"Manners" when meeting new dogs? Is there such a thing?

BlueEyedGirl · #1 09-26-2008, 01:54 PM

There is a popular walking path near my house and I occasionally take my puppy that way to meet other dogs. My concern is that he just wants to play with every dog that comes by, but they want nothing to do with his excitement. He tries to play with any size dog, small or full grown ones. It doesn't matter to him, he's not afraid.

Should I try to train him to not go up on his back legs and stick his arms out everytime he meets a new dog? (He is almost 5 months old) Should I try to get him to hold still instead? He tries to play before he even smells them, or let them smell him.

Is it natural for him to want to play and the other dogs to not be interested? Perhaps these are well trained dogs and they "know" they shouldn't behave like that?

daizysmom · #2 09-26-2008, 09:50 PM

Daizy does the same thing! I really worry every time we meet a new dog because I don't know how the owner will react to Daizys excitement. Hopefully someone on here will have some great advice for us.

BxrMommieNAZ · #3 09-26-2008, 10:05 PM

Personally I taught my pup that jumping, overly excited behavior, etc is never okay whether it's with people or other dogs. Now if they get to sniffing each other, start to play, well then I let them go and just be dogs and play how they choose (with supervision) however yes dogs DO have a proper way of greeting each other and to some other dogs overly excited behavior and cause them to attack. If we are on walks, my pup must walk beside me (heel) and deviating from this regardless of what is going on is not okay without my permission and he gets a correction if he tries to.

I would recommend that when you guys are on walks you stick to walking and he can play when it's playtime. For us, walks are not considered playtime they are walks. And typically dogs "introduce" themselves by sniffing rear ends first, then sniffing faces, THEN going off to play if things work out.

Your pup is still young though and where some of it is instinctual some of it needs to be taught as well. I would start with not allowing him to act that way while on a walk and give a correction (then a treat when it is performed correctly) when he learns to disregard the dog, cat, person, etc passing by.

Good luck!

johann · #4 09-29-2008, 06:18 PM

How many dogs does he meet on a regular basis? Our puppy was the same way, especially with small dogs.

I started bringing him on walks and making him ignore other people and dogs (much to his disappointment). We practiced either a sit/stay or down/stay whenever a dog walked by. But, I also started bringing him to a local dog park on quiet afternoons (only 2-3 other dogs there) and letting him play with others off leash. It only took a few times of him jumping at the wrong dog to realize that's not the best way to say hello. (But, make sure the other dogs will not actually hurt him. We found some people with a very friendly, but strict older german shepherd. A few warning growls and he had learned some manners).

Good luck! I think boxers are just so excited about everything that it takes a lot of work to get them to not scare everyone else with their energy.