# Challenging walks with Bailey - can't ignore dogs or people



## pwrstrk02 (Aug 11, 2010)

sounds like the dog takes you for walks. in my thinking, it is a dog, not a pet, when it comes to training. you realy have to know what your dog is going to do before it happens. if you see a dog aproaching on the other side of the street, there is a point to where you will feel your dog start to tense, that is when a correction should come. keep his mind on the walk, im sure he knows what is expected, and obviously he knows what he can get away with. work a little more on your heal comand, so when you heal your dog he will know he is suposed to be healed and not off doing whatever he wants. remember what you say means what you say, dont say it over and over, that just tells the dog that he dont have to listen to you. good luck, and if you feel ucomfortable with what you are doing, go to a couple of group training sessions. although, find a trainer that teaches the way you want to teach.


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

You may want to work on her "look" or "watch" command. In the house, where there are no distractions, have her sit. As soon as she looks you in the eye, say watch and give her a treat. She will learn that when she looks at you when you say watch (or look, what ever cue word you want), that she gets a treat. That will help when you are out on the walks and another dog approaches. You will have her sit and say "watch" so she looks at you instead of the other dog. Make sure you treat her when she does it!


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Ranger was the same way. He'd be loose-leash walking at my side beautifully but whenever he saw a dog, he'd get distracted. Not out of aggressive but just the "everyone wants to be my friend and play with me! Yay!".

I stopped letting him meet dogs/people on walks. I'd just say a friendly "Sorry, he's in training" and keep moving. I didn't want him to think every dog was a play opportunity since he already had that in his head.

I upped his walks with his dog walker and he wasn't allowed off lead for the first 7 months. This helped him learn that it didn't matter what the other dogs were doing - wrestling, playing, chasing - he had to stay focused and walk politely. That made a HUGE difference. Plus, meeting other dogs or being in a group of other dogs was no longer a big deal because it started to become habitual. He wasn't dying to meet other dogs because he met so many the other days of the week.

The last thing I did was get him a backpack so he had a real job to do on walks. When we hike, he'd carry his backpack filled with lunch and water, and he'd ignore EVERYONE. I was amazed! We were coming up behind a group of people, including someone with their dog and Ranger was on his long leash ahead. He walked right past the people and dog...all he cared about was his "job" - getting his backpack from Point A to Point B.

He's gotten to the point now where we can calmly walk past any dog, even sharing the sidewalk, when a year ago he'd have been pulling or yelping in excitement. All the things I described above were a HUGE help. He still reacts to little yappy dogs occasionally but the rest he ignores. Good luck!


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

Gosh, our lovely and near-perfect guide dog was obsessed with other dogs.  Oh, especially other retrievers. Her doggyness almost made her fail out of the program. She just wanted to play. We used a clicker to indicate to her what it was we wanted. Corrections didn't work, she was way to excited to care. Instead we waited for her to stop focusing, click, and reward. We practiced over and over. She is still very doggy but she is more less focused on dogs and a better guide dog.


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