[bruh44]

Hello everyone, I am new here. The reason I am here is because my wife and I got our first dog about 14 months ago, and there are a few things he absolutely will not do for me. He is a 18 month old fixed, male Amstaff. Right now we live in Vermont, so there are plenty of oportunities for Marley to be off leash. The problem is when another dog shows up, he takes off strait for that dog, and won't listen to a word I say. He isn't agressive with them, he just wants to play, but it never fails. If I see the dog first, I put him on a leash right away, but thats about 50% of the time. What I have been doing is going to get him, leashing him and taking him home, basically ending play time, but it has made no difference at all. When he is on a leash, I literally have to drag him away from other dogs. Once in a while I'll take him into a city where there are alot of dogs. The no pull leash helps, but he still fights to get to the other dogs. Any advise?

[Renoman]

More training would be my advice. Until my dogs are confirmed in their commands with and w/o distractions they are not allowed off lead. Sometimes they are on a 30 or 50' lead, but I still have control. Until they consider me the most important thing in their world, they are not allowed off lead. They must hear me and repond to me immediately and above all else before they are granted that privilege of being off lead. Some day, it may save their lives.

It's great that your dog wants to play with other dogs, but he should not be ignoring you to do that.

[Curbside Prophet]

ClickerSolutions Training Treasures -- Desensitizing Dogs to Other Dogs

[Inga]

Originally Posted by bruh44

Hello everyone, I am new here. The reason I am here is because my wife and I got our first dog about 14 months ago, and there are a few things he absolutely will not do for me. He is a 18 month old fixed, male Amstaff. Right now we live in Vermont, so there are plenty of oportunities for Marley to be off leash. The problem is when another dog shows up, he takes off strait for that dog, and won't listen to a word I say. He isn't agressive with them, he just wants to play, but it never fails. If I see the dog first, I put him on a leash right away, but thats about 50% of the time. What I have been doing is going to get him, leashing him and taking him home, basically ending play time, but it has made no difference at all. When he is on a leash, I literally have to drag him away from other dogs. Once in a while I'll take him into a city where there are alot of dogs. The no pull leash helps, but he still fights to get to the other dogs. Any advise?

It is wonderful that your little pup is friendly with other dogs, but how do you know the other dog will be friendly with yours. Especially if he is running at them while you are calling him. The other dogs owner could have a heart attack seeing an Am Staff running out of control at their dog. I like the idea of having a long leash dragging that way you can grab him before he gets to far away. I would work those recalls daily. First with no distractions and then with. Don't take the lead off until he is doing them everytime. It takes time, but it is worth the effort.

[rpe]

There's some VERY bad advice in the clickersolutions article.

From what you've said the problem isn't as much desensitizing the dog but working on obedience. Want to get him to listen to you around other dogs? Then do obedience work with other dogs present. Don't avoid it but confront it. Learn how to relax. You don't need to do any "calming signals". You're not a dog and you won't fool the dog with that. The dog will know if you're really relaxed or not. When you give a command you have to mean it. Don't be mean just firm.

There are many ways to do this. I'd try and find someone with experience in this area if you're not comfortable doing this on your own. If a strange dog approaches you can tell yours to sit, down, heel or anything else. If its not obeying and knows the command then correct it and praise it when it does it right. One of the big problems with food is you're not always going to have it and the dog is not always going to think the food is more interesting than what it wants to do.

Instead of working to avoid it work with it and control it. Real control, not illusory.

[Curbside Prophet]

Originally Posted by bruh44

He isn't agressive with them, he just wants to play, but it never fails.

My apology, I read this post to quickly during my lunch break and I missed this important point.

I believe these links are better suited...
ClickerSolutions Training Articles -- Keeping Your Dog's Attention

ClickerSolutions Training Articles -- Attention

Dog Training - Why Dogs Don't Come When Called - Dogs Central Dog Training Article

I definitely think your dog should stay on a long lead and more work on recall is needed.

[poodleholic]

He is a 18 month old fixed, male Amstaff. Right now we live in Vermont, so there are plenty of oportunities for Marley to be off leash. The problem is when another dog shows up, he takes off strait for that dog, and won't listen to a word I say. He isn't agressive with them, he just wants to play, but it never fails.

"But he just wants to play," is a classic response, but is considered very rude behavior. Your dog needs more obedience work, with a strong focus on recall. Until you have control over your dog, he should never, ever be off leash, and then, only in areas that are established as off-leash dog areas (i.e. dog parks). Your dog may not be aggressive, but he could run into one who IS, and all hell could break loose. You will be at fault because your dog is off leash, and not under your control. I, personally, would be extremely upset with you if your dog ran up to mine like that! Emotions travel down the leash, meaning this: if I'm upset or scared, my dogs are going to be on alert and react to that.

If I see the dog first, I put him on a leash right away, but thats about 50% of the time. What I have been doing is going to get him, leashing him and taking him home, basically ending play time, but it has made no difference at all. When he is on a leash, I literally have to drag him away from other dogs.

You need to first train for obedience without distractions of any sort, and then proof that behavior by gradually adding distractions, including other dogs. Training will include desensitizing your dog to other dogs, and counter conditioning. Since he pulls on the leash like that, you need better control - maybe with a head collar in addition to his regular collar (but do have a professional fit it for you, since it's very different in fit from flat buckle collars, in addition to watching the video to learn how to properly train with a head collar). When I was working with two adolescent Standard Poodles (a combined weight of 128 lbs. of pure muscle, and outweighing me by 20 lbs.), I used a Gentle Leader (head collar) and could easily handle them both with one hand, even when they spied those FLBs (furry little bas**rds) scampering up a tree!

Once in a while I'll take him into a city where there are alot of dogs. The no pull leash helps, but he still fights to get to the other dogs. Any advise?

First, train for loose-leash walking, and then desensitization and counter conditioning, and more obedience training, training, training!

Good luck to you!