Well today was Duke's first puppy club play session and we were all very excited/ a little anxious to see how he would react to all of the other puppies running around him as though he has gotten almost 110% better with other dogs ( when we first got him he was exhibiting a lot of fear aggression whenever another dog was around especially when large ones would come up to him and try and play). Anyways when we first got in he was immediately greeted by 20 assorted sized puppies all which were smaller then him and all playfully licking him and trying to jump on him to play, he was very gentle with the little ones and lightly pawed at them and ran around with them and I only needed to call him away once after getting a bit over excited and to rough around one particularly small doxin. After awhile he began to lose interest in the other puppies and wandered off to do his own thing and I started throwing a tennis ball for him and any other puppies who wanted to play fetch.
About 30 mins into the play session, a couple brought in their 3 months old shar-pei on it's lesh and started walking around letting her dog sniff the other dogs while still having it under control. I assumed this was because she was still unsure of it's disposition around other dogs and considering their background and what they were originally bred to do this made sense to me ( though I know plenty of pitties which are EXCELLENT around other dogs). Anyways after a few successful nice interactions with other dogs she let him run through one of the agility tunnels which of course meant she needed to let go of the lesh. When he got to the other side she went to grab his lesh when a smallish schnauzer /poodle ran by and he immediately chased him down and began repeatedly biting down hard into the other dogs leg, the other puppy was screaming and trying to get away and it took 3 people to separate the two and to pull the sharpie puppy off of the other one.
A little alarmed/ horrified by this I called Duke back over to me who; after hearing the snarling and screaming of the two dogs had run away to hide and began pawing at the door to get out. until. To my surprise instead of leaving the lady put her sharpie back on a lesh and again began walking around letting her dog smell other dogs, until it again snapped and lunged at another puppy however this time the owner had the lesh. After awhile they began again making her way towards were Duke and I were playing fetch so I put Duke's lesh back on and began to walk away however they reached us first and their dog who was about Duke's height but much bulkier began to sniff Duke. They looked a bit distraught about the incident and I felt bad as they seemed like very nice people but seemed completely unsure what to do about their dogs behaviour. Just as I was about to mention that I knew plenty of individual dogs who were of a dog fighting background who were great with other dogs, and that maybe they should try a private trainer before coming back to such a chaotic environment which her puppy was clearly not ready for, he lunged again this time at Duke's face and missed by inches after I pulled him back. After that I had enough and felt it was time for Duke to leave as I didn't want all of his progress to go backwards because of one particular puppy.
I really do sympathise with the owners of the shar-pei as I personally really like the breed and all breeds in general even ones people like to demonize like pitties, rotties, dobs and shepherds but I was very taken aback by their behaviour and couldn't believe that after witnessing their puppy chase down and intentionally continue to attack another puppy that they wouldn't think to leave instead of continuing to let that potential situation happen again.
It was a bit of a rocky start to puppy club but I think I will go back as before those particular owners came in Duke was having a lot of reinforcing positive interactions with the other dogs. However if they are their next time I may mention to them that maybe they should seek private help before considering such a chaotic environment as the puppy club as I don't think he's particularly ready and its not really fair to the other puppies/ owners as the whole point is to socialize not traumatise. Obviously stuff like that can happen, just their manner in dealing with it afterwards and almost denying it didn't happen or that their dog doesn’t have a few issues to work out surprised me/ scared me a little.
On a positive note though later that day when we went back for his obedience lesson he did very well and today we learned how to go back into a sit from the down position and into the down position straight from standing and we increased out sit stay and down stay time to about 25 seconds or 8-10 steps backwards. After class I let him run around in the offlesh dog park as he already knew all of the dogs their as the same people usually stay afterwards each time and he played very nicely with a gorgeous staffie and they had fun playing fetch together.
Anyways just needed to share as it was rather frightening
Kayla
About 30 mins into the play session, a couple brought in their 3 months old shar-pei on it's lesh and started walking around letting her dog sniff the other dogs while still having it under control. I assumed this was because she was still unsure of it's disposition around other dogs and considering their background and what they were originally bred to do this made sense to me ( though I know plenty of pitties which are EXCELLENT around other dogs). Anyways after a few successful nice interactions with other dogs she let him run through one of the agility tunnels which of course meant she needed to let go of the lesh. When he got to the other side she went to grab his lesh when a smallish schnauzer /poodle ran by and he immediately chased him down and began repeatedly biting down hard into the other dogs leg, the other puppy was screaming and trying to get away and it took 3 people to separate the two and to pull the sharpie puppy off of the other one.
A little alarmed/ horrified by this I called Duke back over to me who; after hearing the snarling and screaming of the two dogs had run away to hide and began pawing at the door to get out. until. To my surprise instead of leaving the lady put her sharpie back on a lesh and again began walking around letting her dog smell other dogs, until it again snapped and lunged at another puppy however this time the owner had the lesh. After awhile they began again making her way towards were Duke and I were playing fetch so I put Duke's lesh back on and began to walk away however they reached us first and their dog who was about Duke's height but much bulkier began to sniff Duke. They looked a bit distraught about the incident and I felt bad as they seemed like very nice people but seemed completely unsure what to do about their dogs behaviour. Just as I was about to mention that I knew plenty of individual dogs who were of a dog fighting background who were great with other dogs, and that maybe they should try a private trainer before coming back to such a chaotic environment which her puppy was clearly not ready for, he lunged again this time at Duke's face and missed by inches after I pulled him back. After that I had enough and felt it was time for Duke to leave as I didn't want all of his progress to go backwards because of one particular puppy.
I really do sympathise with the owners of the shar-pei as I personally really like the breed and all breeds in general even ones people like to demonize like pitties, rotties, dobs and shepherds but I was very taken aback by their behaviour and couldn't believe that after witnessing their puppy chase down and intentionally continue to attack another puppy that they wouldn't think to leave instead of continuing to let that potential situation happen again.
It was a bit of a rocky start to puppy club but I think I will go back as before those particular owners came in Duke was having a lot of reinforcing positive interactions with the other dogs. However if they are their next time I may mention to them that maybe they should seek private help before considering such a chaotic environment as the puppy club as I don't think he's particularly ready and its not really fair to the other puppies/ owners as the whole point is to socialize not traumatise. Obviously stuff like that can happen, just their manner in dealing with it afterwards and almost denying it didn't happen or that their dog doesn’t have a few issues to work out surprised me/ scared me a little.
On a positive note though later that day when we went back for his obedience lesson he did very well and today we learned how to go back into a sit from the down position and into the down position straight from standing and we increased out sit stay and down stay time to about 25 seconds or 8-10 steps backwards. After class I let him run around in the offlesh dog park as he already knew all of the dogs their as the same people usually stay afterwards each time and he played very nicely with a gorgeous staffie and they had fun playing fetch together.
Anyways just needed to share as it was rather frightening
Kayla