good place, too, as most (and I do emphasize MOST) dogs are well behaved and at least under control. Just make sure that you are careful of the extremely drivey dogs that are getting pumped up for their runs. Even the sights, sounds and smells (with treats) will be good for her.
 
take4roll10 said:
hmmm doesn't seem like you have a lot of options. half days at a doggie day might be a good idea. Just make sure the place doesn't take any old dog and does evaluations. Also, make sure they separate the dogs by size and temperament. Find out if the doggie day care has camper cams, so you can watch her.
Click to expand...

This particular doggie daycare is run by my mother's friend, out of her home, so I seriously doubt there are web cams.

I have a few options, I'm just debating them all at this point. :smile2: I'm really unsure as to what is best for Ginny, since I've pretty much failed her up until this point. :no:

I will be doing an obedience class with her, hopefully this month. I'm just not convinced it will be enough to help her with her fear when she's at the park off leash. Maybe I should just wait and see.

I'm debating posting an ad on kijiji to see if I can find any dog owners interested in meeting up, but you never know what you're going to get with strangers, even if I request polite, well behaved dogs.

I guess I can keep looking into the dog parks, even though the ones in my area are terrible (They basically picked areas that are not fit for human use, they're extremely muddy and wet and one is built on contaminated soil. Yeah, you read right). I'll just have to try and be more selective of who I let around Ginny.

I'll give my mom's friend a call in the next couple of days and see what she says. I'm not positive she's accepting other dogs and I'll have to see if she has dogs that be good with Ginny.
 
agreed, once again with Caro!

Toffee is also saucy with other dogs, he used to be very snappy and really hates the big Oafs that come charging at his face (speak Labs and gd GoldenDoodles LOL) ... he defended himself by snapping before anybody had a chance to come at him and wouldn't back down!
Now he is MUCH better, but I did it the slow way, also just being around the dogs, playing ball, and he can play with the ones he likes (all little breeds, he loves). I rewarded with a click and a treat when he met a new dog and does NOT snap or curls his lips, etc He is much less frustrated now, and it is getting better each day.
Even if he has a lip curl or a snarl, he comes out of it so much faster, knowing he wasn't supposed to say hello that way!

SO I wouldn't recommend doggy daycare, personally at THIS stage, because you won't be there to do the training...
 
Last edited:
Toffee's Mom said:
agreed, once again with Caro!

Toffee is also saucy with other dogs, he used to be very snappy and really hates the big Oafs that come charging at his face (speak Labs and gd GoldenDoodles LOL) ... he defended himself by snapping before anybody had a chance to come at him and wouldn't back down!
Now he is MUCH better, but I did it the slow way, also just being around the dogs, playing ball, and he can play with the ones he likes (all little breeds, he loves). I rewarded with a click and a treat when he met a new dog and does NOT snap or curls his lips, etc He is much less frustrated now, and it is getting better each day.
Even if he has a lip curl or a snarl, he comes out of it so much faster, knowing he wasn't supposed to say hello that way!

SO I wouldn't recommend doggy daycare, personally at THIS stage, because you won't be there to do the training...
Click to expand...

I had a similar issue with Sadie for a while, she got fed up with the pushier dogs barking in her face and began snapping. It got a bit out of hand for a while (she was snapping at the dogs she liked whenever she felt crowded or was just being bossy) so I worked with her and we reached a sort of compromise. I stopped expecting her to like all dogs and started protecting her more from the rude dogs that just wanted to get into her face. She's a bit of a dog snob and seems to ignore all but the herding breeds, but each to his own.

If someone is annoying her I immediately remove her from the situation now. I also taught her that she is NOT allowed to snap at her friend in a bossy way, or when she was in the car (again, being bossy) and when she's in the car with her friends (we all go hiking together), I make sure that she doesn't get pushed around in all of the excitement. This has worked out really well for her.

I guess Caro is right about Ginny, maybe I'll forget about the dog park, meet up groups and doggy daycare for now. Maybe for now I'll try to get her to places like petsmart, that agility competition in a couple of weeks and the nice dogs at the park across the street on weekends. Not to mention an obedience class. If things aren't improving then I'll consider other options.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top