I am a member of a Lab board forum and a recent post about leash re-activeness got me thinking about Sophie. The poster was worried that her 2 year old, soon to be certified therapy dog was having some problems on leash. It brought me back to the day when it first became apparent Sophie was leash reactive. Off leash she was a dream, great social skills and your typical happy go luck lab. On leash she was Cujo.
At 13 months, at the end of a class, one of her usual playmates came up to her, both dogs on leash and Sophie lunged at him while growling. I immediately pulled her back and the Golden’s owner walked him away. I was stunned. What happened?
To say I was horrified was putting it mildly. I had socialized Sophie like crazy since we got her from the shelter at 8ish weeks. She went to puppy socials, puppy preschool, obedience classes. Later on she went to daycare and the dog park. She did great off leash and I had not had a problem with her before. Then out of seemingly nowhere I had a barking, lunging, upset dog at the end of the leash.
It was like a switch went off from one day to the next and Sophie just lost it when on leash. She was still her normal, playful self when she was off leash. Her daycare saw no change in her personality. I was nervous to take her out on leash which just made her more anxious.
I became that owner you look at and shake your head at because they can't control their dog. We became the dog and owner, you crossed the street to avoid.
I was scared and embarrassed. I saw my plans for dog sports, obedience titles, fun trips and hanging out at coffee shops with my canine pal go out the window.
And so began our long and at times frustrating journey to teach Sophie to relax on leash, to not fear other dogs and to focus (more on that later).
We have made great progress and I look forward to writing about our progress in a later post. But I just wanted to get this out there, for others like the poster on the lab board. You can work with your dog and get a handle on the situation. Leash reactiveness does not have to be the end of all your plans/goals/activities!
At 13 months, at the end of a class, one of her usual playmates came up to her, both dogs on leash and Sophie lunged at him while growling. I immediately pulled her back and the Golden’s owner walked him away. I was stunned. What happened?
To say I was horrified was putting it mildly. I had socialized Sophie like crazy since we got her from the shelter at 8ish weeks. She went to puppy socials, puppy preschool, obedience classes. Later on she went to daycare and the dog park. She did great off leash and I had not had a problem with her before. Then out of seemingly nowhere I had a barking, lunging, upset dog at the end of the leash.
It was like a switch went off from one day to the next and Sophie just lost it when on leash. She was still her normal, playful self when she was off leash. Her daycare saw no change in her personality. I was nervous to take her out on leash which just made her more anxious.
I became that owner you look at and shake your head at because they can't control their dog. We became the dog and owner, you crossed the street to avoid.
I was scared and embarrassed. I saw my plans for dog sports, obedience titles, fun trips and hanging out at coffee shops with my canine pal go out the window.
And so began our long and at times frustrating journey to teach Sophie to relax on leash, to not fear other dogs and to focus (more on that later).
We have made great progress and I look forward to writing about our progress in a later post. But I just wanted to get this out there, for others like the poster on the lab board. You can work with your dog and get a handle on the situation. Leash reactiveness does not have to be the end of all your plans/goals/activities!
No comments:
Post a Comment