What would you do? - Page 1

So, I was at Lowes yesterday, and early at that. I took the puppy in, and he was doing really well.  Walking along, seemed very confident, and doing well on the leash.  We were in there for about 10 minutes, and all of a sudden this guy comes marching up to us, with a dog who I'd say is 75 or 80 lbs.....and he just gets all close to us before I could move away, and his dog barks at my puppy.....leaving the puppy scared. My pup went behind me and sat down (A pup just at 8 weeks) The big dog had this harness thing on his dog with a handle....like his dog was doing some kind of service for him....yeah right....    And he kind of laughs about it, and goes on.  That ticked me off sooo badly.  Now, today we go to the vet (no dogs were even out there at first), and my pup is scared of everything (last time he went to the vet, nothing bothered him and he was confident.) and he tried hiding under stuff.  I got him to bounce back a little, using treats as distraction, but 3/4ths of the time he had no interest in them, other than wanting to hide.  I took advantage of one situation there, a woman came out of one of the rooms and had a 6 month old Daschund who was being held, very calm, very friendly where the bench was out front. So I let him sniff, he liked that dog, but was still nervous about any barking he heard (the dogs in the  cages that you can hear at times, the ones who were at the vet for whatever reason for the day)  But anyway, I don't let my pup meet large dogs that I know, or don't know if they aren't mine (or dogs in general typically, but I wanted the small dog at the vet to leave him with somewhat of a good impression).  That guy at Lowes came practically jogging up towards he was coming so fast, and he had just come around the corner that was close by us so there wasn't any time to react. I guess if something similar happens next time I will just pick the pup up and walk off.  I'm curious though, what would you guys do in that situation? I mean Lowes of all places, I did not expect there to be dogs like that, especially that early in the morning. I intend to keep taking the pup out often, into public and training him.  And may take his big brother next time in town to help show the pup what to do, and also to help with the pups confidence.  The pup still did good today, when we went to Office Depot before the vet, curious about things, and confident. 

Were you inside the store? Didn't know that Lowes would allow that? Anyway just keep socializing the pup and make sure from this point forth that he gets around dogs that are under control and not aggressive.  If that was my pup, depending on the situation if I saw the guy allowing the dog to drag him over towards us I would have picked up the pup and moved away.  I don't like Harness's on dogs and most of the idiots out there allow their dogs to just pull them all around.  Your pup had a bad experience but he's young and with some work he'll bounce back just fine. 
Amy
 

Yep, we were in the store.  Our Lowes allows dogs, I don't know if others do, but ever since they built it here they have allowed them in. I just don't usually see dogs there.

When out with my dogs I keep my head on a swivel and am aware of people and animals around me.  You need to realize that most people are stupid and because their dog is friendly they assume your dog is also.  I do a lot of demos with my Police dog and he is very much under control, but he is very dog aggressive.  He will not bark, growl or even acknowledge another dog when he is out with me because I do not allow it.  However, I have had people run up to me with their kids, dogs and puppies to "meet the Police K-9."  I have to be very vigilant and stop them before they get to close or their dogs will get bit, same with people.  I would have told the guy to keep his dog back and not approach your dog. 

When my female was about 8 or 10 weeks old I took her into town to socialize her.  She is a very dominant out going female and loves people.  As I was walking her down the street I notice a guy approaching with a large Mastiff.  I told the guy I didn't want my dog near his but he came up to me saying "it's ok, my dog is friendly."  Judging by the Mastiff's demeanor I could tell it was not dog aggressive.  I tightened up on my leash and straddled my dog, patting her side.  There was no avoiding the guy since we were on the sidewalk and I couldn't move out of the way.  When the dog got close, I carefully watched the mastiff and told the guy again that I didn't appreciate him bringing his dog up to mine.  My pup jumped up on the mastiff and tried to hump the big old male mastiff.  I continued to keep a tight leash and praised my dog for dominating the bigger Mastiff.  The guy then told me that what I was doing was the wrong approach and I shouldn't hold my dog's leash so tight and praise my dog that way.  I replied that I knew exactly what I was doing and he needed to keep moving.  I do not let other dogs dominate my dogs and used that situation to boost my dogs confidence.  I don't recommend doing that unless you can really read dogs.  I wanted my dog up beat and confident since I had no way to avoid the dope and his Mastiff.  When I walked away my wife said "that guy said you shouldn't do that."  I said I know I did it on purpose, to boost Annabelle's confidence. 

