Need Help With Proper Dog Greetings

Hi there.

Satchel's issue sounds just like our 2 yrs old Noah's problem. The only difference is that Noah is very good with people, except for a couple of men so far. He likes to be patted so he likes to visit with strangers too.

Noah was fine with other dogs until he started attending intermediate training class where he was barked at and lunged at by an aggressive pit bull. He became very aggressive with other dogs in the off-leash park, especially he has a ball in his mouth. He snapped at handful of dogs and had a bad reputation at the park.

I finally realized that he became more protective when he was fetching a ball and I stopped throwing balls for him completely. It was a right decision because he became more relaxed since then.

I took some agility classes with my other rescued dog, Holly, and I know that some dogs get very excited by doing agility. In fact, Holly barks a lot in the class. My guess is that Satchel also feels the excitement and that might contribute to his nervousness.

We adopted Noah about a year ago when he was already an adult dog so I don't know if he had a proper socialization or not. Therefore, after he got the aggression issue, I started taking Noah to doggie day care once a week for a few hours just to get used to other dogs, as well as to the off-leash park almost everyday. Because Noah has leash aggression, it is best for him to meet with other dogs in an open area. He used to snap at dogs when they stared at him with their faces too close to him but now he has learned to ignore them and just move himself away from those dogs. When I see him being nervous or rolling his lips at a dog, I either reassure him by saying "Be nice, Noah" or recall him by saying "Noah, come over here". He listens to me and he rarely snaps these days. I am very pleased with his improvement.

I thought I was giving him fun and building his confidence by throwing balls for him since he was so good at fetch but I was just building his protectiveness. I miss playing fetch with him but I decided not to start it until he really learns to get along with any kind of dog.

I hope this will help. Good luck

Hi msheedy.

I think your plan sounds the best - Satchel needs to be around good temperament dogs to gain his confidence.

As you said, there are a bunch of people who don't control their dogs and there ARE some dogs that are aggressive too. In fact, my dog Noah was one of them until just recently.

I had my sister's dog, a German shepherd mix, with us last weekend. It was a first meet for Noah. Of course Noah got nervous at first and he even snapped because the dog was bigger than Noah. Eventually, he learned to just pass by him without making any attempt of snapping or making faces and toward the end of their stay Noah was somewhat comfortable with the dog.

I thought something like this would be beneficial for Noah.

Your idea of borrowing the Golden retriever sounds like a good start!!

Good luck