How to Pass Another Dog
The correct way to greet a dog for the first time
We have all been presented with this delimma when you are walking your dog on a leash and you see another owner and their dog walking toward you...what do you do? Do you stop and wait for the other dog to pass, or do you continue to walk? Quite simply you need to continue walking. When one of the dogs stops, it builds anticipation in that dog as to what is going to happen. You can watch this behavior as you approach the dog who has been stopped by the owner, even if this dog is in a submissive position like in a sit position. The owner will usually tighten the leash and continue to give their dog strong commands to sit or stay. The following movie is a very typical walking experience when meeting an un-trained dog. There are several things happening in this movie you should notice. Raji is walking with my grandson, she has never walked with him before. Trace, our grandson, is giving small corrections to keep Raji focused on him and redirecting her attention from the aggressive small dog on the retractable leash. Watch the small dog, while approaching the dog he gets more and more anxious until he can't stand it anymore and reaches the end of his leash charging and aggressively barking at our dog.
You should continue to walk toward the other dog and if necessary issue corrections to your dog to avert their attention back to you. NEVER in a loud or anxious voice. NEVER have a tight leash...short quick corrections are all you need if you have followed our training techniques. Notice in the first video this is a narrow street with alot of traffic. There is a car coming down the street and the lady with the small dog has absolutely no control over her dog with a retractable leash. This dog could get hit by the oncoming car. In this second video Raji is walking back, again passing this same small dog. The lady is on her cell phone, but this is no excuse for her dogs behavior. She should be able to put her dog in a down position while Raji passes, thus avoiding any aggressive behavior by her dog.
In this second video Raji is walking back, again passing this same small dog. The lady is on her cell phone, but this is no excuse for her dogs behavior. She should be able to put her dog in a down position while Raji passes, thus avoiding any aggressive behavior by her dog.