I wouldn't worry too much about your dog, you have other dogs that he can have good experiences with. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks slamdunc.  Guys like the one you came in contact with, and the one I did just irritate me.  The dog approaching us, I could tell was not dog friendly. He had a very intense look, his eyes looked huge,  was very anxious, and he wanted to go after my pup.  I'd like to do walks around town, but I'm having to resort to stores because of the heat.  We're going to be in the low to mid 90s this week, and next week, every day, with a lot of humidity.  By 10 in the am it was already in the high mid 80s with the feel like even higher.  I went to Office Depot this morning around 8, same with Lowes yesterday.  I wouldn't do what you did with your pup to that guy, but that's funny.  

Pups all go through different stages.  Just keep vigilant in public so you don't run into that problem again.  I would have just given my pup a little scoot in the but so it refocused on me and went the other direction.  They always say their dogs are friendly.  You should keep doing what you are doing by taking the pup lots of places and exposing him to different things, one mild experience like that won't scar him for life, but we know the more positive the better.  Slamdunc has reasons for wanting his dogs to be extremely confident because of the work he does.  I would have cracked up if I had seen that little incident going on:)
Lyn

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH MUTTLOVER25. I TAKE MY DOGS TO LOWES OCCASIONALLY JUST FOR SOCIALIZATION BUT I HAVE NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS . JUST KEEP SOCIALIZING YOUR BABY AND TRY TO MAKE HIS OUTINGS AS PLEASANT AS POSSIBLE. GOOD LUCK.

Earlier this morning  we went to the State Park here, it's like 20 minutes away.  People bring there dogs there all the time, and even though there were no dogs there being that early, I know that place is covered in dog scent (at least my dogs can smell it) This time though, I took his big brother, Buck with us.  The puppy was confident the whole time with Buck, and would play, explore (on leash of course) and go onto odd surfaces and heights that he wasn't use to with no hesitation. Buck knows what to do and has done it a thousand times so it was nothing new to him.  Definitely helped the pup out though, and we got to work around people at the same time.  Totally new environment to the pup though and he acted as if he had been there a thousand times.

Good conversation.  Just the other day I was taking my boy for a walk and out came 2 pitbulls that had escaped from somewhere.  I was not sure what I was going to do being that my dog will attack any dog that tries to dominate him.  I was prepared to let the leash go and help my dog fight these pit bulls.  I seriously had no where to go to get out of the situation.  What made it even worst is that my dog is getting over a sprained leg and he is just getting his pep back in his step...as the dogs got closer I held my dogs collar and yelled at the other dogs trying to scare theme away.  I did not want theme to even get close enough to sniff because if one would have tried to jump up it would have been on.  the dogs stopped in there tracks when I started yelling GET BACK!  once I did that my dog lit up and starting barking.  All of the noise made someone look out there window and they noticed what was going on.  They came out with a broom and helped me back the dogs off.  I went inside of his house and called my wife to come and pick us up.  I called 911 to let theme know that there was 2 pitbulls running around. 

Those dogs could have easily gotten up on us and they would have started fighting.  I would have had to let go of the leash so that my dog can defend himself.  I would have killed those dogs if that would have happened.

Now that's a scary situation.  I have come across many loose dogs, but usually the little yappy ones, because people figure they are harmless so they leave them out unattended in their yards:(  Don't knw what I would do if it was two pit bulls, probably the same as you start yelling.  Glad someone helped you out:)