Obviously I'm going to ask my trainer about this at the next opportunity, but we JUST had a private lesson and this wasn't so much of an issue at the time...and we're in between obedience classes as the moment.
My puppy cannot NOT jump on dogs' heads when she meets them.
She does the weirdest thing (and she never used to...). She sees a dog and becomes very alert. Then as she gets closer (and the dog gets closer) she decides about 100 feet from the other dog that she has to crouch down on the ground. The other dog approaches her (or just walks near her) and she stays crouched for a count of...3? And then POUNCE!!
She immediately springs up and stands on her back legs and puts her paws all over their head and licks them all over the face and generally acts like she's going to try to scale them from front to back.
Of course this is EXTREMELY obnoxious. I would say at least 50% of dogs she does this to growl at her, and she is completely oblivious. She's even been snapped at and it hasn't given her a moments' pause. She really doesn't pick up on the doggy language (come on, even *I* know what bared teeth mean!). I don't immediately yank her away when a dog growls at her. I'm kneeled down with her and I want to actually give her the opportunity to absorb and react to what dogs are trying to tell her. If I pull her away she won't even get the chance to make the right decision on her own. However, I'm thinking the safest thing while we learn some un-obnoxious behaviour is for her not to meet strange dogs on the street.
I digress!!
Can someone give me an idea WHY she suddenly feels the need to jump on the heads of other dogs? Is this a dominance thing (or just a silly puppy thing)? I guess this is just dealt with like normal jumping up? The usual "have someone walk up and if she jumps they back away and ignore her until she sits again" deal?
I'm totally into putting in the work...but it's hard when we walk every day, several times a day and meet at least a few dogs on each walk. And, in my experience, the random person on the street doesn't have the patience to stop their walk and repeatedly walk up and then back away from a dog-in-training for 5 minutes. I guess, like everything with dogs, there's no quick fix for the head-jumping.
I wish she would just listen to what dogs are telling her. I'm guessing this is why she didn't learn any real bite inhibition from her siblings and mom. They probably DID react/reprimand her. She probably just didn't "hear" them.
My puppy cannot NOT jump on dogs' heads when she meets them.
She does the weirdest thing (and she never used to...). She sees a dog and becomes very alert. Then as she gets closer (and the dog gets closer) she decides about 100 feet from the other dog that she has to crouch down on the ground. The other dog approaches her (or just walks near her) and she stays crouched for a count of...3? And then POUNCE!!
She immediately springs up and stands on her back legs and puts her paws all over their head and licks them all over the face and generally acts like she's going to try to scale them from front to back.
Of course this is EXTREMELY obnoxious. I would say at least 50% of dogs she does this to growl at her, and she is completely oblivious. She's even been snapped at and it hasn't given her a moments' pause. She really doesn't pick up on the doggy language (come on, even *I* know what bared teeth mean!). I don't immediately yank her away when a dog growls at her. I'm kneeled down with her and I want to actually give her the opportunity to absorb and react to what dogs are trying to tell her. If I pull her away she won't even get the chance to make the right decision on her own. However, I'm thinking the safest thing while we learn some un-obnoxious behaviour is for her not to meet strange dogs on the street.
I digress!!
Can someone give me an idea WHY she suddenly feels the need to jump on the heads of other dogs? Is this a dominance thing (or just a silly puppy thing)? I guess this is just dealt with like normal jumping up? The usual "have someone walk up and if she jumps they back away and ignore her until she sits again" deal?
I'm totally into putting in the work...but it's hard when we walk every day, several times a day and meet at least a few dogs on each walk. And, in my experience, the random person on the street doesn't have the patience to stop their walk and repeatedly walk up and then back away from a dog-in-training for 5 minutes. I guess, like everything with dogs, there's no quick fix for the head-jumping.
I wish she would just listen to what dogs are telling her. I'm guessing this is why she didn't learn any real bite inhibition from her siblings and mom. They probably DID react/reprimand her. She probably just didn't "hear" them.