I again ended up in a situation a few days ago with my aunt's (who also is our closest neighbor) dog that I'm now afterwards questioning if I handled the correct way, would appreciate some input from some more dog-experienced people than I am.
I was almost home after a walk with my dog (a 5 year old cavalier) when my aunt's golden came running up to us, circling around us at a rocket's pace, playbowing over and over again obviously wanting to play. My dog has mostly gotten past the playing years so he ignored him, and I did not want to reinforce his bad behaviour running up to us on the road so I paid aunt's dog no attention and simply walked on while he ran around us. Nothing really happened except aunt's dog getting more and more excited, the circles around us getting smaller and smaller and just before we got home he pretty much jumped over my dog instead of circling around us. In hind sight though, I wonder if it would have gotten the message thru to him better to just simply stand still and give him no attention until he got tired of it and went home? Or are there any even better alternative approaches? I'm not so sure my dog could have remained calm for as long as standing still would take, he's fairly well behaved but in the end I imagine he would have either growled at him or taken up the play invitation.
This is not a once-off situation, it if were I wouldn't bother thinking about it. But it happens nearly every time we come home from walks and that dog happens to be outside. One time on an early morning he even followed us the whole way on our 45 minute walk, running all over roads, fields and other peoples' gardens... :yikes:
A little background on the aunt's dog if it helps, he's an 8 month old golden retriever from hunting lines who has gotten zero training and gets no exercise of any kind. My uncle lets him get away with anything saying he's "too young" to be trained or even to be on a leash (that's why he is always loose in their unfenced garden when they let him out), and my aunt is too lazy to go out for a walk with him.. the few times she's tried, he lunged on the leash so badly she couldn't hold him in and with his energy levels along with his lack of respect for her I'm not at all surprised. She's convinced he's an "evil bad-tempered dog" but I personally find nothing wrong with him except that he is a bit timid and is a seriously understimulated teenage puppy. The short times he's been with me indoors he is very clever, a fast learner and behaves well which my aunt considers to be a miracle, but I do not have time to train or exercise him myself and quite simply, he's not my dog nor my responsibility. He listens really well to me inside when he's visiting but it's outdoors when he unleashes all his energy that I'm at a loss how to best correct him, if it's at all possible..?
I was almost home after a walk with my dog (a 5 year old cavalier) when my aunt's golden came running up to us, circling around us at a rocket's pace, playbowing over and over again obviously wanting to play. My dog has mostly gotten past the playing years so he ignored him, and I did not want to reinforce his bad behaviour running up to us on the road so I paid aunt's dog no attention and simply walked on while he ran around us. Nothing really happened except aunt's dog getting more and more excited, the circles around us getting smaller and smaller and just before we got home he pretty much jumped over my dog instead of circling around us. In hind sight though, I wonder if it would have gotten the message thru to him better to just simply stand still and give him no attention until he got tired of it and went home? Or are there any even better alternative approaches? I'm not so sure my dog could have remained calm for as long as standing still would take, he's fairly well behaved but in the end I imagine he would have either growled at him or taken up the play invitation.
This is not a once-off situation, it if were I wouldn't bother thinking about it. But it happens nearly every time we come home from walks and that dog happens to be outside. One time on an early morning he even followed us the whole way on our 45 minute walk, running all over roads, fields and other peoples' gardens... :yikes:
A little background on the aunt's dog if it helps, he's an 8 month old golden retriever from hunting lines who has gotten zero training and gets no exercise of any kind. My uncle lets him get away with anything saying he's "too young" to be trained or even to be on a leash (that's why he is always loose in their unfenced garden when they let him out), and my aunt is too lazy to go out for a walk with him.. the few times she's tried, he lunged on the leash so badly she couldn't hold him in and with his energy levels along with his lack of respect for her I'm not at all surprised. She's convinced he's an "evil bad-tempered dog" but I personally find nothing wrong with him except that he is a bit timid and is a seriously understimulated teenage puppy. The short times he's been with me indoors he is very clever, a fast learner and behaves well which my aunt considers to be a miracle, but I do not have time to train or exercise him myself and quite simply, he's not my dog nor my responsibility. He listens really well to me inside when he's visiting but it's outdoors when he unleashes all his energy that I'm at a loss how to best correct him, if it's at all possible..?
