Used the “he’s not friendly!” line for the first time

[coltproulx]

My dog isn’t un-friendly. He’s dog reactive but love love loves to play once introduced. So I’ve avoided using that line to stop other owners from approaching for 3 reasons:
- I’m 100% focused on managing him
- It’s not true but there’s no succinct way to accurately describe his behavior, so the pit bull breed advocate in me doesn’t want to unnecessarily paint him in the color
- If he does go over threshold, owners assume it anyway

Last night we went to a pet store and he did wonderfully. Voluntarily offered desired behaviors, no reactions (until I didn’t catch his build in time as we were passing a dog in the parking lot on the way out), displayed reasonable body language and was fairly consistently engaged. He showed off tricks for the cashier’s treats as if there were no triggers around.

A guy was walking a teeny tiny dog around the store like we were, but allowed her to run up to every other dog. We ran into them at the end of an aisle. I first shortened the leash and verbally reminded my dog to stay in heel, and checked his body language. He was showing some curiosity but was too overstimulated for it to go well, so I just blurted out “he’s not friendly!” without a second thought. Owner high tailed it away from us and Steve Rogers disengaged. Got some treats and moved on like nothing happened. Because nothing did!

I always tell people not to care about what others think of their dogs. Their opinion doesn’t matter. What matters is your dog’s stress and whether they have a positive or negative experience. The potential reward of that interaction going well isn’t worth the risk of it going poorly.

This is a reminder to myself to practice what I preach: I’m much happier knowing that guy thinks I have an evil pit bull if it means we got a W. Advocate for your reactive dogs no matter what.

 

[lorisangel123]

@coltproulx My dogs are friendly off leash but reactive on.
There was a time when I didn’t want to use it due to fear of being judged, now it’s a lifeline. I finally stopped caring what other people thought and I’m so happy I did. I’m just being a responsible dog owner and reducing my stress and anxiety. And at the end of the day that’s all that matters.

 

[rosenbloom]

@lorisangel123 Did you bring them into pet stores where they can run into other dogs?

 

[lorisangel123]

@rosenbloom This was actually suggested by my trainer after a few months of neighborhood training. No matter where you are at, owners should not let their dogs come up to yours without consent.

 

[rosenbloom]

@lorisangel123 You shouldn't bring a reactive dog into an environment that effectively makes the other dogs in it crash test dummies.
They don't exist so you can train your reactive dog.

 

[jro1]

@rosenbloom I work at a pet store. Reactive dogs are welcome, because people shouldn't be allowing their dogs to interact without consent anyway.

They aren't making the other dogs "crash test dummies". It's no different than walking by other dogs on the street.

 

[campbell2210]

@jro1 I also worked in a pet store for quite some time and we love our reactive dogs and their owners. They are doing what's best for the dog and I give them points for the work it takes!! They are training them the right way.

 

[rosenbloom]

@jro1 So the pet store you work at isn't worried about the liability issues if someone's reactive dog attacking a customer or dog in the store? OK. Lol. And what happens if everyone just brings their reactive dogs into the store at the same time?

 

[jro1]

@rosenbloom I'm not a lawyer but my understanding is that pet stores are responsible for enforcing rules, such as keep your dog on a leash and do not allow greetings without consent.

If a person disregards those rules and it leads to an incident, then that person would be at fault.

Edit: we often have multiple reactive dogs in the store, the owners are extremely careful about giving each other space or taking turns coming inside the building. Many owners of reactive dogs are incredibly aware and cautious.

I feel like you're imagining aggressive dogs, not reactive.

 

[scottkun]

@rosenbloom Any dog that just HAS to meet another dog on leash is a reactive dog. They are dog reactive. Otherwise they wouldn't care there was another dog there.

The difference is that OP is training their dog how to behave so they aren't as reactive compared to the owner who does nothing to fix their dog's behaviour because "it's cute" and "he's just so friendly" when he approaches dogs without consent of the owner.

 

[lorisangel123]

@rosenbloom My dog is not dog aggressive just dog reactive - I suggest looking up the difference if you’re going to continue with your narrative. I can take my dog anywhere I want as long as I’m being responsible and have it under control. I’ve run into too many people with “behaved” dogs who just let them run around and go up to whoever they want - this is the kind of irresponsible behavior that really needs to be corrected.

 

[galaxyman]

@lorisangel123 There seems to be a poster (or a few) that will come to this sub and comment as if all reactive dogs are actually vicious, aggressive, impossible to control beasts that will rip any human’s or animal’s face off (which, any dog reactive or not has this inside of them but whatever) and should, therefore, not be allowed to exist.

I have a reactive dog. He is not aggressive. I do not condone owners who let their aggressive dogs do whatever as if they are not aggressive, and i also do not condone sugar coating if a dog is actually aggressive.

However, If an owner is in this sub, 9/10 times they are more responsible than the vast majority of dog owners in the world.

 

[lorisangel123]

@galaxyman 100% agree with this. It’s interesting to see what other think and a little frustrating at times too.

 

[gryody]

@rosenbloom Reactive dogs are allowed in public, learn to ask for consent before letting your dog run up to any unfamiliar dog. This isn’t hard.

 

[zantilli]

@rosenbloom How does it feel to be wrong

 

[lorisangel123]

@zantilli Lol

 

[harry2013]

@rosenbloom No, I get what you’re saying. The commenter you responded to said that people shouldn’t let their own dogs run up to yours without consent. Shouldn’t… but they do. Morons. I don’t know how many times some with an off-leash dog has let theirs rampage up to us, giggling, saying “He’s friendly!” as if that changes a single thing in the world.

My standard response at this point is “Mine’s not. He bites.” He’s never actually bit another dog (he just flips out, gets unhappy, and acts in an unpleasant fashion)—but saying this generally gets people to move a little more quickly to secure theirs lol. Otherwise they just genuinely do not seem to care about anyone else’s space. Or maybe they’re accidentally ignorant, I dunno.

Fortunately, my dog is a 25-lb Pomeranian mix who thinks he’s bigger than he is, so I can physically restrain him if shit really goes down by just picking him up. I can’t imagine with a pit mix. I’m a 120 lb 5’2” woman. I wouldn’t be brave enough to try what OP did.

Really, though, as long as the pit was securely muzzled, I think it’s probably okay. That way he can’t inflict any severe damage. Not that he would, but, you know, if he decided to try. Animals in general are unpredictable. As we always say on this sub, better safe than sorry. And slow exposure therapy is the way we fix these things, right?

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@rosenbloom 100%. I have one reactive dog, one chill dog. Not crash test dummies.

 

[lorisangel123]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Huh?

 

[lastword]

@rosenbloom I discovered a great trainer in a pet smart. My dog is reactive on leash and the trainer specifically told us to train in or near pets stores or areas where we will see other dogs. You have to expose them and reshape their behavior somehow. It’s more about being aware of the dogs threshold and not pushing them past a point where they can’t refocus, and knowing when to remove them if needed. Muzzles are also a great tool to use if there is true concern. So far this approach has worked great for us and we’ve never had any bad incidents.