My dog is too friendlywith strangers.
When out walking he has started to be a nuisance when off lead.
It started last week with him taking his ball up to people and dropping it in front of them (initiating a game) this was rewarded on several occasions by the people (especially children) playing a game with him.
This was very rewarding, as he was now the 'owner' of the game, initiating it and deciding who can play, which he is not allowed to do with us.
After a couple of days of this he stopped coming back when called when he was playing with someone else, so i stopped letting him have the ball when other people were nearby.
Now he has just started running up to people and trying to pal up with them, especially if they are children, this is not good, as lots of people don't like dogs and lots of kids are very scared. He does come after me if I march off, but he doesn't just come away immediately I call.
Again, he is not fussed by us if he just runs up and demands affection, we all call him to us for a fuss, but this doesn't seem to extend to strangers in his opinion.
This is getting very tiresome - any ideas?

Sorry I'm not going to be much help here - but I just wanted to let you know i read this and thought 'how lucky - if only mine was like that' - mine doesnt like strangers and will bark at people that approach him.

I would think one of the things that would be recommended would be a long line and lots more recall training.  I always take liver/hot dogs/haslet or something like that - my dog knows if I call him to me he is very likely to get a piece of this and comes every time now.  

Good luck and I'm sure the good advice will come flooding in very soon...

Maxine

Bless him, I do kind of feel sorry for him, he just wants to play. He obviously loves children too.

But flipside, your worries are very founded and of course he only needs to approach the wrong child who has a fear, or the wrong adult.  Of course he should not be approaching strangers and he should recall immediately, but bless him he sounds such a wonderful friendly dog, which is a shame as the most immediate course of action is a long line to get his recall completely sorted out he needs constant recall training, start from today and everyday.

Find a nice quite field if possible to play ball with him, or go out extra early or later for ball play. If there is the odd slip up ask the people concerned not to throw his ball and to ignore him.  A combination of all three over a few months should stop him from approaching strangers to play with him.

He sounds to be such a wonderful friendly dog though, just take control of him and it will sort itself out. :-)

Just to add, the best recall tools you can ever invest in are a whistle or a clicker. Practise at home whistle or click and offer a treat incorporate this into your long line recall daily training too.  And when he is off lead, he will also associate the whistle or clicker as part of his recall, much nicer than shouting his name at the top of your voice too, there is no mistaking what a whistle or clicker means dogs react to them much quicker and with obediance and you can then progress if you wish to different signals like sit, stay, down etc through them.

Thanks for your replies.
He is perfect recall at home, in garden, on a long line etc. Also quick when off-lead, except when he is engaged in 'a better offer'. he loves to play with other dogs, but will come  back fairly promptly if I call him in these circumstances, but it is simply playing ball with other people, or the prospect of that which is the problem.
He also has a habit of noseing up to people walking along when he is off-lead or on a long lead, he doesn't chase  them, just noses at their hands or whatever, but again it is a bit rude, and embarassing, so I have to be wary the whole time, and tell him to 'leave' as we approach anyone, if i don't say it he always seems to do it.
I have had faster recall with a whistle, but I lost it 2 weeks ago (just before the really silly stuff of tearing up to strangers with his ball to play with them started, so maybe a connection) I need to get out and buy another one.
I do give him a nice treat (home made liver treat or shop bought treats, i always have variety) whenever he comes back quickly when called, but he is not too fussed with food.
I wondered about doing some sort of aversion therapy with people, by getting some people he doesn't know to shout at him or spray him with water or shake a can when he approaches, but i am worried that could result in aggression, what do you think? Also, I think he has had so many positive experiences it would have to be pretty dramatic to stop him, really.

Oh please dont go for the aversion therapy route - how awful for a lovely trusting friendly dog to be treated in that way.  I think timing on calling him just before he makes that flight for freedom would be much better.....

Maxine

Have to also strongly agree here too, the nearest thing to aversion therapy you need here is ignorance, ask people to ignore him due to training! Which they will do if you ask. No need for anything else, it may turn your lovely friendly boy into one that will mistrust and react aggressively in the future, please do not go down this track with a friendly dog, never do anything to destroy his trust in humans, he is not aggressive, or barking at them only wanting to say hello and play.

He sounds as if he has a wonderful nature which is brilliant

My dog used to go to people and try to trip them up when she was a youngster - basically play behaviour but still not acceptable

I first of all managed the behaviour by not letting her anywhere near prospective "victims" and put in hours of training to get her to an
advanced level where she would do an emergency Sit at a distance which basically solved the problem. I always reward heavily any emergency
command :)

I used a fav. toy to train this :) and food rewards.

