Meeting other dogs in street.

masstiffdog

I have a 9 month old dogue de bordeaux who is of lovely nature.we are still in the process of loose lead walking him as he was pulling with all his might and when got going was impossible to hold back.we brought him to socialization classes when he was very young and also went to day care to give him the best possible start with socializing we could.Recently though when meeting other dogs out on walks he's started almost stalking like a tiger as soon as if sees them coming.He puts his head down and almost goes stiff as he walks slowly towards them.He is a big pup at almost 50 kg so can look quite intimidating.The funny thing is when he actually meets the other dog 9 times out of 10 he's fine and has the usual sniff and stuff as they do.But that 1 out of 10 times he Will try get his and body over the top of the other dog almost trying to dominate.which obviously other dog doesn't like,so normally ends up in a growling match.Just wondering does anybody out there have any advice on how to tackle this behaviour.

Thanks in advance.

Teaandcoffee

I'm sorry, completely off topic, I just want to say that is one beautiful looking dog.

fatmammycat

My GSD used to do that a lot, and to a certain extenct he still approaches dogs very slowly when off lead ( as opposed to his best friend, a little lurcher, who hurtles up to dogs).
I fixed it almost by accident. I take my guy running a lot so he had to learn a lot of commands, left/right/wait/slow/lights/stop/wide/out/leave. But the BEST command I ever taught him was 'forward' and it was this single command that cut the stalking/ creeping out almost completely. Forward means pick up the pace and that's what he associates it with, so even if we're out on a casual walk and we meet a dog head on, I can say 'forward' and he automatically picks up his heels. As a result he looks less intimidating, so other dogs don't look as anxious and then there's usually a polite meet and greet and off we go. After every single polite meet and greet I tell him he's a very good boy and give him a quick pat- reafirming that this is the correct behaviour. It's an interesting thing we do with dogs, we give out if they do wrong and often forget to reward and praise when the dogs do right. Even for random glances (say if he sees a dog across the street, glances and carries on) and calm walking I regularly give him praise or a quick treat, if I'm carrying them.
It might very well work with your dog too; dogs look to us to see how we react to things, even tension on a lead tells a dog a lot about our state. A loose lead (while obviously maintaining control ), a casual word, relaxed and cheery, might help your dog approach other dogs with a more casual manner. Best of luck.

fredweena

I'm very interested to hear this forward thing. My sheepdog creeps up to other dogs like he's going herding sheep. If you've ever seen sheepdog trials when the dog is skulking around and approaching the sheep. it looks alarming and i'd like to put a stop to it. He's a grand friendly dog.

ILoveToast

He is absolutely stunning
Can I ask how you react when he does this?
All pups will go through different stages when they grow up, sounds like it can be that he has entered the 'teenage stage' possible.
Some pups will go through a stage where before they might have had no issue meeting and greeting other dogs, and then all of a sudden you see a change in the behavior. As in they might be more reserved/scared/nervous/curious etc etc.

fatmammycat

fredweena wrote: »

I'm very interested to hear this forward thing. My sheepdog creeps up to other dogs like he's going herding sheep. If you've ever seen sheepdog trials when the dog is skulking around and approaching the sheep. it looks alarming and i'd like to put a stop to it. He's a grand friendly dog.

I actually think it's a shepherd/collie/herding dog thing, almost innate. But as you say looks alarming. 'Forward' was so useful, it stopped the slow down, which in turn stopped the drop of the body, ergo, no stalking. Pretty easy to train as well, just make it a fun little sprint in the early stages and the dog totally buys into it.