Hello, my youngest tt is now 17 months (bolshy pup from previous posts) and is still a handful although utterly lovely too but just had an unpleasant experience. Noticed recently whilst out on lead she will rear up and lunge towards other dogs on leads. Dogs she knows, no problem, its just strange dogs. She is not an aggresive girl at all. I take in doggies while their owners work or go on holiday (thank you all for your help re: that! doing good now) and she is absolutely fine with them, although i do do introductions before they come to stay.
Today, took pup and mum out first (do a couple at a time) and we were on the same side of the road as a lady walking towards us with her youngish gsd. As she got nearer, my puppy lunged towards the dog. It was such a lunge, she pulled me off my feet and I fell forward onto the pavement the lead came out of my hand. The woman had gone into the road to avoid puppy and said pup ran into the road towards her, got up to her and just sniffed around with no aggression whatsoever. Pup waited for me to pick the lead up. Lady walked on but pup was in a very exited mood and I had to make her sit for a while before we could carry on. I apologised and mumbled something about "teenage pups" and "they arent aggressive" but she gave me a knowing look and I felt really awful.
I know this isnt a serious happening but I have ended up with a very sore shoulder and a feeling of not wanting to take her out around here again. What is going on here? Her mum sort of followed her half heartedly towards the other dog but I think she was only "joining in" under protest.

PS She never does this when we go to the park. Loads of strange dogs on leads there.!!!

poor you :( i am no expert, but maybe your pup and you could go on a walk together, and when a strange dog comes along ask the owner if they are friendly so that your pup can learn how to greet strange dogs :) or better still take her along to your local dog training classes so she can learn to greet and socialise with strange dogs x x

Yes, good idea. We did do puppy classes. Its the fact that she is fine when we are in the park. Could it be because it is closer to home?

it could be :) you have to look at the different situations, when at the park do you let her off the lead? Are you more relaxed being at the park, and if she is kept on the lead in the park, do you give her more rein, and more time / relaxed for her to sniff and meet other dogs? And when you do the street walk, are you more concerned about how she will react to the other dogs? Less relaxed? From what you have said your puppy is not being bad to the strange dogs, she is just so excited to say hi to them, so i would do more practice with just you and her to meet other dogs so that she learns the polite way to behave out on the street :)

Mmmm I think you have a point there. Am usually very relaxed and happy in the park. Do let her off in parts and other parts extend the lead. She tends to pull so that is something I am trying to cope with on local walks so am probably more up tight all round. Have got a Walkeze thing but she manages to get her leg out, but that is another subject!! I think I will have to do more one to one with her. It does sound like I am the problem here!!

:) in the past i have used a dogmatic halti on my young excitable puppy, it allows them to have their mouth naturally open how they wish, and if they pull on the lead then they are correct in a humane way and soon learn the manners on a lead, my girl wears hers when we first set off for a walk, she is 14 months old and gets very excited ! But as soon as the dogmatic is on she calms right down and we are able to enjoy our walk, then i take it off her and she walks fine :) i find that before i started to the excitement on walks i was getting very stressed and this reflected on how she was acting, there are lots of harnesses and haltis on the market, but i swear by the dogmatic as its a device that works for me and my dogs x :)

Yes, I am getting stressed. Funnily enough I bought a Canac gentle leader a couple of weeks ago and just tried it once and she just tried to get it off. Know I should persevere and will. Just been so busy this last week or so. Is that the same type of thing as the Dogmatic Halti?

i am not sure if it is the same, what is it made of? The dogmatic i have is real leather and has a padded piece for the top of the muzzle. It does take time for a dog to get used to wearing one as it feels different to them at the beginning, but patience and calmness will help your puppy :) my girl used to try and pay it off and would lay down at every opportunity! But i kept going with the praise and walking on and calling her, which worked and each time she tried to get it off, i would gently pull up on the lead, not too high but enough to get her attention and she would then carry on walking nicely :)

Right, just looked at prices and they are a bit expensive for me. Will try the gentle leader and if it doesnt have the desired effect will put it on ebay as have all the stuff that goes with it and go for the dogmatic one. Have noticed on Ebay they they are advertising leather ones and synthetic ones at different prices. I wonder if the cheaper ones are ok?

PS the gentle leader is not leather. Its the lightweight stuff some collars and leads are made of.

i would try your gently leader and see how you get on, i only buy the leather dogmatic as my dogs are large so need a strong material! :) i am sure the lighter material ones will be fine for your breed, i will have a look on internet at what a gentle leader is, but you should def give it a go x :)

just looked at the gentle leader and it is very similar to the dogmatic, so i sure it will work x :)

Thank-you so much for your help Gemini, I really appreciate it. Will let you know how i get on.
annie x

your most welcome :) :)

Dogmatic make both leather and lightweight material ones. I spent a fortune on all the different head collars and ended up with the dogmatic. All the others either were a bad fit or rose up into the eyes. I bought a leather one (this needs softeneing before use) and was sorry I had wasted my money on all the cheap ones. The only problem we had was with maintenance. She used to froth at the mouth with exitement and stress and this meant that the collar had to be cleansed at every use with a special leather cleaner and conditioner but now I see that the same company make a fabric one and whilst I have not tried one, if they are the same design, would be easier to look after, just a swish in soapy water and a rinse.

I use the dogmatic material one and it has lasted me a few years now on a very strong fear aggresive dog.
It is fantastic and I just stick it in the washing machine occasionally.

Looks like I should be investing in a dogmatic. Will have another go with the gentle leader and see if it is ok. My dogs are only around 10kg so may be it will be enough. Will check the riding up the nose bit though as that sounds unpleasant.