Loves Strangers....

austin02 · #1 8th January 2003, 04:09 PM

Hi everyone,

I know this is probably typical puppy behavior, but my little boy Austin just loves to stop and stare and run towards strangers. He thinks each and everytime that people will just want to cuddle and pet him. Whenever I go on walks with him, everytime anyone passes, it's always a case of tug -a- war. I let him approach only when the stranger makes a comment and wants to pet him. However, Joggers and every other person may not want his attention. What should I do. I've told him to sit and reward him when I see a person approaching, but the minute they pass, he's pulling at his leash?

Thanks for any suggestions!

austin02 · #2 9th January 2003, 09:19 AM

Thanks Sara!

I will definitely look into it. He's only 11 weeks so it's understandable that he wants so much attention. I am looking into various obedience schools and training, too.

Robbyn

boxertalk · #3 29th January 2003, 03:33 PM

I read a very good suggestion, which we have tried and it works. (I think it was in The Dog Whisperer book)

This is what it said basically...

Dogs are pack animals. Puppies in a pack greet each pack member when they return by running towards them, jumping up and licking them and generally jumping back and forth to show how happy they are to see them again in hopes of gainly favor with the older pack members and maybe even some extra meat morsels. If an older pack member turns their nose up in the air and stands rigidly while they wait for the pups to calm down, this is their "calm down" body language that the pup instinctively knows he must obey to get any kind of attention.

So...we began walking up to our puppy and standing perfectly still. If the puppy jumped up or placed her paws on our legs, then we turned up our noses and looked calmly at the ceiling (or sky) and completely ignored her UNTIL she placed all 4 paws firmly on the ground, then we would bend down and praise and pet her. IT WORKS!!! Now when she sees new people, she wags her tail, but does not jump up or get over-excited or lunge at them. She just wags her tail and turns round and round in hopes of getting petted. This behavior is much more acceptable to strangers she meets now. THIS IS A GOOD THING ;-)

We know she loves to jump...but there is plenty of time when she is older to indulge this talent. Once she is full grown mentally and physically, she will have the common sense (we hope) to use it appropriately when out in public.

austin02 · #4 29th January 2003, 03:38 PM

That sounds like a great idea. I will definitely try that tonight. Austin just loves everyone. He wants to greet, play, jump, lick, etc..He's very non-discriminating-- good, but when he becomes full size, most people won't want him doing all that.

I will try the standing still! thanks for the advice!

boxertalk · #5 29th January 2003, 07:53 PM

Hope it works for you too...let us know what happens. ;-)

Tulsa-Dan · #6 29th January 2003, 08:28 PM

Some good advice here. Might want to check out "The Dog Listener" by Jan Fennell for more information on handling issues like this.

Just one comment to ease your mind: This is very typical, especially of boxers. They are "in your face" dogs and love to kiss and lick people (who are of good intention) and they DO think that the world was invented just to entertain them and give them attention

Ah, its a dog's life, isn't it?

MyAmberGirl · #7 12th February 2003, 08:13 AM

I have the same problem with mine!! It can be very frustrating. I tried the head halter with no luck. Since boxers have short muzzles the halter was too close to her eyes and it drove her crazy. Plus everyone thought she had a muzzle on and was a mean dog. I found a product called the Sporn control harness, it works wonders with no harm to the dog. It has pads for underneath the arms, very fancy looking. Now everyone thinks she just spoiled. She doesn't even know she has it on. I got mine from PetsMart, but I think you can find them just about anywhere. Good Luck!

boxertalk · #8 13th February 2003, 02:20 PM

That harness sounds like a winner. Our puppy has stopped jumping on people right now but she is still pulling a bit when
she sees people when we walk downtown. She is only 4 months
old so it is easy to restrain her right now, but if she persists when she is older then the fancy-smancy spoiled dog harness sounds like an excellent solution...thanks!

ariane · #9 19th May 2003, 11:18 PM

the gentle leader rocks! i had the same prob with tank.... he was just dying to get at anyone and everyone walking around us so he could play with them! i tried the haltie but he slipped it right off (the short snout prob).... but i got the gentle leader at the vet and it's perfect!!!!! the other day i had him at the boardwalk and a young girl who was quite obviously afraid of dogs passed within a few feet of us and tank didn't even attempt to jump at her! i've been very impressed with the head collar, and he gets a lot of positive re-inforcement from that type of leash training, which he responds to much better than the negative reinforcement of the choke chain. i actually enjoy our walks now... and he does too because now he is receiving constant praise!!!! expect that your pup will probably resist at first.... and sometimes for many days..... but the end result will be worth the effort. now he sits and whines for me to put it on him so we can go for walks!

bosco17 · #10 4th February 2004, 07:12 PM

I have a similar situation. Bosco is going to be turning 9 weeks this Saturday. As you all have experienced, he LOVES people. When he sees someone, off he goes. It's kinda scary because today, we were walking and he ran across the street to get to someone. It was not a normal residential street. I live in a condo and it's one of those "community" streets so it's not a busy street at all. Still, I couldn't help but associate that to him running across a busy street to get someone and getting hit by a car.

So my question is how do we stop the running? I give the ARGH that usually stops him in his tracks with other bad behavior but it seems his attraction is just too overwhelming. We went out a second time but this time I had him on leash. Should I ALWAYS have him on leash for now? As far as the advice of standing perfectly still. He doesn't have the jump-up habit with us. He's already getting used to sitting with us to get the attention that he craves.

Eventually, I will get the books that everyone recommends, "Dog Listener" and "Culture Clash". Any hints for now?

Chris

Krikkit · #11 4th February 2004, 11:46 PM

Yep Chris, always have him on lead when you are outside

He's hit that exploring age and a pup off-lead can get into big trouble. As you start more training with him, you can work towards walking off-lead.

These posts could have been describing Layla when she was a baby - what a social butterfly! Everyone in the world was just so exciting and she had to meet them, NOW

With a bit of training on my part, and maturity on hers, she got used to the fact that she couldn't race up to complete strangers and shower them with Boxer effection. From memory, she was around 7 - 9 months old when I started to see a big difference is her inclinations to race off and meet everyone and everything - it may have been her age, or it may have been the training we were doing, but she did grow out of it.

She still wants to shower everyone with love, but now waits for my say-so first

Sharon

bosco17 · #12 5th February 2004, 10:51 AM

Thanks again Sharon!!