I see this sub get referred to in r/dogtraining often so I figured I would just start here. I really hope y'all can help. All the training I have done is from the CGC guidelines, obedience, and training used from working with therapy dogs for 2 years in college.
My dachshund mix pup, Stewart, would pull, bark, whine on walks when he wanted to go meet people/dogs we would rarely encounter on our walks. He loves people and other dogs (all the ones he has met so far) and all he wants to do is meet them and play. I started using a head collar and it made a huge difference and I was able to redirect his attention to me easily since he is food motivated but now that he is 8 months old the behavior has started again but now its louder but not worse. He still doesn't lunge, just a constant pull. Hopefully since he is still young, I can correct/reverse it. I eventually want him to be a therapy dog when he is older and settles some because he really does have a good temperament for it and loves people. I try to walk him as much as possible so he can encounter people/cars/other dogs but we never encounter other dogs on the same path/up close on our walks through the neighborhood. The only dogs he encounters are those behind privacy fences that he can hear but can't see. Those are all medium/large dogs and their barks scare him so he would rarely bark back, other than that he would just try to hurry and walk past that house. The very few small dogs were being held or in a passing car so he didn't pay much attention to them. Any people we encountered were far off and we weren't on a route to pass next to them but he would just have this gently/quiet "woof" once or twice then he would stay focused on me.
Today was a completely different story on our morning walk. We were almost done with our walk and just 2 houses down from being home. Stewart noticed an elderly man and his small dog walking towards us on the opposite side of the street. The man's dog had absolutely 0 care in the world that we were there. I immediately try to get Stewart's attention and reward but it didn't work, he was locked in on them. I tried to stand in front of him so I could block the line of sight but he kept moving to get around me. As they got closer he tried harder and harder to get away from me, he started barking then had this deep growl from nowhere that he has never done before towards anyone or anything (except the opossum that was in the back ally and tried to get into our yard). He has a head collar on and tried to alligator roll out of it and the whole time his hackles are up and tail is wagging as it does when he gets super excited. The bright side, the man smiled, waved, and said "hello" to me. I apologized and told him that my dog isn't aggressive just a very excited and he nodded and said "it takes time." I have never been so embarrassed/scared with my dog. He has done so well with all of his training so far and I just got to the point where I felt he really understands "heel" then the situation happened. I hope this was a one time thing and never happens again.
I know I have set him up for failure because we haven't been walking near as much lately. It has been averaging 100+ degrees with 80+% humidity the past few weeks and by 8-8:30am, it's already uncomfortable outside unless there's a breeze. Around here it's either no breeze or full force hurricane winds. It doesn't get cool/comfortable enough to be outside until around 9-10pm but by then it's already dark. He stays out long enough to do his business then he comes right back in. So during this hot weather, we compromised not walking with car rides to go get gas or get a drink because there's always people and we can work on engage-disengage. He really loves the drive through at the quick stop because he gets a bone every time from the person working the window. This has really helped with the people excitement but he still isn't 100% yet.
I don't know where to go from here because there isn't a doggy daycare or dog park near within a 30 mile radius and not many people in my neighborhood walk their dogs, even in cooler weather. I have tried playing fetch before walks that way he is already a little tired and less likely to want to pull during walks. I have lived here for 4 years and maybe have seen the neighbors that live around us with dogs only a handful of times and have never seen their dogs out for a walk. Even though I work for a vet that also boards, I can't take him to work because it's not a daycare and we are pretty busy. Trainer that we refer people to is booked out for several weeks, which gives us time to budget for it between wedding expenses. If you have read this far, I appreciate it. All ideas are welcome.
My dachshund mix pup, Stewart, would pull, bark, whine on walks when he wanted to go meet people/dogs we would rarely encounter on our walks. He loves people and other dogs (all the ones he has met so far) and all he wants to do is meet them and play. I started using a head collar and it made a huge difference and I was able to redirect his attention to me easily since he is food motivated but now that he is 8 months old the behavior has started again but now its louder but not worse. He still doesn't lunge, just a constant pull. Hopefully since he is still young, I can correct/reverse it. I eventually want him to be a therapy dog when he is older and settles some because he really does have a good temperament for it and loves people. I try to walk him as much as possible so he can encounter people/cars/other dogs but we never encounter other dogs on the same path/up close on our walks through the neighborhood. The only dogs he encounters are those behind privacy fences that he can hear but can't see. Those are all medium/large dogs and their barks scare him so he would rarely bark back, other than that he would just try to hurry and walk past that house. The very few small dogs were being held or in a passing car so he didn't pay much attention to them. Any people we encountered were far off and we weren't on a route to pass next to them but he would just have this gently/quiet "woof" once or twice then he would stay focused on me.
Today was a completely different story on our morning walk. We were almost done with our walk and just 2 houses down from being home. Stewart noticed an elderly man and his small dog walking towards us on the opposite side of the street. The man's dog had absolutely 0 care in the world that we were there. I immediately try to get Stewart's attention and reward but it didn't work, he was locked in on them. I tried to stand in front of him so I could block the line of sight but he kept moving to get around me. As they got closer he tried harder and harder to get away from me, he started barking then had this deep growl from nowhere that he has never done before towards anyone or anything (except the opossum that was in the back ally and tried to get into our yard). He has a head collar on and tried to alligator roll out of it and the whole time his hackles are up and tail is wagging as it does when he gets super excited. The bright side, the man smiled, waved, and said "hello" to me. I apologized and told him that my dog isn't aggressive just a very excited and he nodded and said "it takes time." I have never been so embarrassed/scared with my dog. He has done so well with all of his training so far and I just got to the point where I felt he really understands "heel" then the situation happened. I hope this was a one time thing and never happens again.
I know I have set him up for failure because we haven't been walking near as much lately. It has been averaging 100+ degrees with 80+% humidity the past few weeks and by 8-8:30am, it's already uncomfortable outside unless there's a breeze. Around here it's either no breeze or full force hurricane winds. It doesn't get cool/comfortable enough to be outside until around 9-10pm but by then it's already dark. He stays out long enough to do his business then he comes right back in. So during this hot weather, we compromised not walking with car rides to go get gas or get a drink because there's always people and we can work on engage-disengage. He really loves the drive through at the quick stop because he gets a bone every time from the person working the window. This has really helped with the people excitement but he still isn't 100% yet.
I don't know where to go from here because there isn't a doggy daycare or dog park near within a 30 mile radius and not many people in my neighborhood walk their dogs, even in cooler weather. I have tried playing fetch before walks that way he is already a little tired and less likely to want to pull during walks. I have lived here for 4 years and maybe have seen the neighbors that live around us with dogs only a handful of times and have never seen their dogs out for a walk. Even though I work for a vet that also boards, I can't take him to work because it's not a daycare and we are pretty busy. Trainer that we refer people to is booked out for several weeks, which gives us time to budget for it between wedding expenses. If you have read this far, I appreciate it. All ideas are welcome.