- Thread starter
- #251
orloffer
Crowing
I am writing this more to keep a record of the things Tessa does than to ask for advice or answers.
Tessa the spoo went to a school field this afternoon, where there are always other dogs. Today there were six other dogs playing off-leash. She seemed quite interested in them and pulled towards them a bit, but when one of them came near her (a fairly large doodle), she bolted in the other direction, hit the end of the leash, and jumped around in fear, yelping. The next dog that came toward her was a smaller dog, a Pomeranian. She was nervous, but much less intimidated by this dog. Over the course of the 10-15 minutes we were there, she seemed to gain confidence to some degree and no longer was trying to escape from the other dogs. Rather, she was sniffing in their direction and wanting to move towards some of them. We are going to go back tomorrow and more times in the future for socialization, which she is lacking in. We don't feel too comfortable letting her off-leash, as she doesn't have much of a recall at all. I believe she would run towards us rather than away if she were scared of something, but she still might if another dog frightened her enough. Plus, if one of the other dogs left to go home, she could potentially follow. (The field is not fenced in.) Of course, it isn't safe for her to play with other dogs on-leash, due to getting tangled up, so we may have to just take the risk and let her off-leash next time.
Tessa the spoo went to a school field this afternoon, where there are always other dogs. Today there were six other dogs playing off-leash. She seemed quite interested in them and pulled towards them a bit, but when one of them came near her (a fairly large doodle), she bolted in the other direction, hit the end of the leash, and jumped around in fear, yelping. The next dog that came toward her was a smaller dog, a Pomeranian. She was nervous, but much less intimidated by this dog. Over the course of the 10-15 minutes we were there, she seemed to gain confidence to some degree and no longer was trying to escape from the other dogs. Rather, she was sniffing in their direction and wanting to move towards some of them. We are going to go back tomorrow and more times in the future for socialization, which she is lacking in. We don't feel too comfortable letting her off-leash, as she doesn't have much of a recall at all. I believe she would run towards us rather than away if she were scared of something, but she still might if another dog frightened her enough. Plus, if one of the other dogs left to go home, she could potentially follow. (The field is not fenced in.) Of course, it isn't safe for her to play with other dogs on-leash, due to getting tangled up, so we may have to just take the risk and let her off-leash next time.
I was her third time there with other dogs, and the first time I would call truly successful. There were around 10 dogs there. We let her off-leash almost right away and she ran around, approaching other dogs and their owners. She followed other dogs around as they fetched balls and interacted with each other, and she even instigated play with several of them. Nearly all the dogs were her size or larger (Labs, golden retrievers, coyote-shaped dogs, and even a blue standard poodle!) Her favorite playmate was a black lab. The only thing I would do differently next time is make sure I have very high-value treats on me. I had only kibble, and she wasn't even that hungry, so it was a bit difficult to catch her when we wanted to leave. Overall though, it was a very nice experience.
