Tara has developed an annoying habit. When she has her headcollar on she walks to heel very nicely. However, every now and again, if she sees an 'exciting' dog, she gets very excited and 'cartwheels' on the end of her lead. Today she saw our neighbour's lurchers (who she loves to chase in the field) when we were walking on the pavement outside our house and went ballistic - so much so that she bit the bottom of my coat at the back and ripped it a bit :( Unfortunately, I had Bramble in the other hand and couldn't react very quickly. She was already on a very short lead, as I saw them coming and knew that she would get hyper. How would you deal with this ? In the heat of the moment, I scragged her (a hand on each side of her neck/face), lifting her front legs off the ground. Although this shut her up :) - I am not sure that this was the best thing to do. She is 22 months and gets very hyper when excited.

Daisy

Hi Daisy, it sounds like both of you getting worked up here, shortening the lead and scruffing. Ive been there and still do get tense if I think my dog may disobey/rush over etc. It makes things worse so you need to make a huge effort to stay calm, in charge and keep the lead relaxed. Look ahead and see if you can spot Taras triggers before she does. What helped me was learning to keep his attention on me - start in house and hold a tiny treat in thumb and forefinger, raise hand so she looks up and wiggle the finger to keep her boggling at it, then chuck it like a dart at her tail so she has to catch it. Lengthen the time she looks as you get the hang of it. I have a LOOK signal Morse knows means food and it works outside now.

When outside if its dogs she gets excited about get her to sit when they approach and reward her for being calm. We spent a lot of time sitting beside the path as dogs passed till it wasnt a novelty and he knew he had to be calm to play later. If Tara and Lurchers do a lot of running loose together why not ask if they can walk with you on leads at times so they get used to being under control together? Also have you been to a good training class to expose her to dog company until its no novelty? None of this is instant, so keep at it, nil desperandum and it boils down to stay calm, look ahead and have a strategy to focus her on you. HTH

Hi Lorelei

Thanks for the reply :) Tara has always been very good with other dogs - she has Bramble for company and has been going to obedience classes and agility since she was 9 weeks old :) This particular problem started when we introduced the headcollar - she doesn't mind the headcollar as such - it's just when we see a few particular dogs, when she is on lead that is the problem. This incident today, we had to walk around a van that was parked behind the pavement near my house and so couldn't see what was coming, otherwise I'd have been a bit more prepared :( I do use trreats to get her attention, but it's very difficult to get the treats out when you have dog in each hand especially when one is throwing a tantrum :) As it was right by a road, I had to shorten the lead as - when this has happened before - she has jumped and flipped around so much that the head collar comes off (I do have another link attaching it to another collar) and this could be dangerous so near to the road. It would be nice to meet these lurchers calmly, but we have a bit of a problem with this particular neighbour as he has put in a planning application which has got the rest of the road up in arms :)

I've had a good chat to the trainers at classes tonight and I'm feeling a bit calmer about it all now :)

Thanks

Daisy