u/dogcrazy77

Edit for title: Off leash dogs that are out of control **

My dog can be pretty nervous around unknown dogs, and unfortunately when out on walks at local parks 9 times out of 10 the dogs we pass rush over to us. I am trying to train him to be able to walk calmly past other dogs, but unfortunately since most dogs come over to us, we are at a stand still with our training. Generally these dogs aren’t just strolling over, they are running up to us in what I would think is in quite a rude manner. My dog then gets nervous when he sees them approaching and can’t follow commands. This has then led to him showing the same behaviors around dogs who just walk past, because he doesn’t know they aren’t coming over and is anticipating them coming up to him. I would be happy if he could even ignore just the dogs that walk past nicely, but I don’t see how that’s possible if he can’t distinguish between the two situations. He doesn’t know if they are leashed or not!

On the bright side, he does awesome in training sessions, like at our local dog training club or out in a busier town setting. Generally in these places, unlike at the park, dogs don’t come up to us. So he’s so good at passing by, even if they are half a meter away, he just trots on through, even creating space which is awesome! I think because he knows we are training, and he knows that in those places dogs hardly come up to him, he’s more calm and doesn’t focus as much on the other dogs. Unfortunately that isn’t something we can do everyday, and isn’t fun for him to do day after day, he loves running around at the park and being silly. But that comes at a cost :/ Now days he’s recovers better from dogs rushing over, he’s quick to get back on track to sniffing, although sometimes he can stay worked up for minutes. Which is unnecessary stress on him! There’s even a person he spots and now immediately tenses up because on how many times the dog has rudely rushed over. Thankfully she has recently started leashing her dog when she sees us!

I try to always stay calm in these situations, I don’t shout or make a big fuss, I just try to encourage him along. But that doesn’t seam to have much affect on the situation! I’m unsure what to do. I want him to be well trained, I want him to be calm around random dogs at the park, but it seams like an impossible situation. How can I train him to stay calm and not worry about other dogs, when they all rush over to him! I have occasionally tried talking to the owners, and I’m either met with a rude look and being ignored, or an argument. What else can I do? Is this a matter of more training, although I’m not sure what? Or do I need to try and deter other dogs? I have tried body blocking, which has had no effect so far, and the owners don’t care so??? Should I try a light weight bright yellow vest with “nervous” on it? Would that get people’s attention? Usually we are pretty far away from the owners when the dogs rush up, so will they even notice it? This happens at all parks, so unless I don’t walk him, I basically have to go. He’s the kind of dog that loves the environment, and it fulfills him more than anything else, so I don’t want to take that away from him!

He’s actually a really friendly dog, and he wants to say hello, but when they rush up like that it makes he very nervous and unsure. He probably goes through 2 or more greetings a day, sometimes less, depends on the day! But he hasn’t made any improvements in terms of staying calm, so I don’t think more exposure will work. I try my very best to avoid other dogs, but generally most places we walk have paths or tighter more head on tracks we have to walk through to get to more open areas, and that’s where the interactions usually happen. Should I pick him up when I spot a dog that I know is coming over? Obviously this isn’t ideal for training, but it will avoids the interaction. I wouldn’t do this with a big dog, but small dogs that can’t reach up to him? I don’t wanna look like an idiot, but I also don’t want all this stress on him. He actually has a medical condition that for some dogs has been worsened and has triggered attacks due to even small amounts of stress, and although I’m not sure if that will be the case for my dog, it’s not something I want to happen to him. So I really would like to avoid a lot of these stressful interactions. I think his way of dealing with stressful dogs can look like play to someone who doesn’t know his behaviors, so maybe some people think he’s playing? Could the other dogs think he’s playing and that’s why they chase him around? Or are they just rude? Honestly I’m so unsure of what to do. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi, my dog used to be really reactive, years on he is sooo much better. He’s nervous of other dogs, but also can be over excited at times. We are still struggling with one thing. Off leash dogs. Specifically when walking down paths. We can pass other dogs that are on lead super well. But when they are off leash he seams to anticipate that they are coming over. This is not something we can avoid unless I never walk my dog.. off leash dogs are everywhere and 99% of the time the owners dont care!! Yay!! Usually when we see a dog I let him notice it and then call him into a heel, I find this is what works best for him in situations where we can’t avoid the dog. I think the extra guidance from me helps him to understand that walking next me is what he needs to do, rather than trying to pull towards the other dog. He’s pretty good at maintaining this until the dog gets closer. Then he’ll just freeze. I have to drag him along to keep him moving. I think the freeze usually comes when he’s certain the dogs coming over. Then the dog comes over and he begins to spin around, trying to create space, but he also wants to gather information about the dog. I’m wondering what to do? Ideally I just want him to walk past and hopefully the other dog will see we are boring and not engage for to long. I would prefer to avoid greetings every time, as one the dogs are usually rude, especially in the way they approach, and two, my dog already thinks every dog insight is coming over, so I want him to understand that I have the situation under control if that makes sense! What can I do to help him not freeze and tense up when he spots another dog coming over?

