These are times when I am thankful to have such a great dog to help train younger ones.
Early, as puppies, I start training my dogs to ignore other dogs unless invited to interact. They take it particularly seriously in harness but will do exactly the same if they are loose, which comes very useful in more situations then only in harness.
I don’t particularly mind loose dogs on trails, I like having the opportunity to walk my own dogs loose too. Most loose dogs are a none issue. Most dogs that may be an issue, the owners will get under control with in the time I give them slowing down or stopping at a distance.
I don’t mind having to slow down, or stop and wait, its just part of my dogs control training; good communication with them can come in handy for racing too. My dogs know that when we meet other dogs, they need to follow my instructions, which will involve slowing down, maybe stopping and, picking up the speed on demand, sometimes going in full sprint to get away.
What I do mind with loose dogs is exactly what happens in this video. Dogs with no control, with border line aggressive behavior (note that the little dog is biting at my dogs legs) and insistent despite my dogs clear request to be left alone. Notice also that the bigger dog doesn’t have a collar for the owner to hold on, that is negligent.
I’ll stick to simply being really proud of my own dog, M.E.Fhast, she’s ready for situations like this and helps make what could have been a bad experience for the younger one, Maggie, a learning experience. But please, can we all try to work together to share the wonderful places we get enjoy with our dogs?
Note on the younger dogs learning experience here. At first she is curious about the other dogs and wants to stop to say hello. My lead girl does not allow Maggie to stop and quickly Maggie also realizes that keeping going is a better solution to the situation, she then switches to paying attention and following M.E.Fhast’s lead.
As long as the stranger dogs are ahead of us, on front of the bike, I maintain a slower speed at which I am in full control. I have to be ready to stop fast, either to not hit my dog if she freezes (which can happen is stress gets to high), or to jump off and attend to my dogs if the situation degenerates.
As much as possible, keeping going forward is the best solution. Stopping fully prolongs our time in the stressful situation while maintaining motion makes interaction less likely.
While Maggie dealt very well with this first loose dog experience, the shake ( a stress relief mechanism) when we get away from the dogs, clearly indicate it wasn’t without challenge for her.
I bring back my dogs to full speed because that’s what I expect from them as soon as we get away form the stressful encounter but very very soon after I did give a break to the girls. Its important for the younger dog to release all the stress from the situation so it becomes a non event for the rest of our run. She needs to “shake it off her mind”. If she had been more affected, I would have stopped the run there and started fresh another day. I do not want to run a stressed dog. Harness work has to be assimilated with feeling good. With younger dogs, I will sometimes stop for play periods if so they can fully relax.
Limiting Stress
While I can’t make the situation disappear, and we do have to manage some stress, I can limit the “take away stress” for my dogs. A big part of that is my own behavior, keeping my cool, staying calm myself.
- It is really tempting in this situation to scream my piece of mind to the owner of the loose pups, but that will only increase the stress level of the situation. It is clear the owner has no control on his dogs and letting him know will not change a thing. I ignore the other person so all my attention is on my handling of the situation and my own dogs.
- It is also tempting to shout at the loose dogs but, from my own dogs perceptive, I am more likley to come across as screaming at them. They don’t need that extra stress and confusion.
- My own rush of adrenaline is wanting me to shout commands at my dogs but they, themselves, are dealing with enough urgency and don’t need me to add a layer. What they need is me to sound calm, confident and in control.
- This situation also requires I maintain communication with my dogs. Unlike most situations where limiting the talking is best, here, by keeping the commands and praise coming, I’m keeping bringing back my girls to the task, remind them I’m handling the situation (they don’t need to take it in there own paws) and help maintain the focus on me and off the chasing dogs.
- My voice tone drops to soft praise as soon as we are clear of the other dogs. I need to keep my girls going just enough to get well away form the situation so I cant give them a break right away, but I do want them to know they did well and all is cool.
This situation was a tough one for the girls and I couldn’t say enough how proud I am of how they handled. Of course, there is a build up and a lot of training to come to this. Managing stress, building your communication and trust is how you get there and its done through every little situation you cross, through some out of harness training and through building your relationship with your dogs.
Had my lead girl not been ready for this, had I had any doubt she could handle it or her demeanor changed through the situation, I would have been off my bike and handled things closer to my dogs. Overwhelming your dogs is the sure way to take step backs, keep cool and take it in strides.