One thing you may need to be aware of is the dog being rewarded a lot for "leaving" when he's going towards people (ie saying, if I do this you will call me away and I will be rewarded) as then he/she has backchained and has decided they need to go through the motions of going to people first, as they believe this is what they are expected to do to get the reward. So you need to ensure the dog is carefully trained and this will involve obeying commands more at a pre-emptive stage, rather than "as" they move towards the people. If you see what i mean -although of course use the emergency command in an emergency. Also you'll need to reward a lot for the right choices and for staying near you :)

I'd suggest you perhaps contact a one to one trainer for help (try www.apdt.co.uk for one near you who should be used to hands on training) who can
come out with you - it will be money well spent.

The problem is that he was very well rewarded by people for his asking for a play - so if you ensure this doesn't happen, the behaviour will, over time,
partly extinguish (or even completely extinguish).

Good luck :)

Lindsay
x

My last dog was like this..he was a BC.

The beauty of a dog like tis is they don't discriminate..they will vive the ball to an adult, a baby in a pram, a toddler,  a disabled bloke on a sscooter, an old lady with a stick. If people could see each other in this ay how much better this world would be.

I found ths frustrating.  I actually could work my dog very well he was good at obedience and tricks at club events or companion shows. We were oart of the club demonstration team. So it was not that he was not a great faithful dog or an obedient dog..he was very faithful. 

I felt like you though... a bit not needed at times! What made it worst he discovered slopes. If there were no other people or children ablout to play ball with he would find a slope and play ball by himself.

My dog would work his way through the line for the ice cream van after school making sure each chld had dirty habnds to eat their lolly with! If they didn't like dogs he woud persist until he taught them to throw the ball. Most people though woud cooperate. Some kids they love dogs but can't have one so to them he was their dog.. with the toddlers I would show them how to be safe all the little kids who were running up to my dog for the turn with the ball were told to say down drop leave before taking the ball. One baby those were his first words.  He even  had special games he taught to special people he especially liked.

Yes It frustrated me.. he had such a good recall but not when there were kids to play ball with! He would put the ball between their feet to make sure the right person took the ball.  Some people did not like dogs, some kids were scared of dogs.. but one Asian boy he was so scared but after a log time watching the dog pkay ball and do tricks for his friends he asked if he could  touch Jack. I held my dog still and he gave the quickest and ightest of feels and his care worker came and said thanks so much and she couldn't believe he touched a dog.

My dog died young . It wasn't only me who cried for him. For three short years I had had the honour of caring for a community dog. So many people here lost a prescious friend. I was devistated by the lass but alsi so sad to see how toddlers, children and adults, elderly, disabled in my area had lost their dog.  6 months later the guy with the ive cream van asked  why I never took Jack to the field any more and I told him my dog had died..he shook his head and said he was not your dog he belonged to all of us.

The reason we got Jack and why I have dogs now is because we walk a lot but never ever had dogs and couldn't stand ditrty dog owners and all the dog mess all over the place.... but on two different walks we met two different dogs like this who came to be with us for a short time and play ball and show us how wonderful a dog can be.  Society is increasingly antisocialand legalistic and negative and fearful... but a dog like yours knows nothing of this. You have a beautiful companion.

Okay now to offer you some tips.  Although some people react with fear many parents over the time came and thanked me for letting their kids play with my dog .  At first ike you I had the same problem...fantastic recall excpet when he had found children to play with. By the time he was 3 I also had a good recall with the kids.   So you will get there. 

I would request that before throwing the ball you ask children to ask the dog to do something to earn the reward..so sits, downs any tricks like that. This actually atracts the kids more but it also shows the dog the dog he is not calling the shots but is under their authority.  It is also good for kids to learn how to behave around dogs .

Use places away from the kids to make giving the ball to you much more fun..bounce it, bounce it on uneven surfaces, dodge tease the dog with it... show all the exciting different movements a ball can do when you play with it... make it hard for the dog to give it back to you..so when he brings it back dodge and tease and play hard to get and lavish with reward.

Practice puppy recall near kids and disractions with good reward. All the basic training.

I have this with one of my dogs now for certain people who fuss her or feed her and it is a nightmare and I feel I will get nowhere because she is so lavishly rewarded with foofd and fuss by these people!   But I will get there in the end.

You socialise them to love people and then have it all on to stop them running off to them!   But it's far better they are peple friendly...better to deal with undoing the ott people love than having to deal with a fear of people.

Thanks for replies so far.
I have been trying to do training on 'leave' command with favourite squeak toys in the house, making him leave and then calling him to me past the toy, then letting him play with it after he comes. Success so far, but not yet tried with child, or out in the park. I think i need a stooge child (where to find a strange but brave small child?) in my house first, then toy in the park when no kids around before go to full child in the park scenario.
in the meantime i'm not letting him off leash in the park if there are kids around.
I also feel more relaxed knowing others have gone through same, and not had any real problems, as the dog has grown older. Mine is 20 months old crossbreed (Lab/Collie mum  not sure Dad), by the way, in case breed makes any difference.

I'd have guessed your pup was a collie type! 

In the park the two most social breeds I find who interfere with us and come steal balls from my two or come and join in with our games are the collies or the labs. You've got both rolled into one!