I’m simply just curious about this! In season 2, ep 7, she builds these hanging decorations with banners. She also puts amethyst clusters on top on it. Then a little later on she wants to fill out the ores room, so she realizes she needs silk touch and goes out to get it. But my question is, how did she get all those amethyst clusters before? If she didn’t have silk touch?

Obviously this isn’t that serious, it’s just something I picked up on and thought it was interesting! She could have borrowed one from someone else, but then, if she was going to make her own in the same episode, why didn’t she just wait? Maybe she put that clip in earlier when it was actually done later? Who knows!!

My dog spends most of his time on a big long line so essentially off leash. Thats how he gets fulfilled, he loves sniffing everything!! But along side that, I would love to be able to take him to more interesting places, to help him build confidence and just have fun together in new environments. The problem is, most interesting places are not wide open and for his safety I want him to be on a shorter leash, 2m probably. But he just can’t seam to switch between the two. Even if he starts the walk on a 2m leash he’s just constantly trying to run up to things to smell. Could this be a pulling problem? Or is it more that maybe he just doesn’t know what’s expected of him in that moment, so he just chooses what he wants to do, and if that is the case how do I go about fixing that? He can walk nicely next to me on his collar in a heel. But obviously that’s no fun. So I use his harness for free time. But I want him to be able to go “off leash” and explore on the harness, but then also explore with a 2m leash on the harness. Currently he only has one release command into the environment, which I use both for “off leash” and 2m leash time. So maybe I need to a seccond release command? I have no idea if any of this is making sense so please ask questions is needed!

Also to add, he’s pretty good with engagement, if he gets out the car strait onto the long line he responds really well from the start, if he’s on the shorter leash he usually won’t be as responsive during the first 5-10 mins because it’s just sniff pull sniff pull sniff!! He’s so much more relaxed and focus when he has more freedom. But that just makes going to different places hard, I really need him to do well of a short leash too. Should I just accept that’s how he is? I don’t mind the odd pulling, but constantly pulling me to every single post is very annoying. I would ideally like him to easily go from off leash time, to walking down a path calmly sniffing on the shorter leash.

Hi, my dog was recently diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis and now needs a low fat diet for the rest of his life. He was on chicken and rice for a bit while it was all getting figured out, and then we slowly transitioned him to a low fat vet prescription food. Unfortunately that food isn’t agreeing with his body. He’s behavioral issues get more intense when on kibble, and then drop off when he’s only on chicken and rice. Prior to his diagnosis when he was on another brand of kibble, he always had those same behavioral issues, so that’s why I’m thinking it’s kibble related, not just that specific kibble brand. On plain chicken and rice it was like I had a different dog! Not perfect, but sooooo much better than before. I’m coming on here because I’m not sure what other options there are. We will be talking to a nutritionist about what we can make our self’s, but I’m not to sure. The only low fat kibble we have in my country is one from Royal canin (which is what we have tried) and one from hills. I’m hesitant to try hills because 1, I’m thinking this is a general kibble issues, maybe something to do with the processing of it? And 2 because many people who have dogs with pancreatitis do not recommend that brand. So I’m really at a loss. Ideally we wanna keep under 7% fat, but there’s just nothing else out there. Wet food is an option, but it’s over $10 a day! Whereas kibble is only about $3 a day! Any help or advice would be appreciated :)