Young dog charging!

[Akela]

Hi,

I’m looking for advice from anyone kind enough to share there time and experiences with me.
I rescued a dog last year, he was 3 months old when I got him. He is know 15months old, very large and hairy. He is a wonderful dog and very intelligent. He adores saying hello and getting cuddles of everyone he meets however there lies my problem!
Since he was young his unusual looks have got him a lot of attention, everyone wants to say hi and I believe this (and my lack of experience!) have added to a giant goofy dog who is too friendly for his own good.
I’m aware there are a lot of dogs (and people) who don’t want a large dog galloping into there space and I don’t want to be a clueless owner or seem naive or unsympathetic to there dogs needs (I care so much about everyone’s happiness when I’m out with Akela!)
My boy when of leash charges full throttle towards other dogs, when he gets to them he gets into a play bow, tail wagging (I fact whole body wagging) and tries his best to encourage play.
He has a multitude of doggy friends and I often walk him with other dogs, he will play the entire duration of the walk! Therefore I feel like when it’s just me and him, maybe I’m not exciting enough? (I just don’t know!)
If he doesn’t come back to me and reaches the dog only a handful want to play, which I massively respect and I put him on the lead to show respect to the owners. People are so kind and say ‘it’s ok, he’s just young’ but I feel horrible that sometimes he just won’t listen.
I take full responsibility for my dog, his shortcomings are my own! I just need some advice with what to do!
He knows many commands, and I train him everyday! Sit, stay, ok (for go on) come, close, watch me, away, leave, no bark, no jump. Sometimes (and I can’t figure out what’s the difference) he will listen to every command whilst of lead and other times (especially recently) he will do the command very briefly and then jump up and run of to the dog, or person! He never barks at people he just wants to play but I know that’s only ok if I say it’s ok. Putting him back on the lead doesn’t seem to get the message across.
He is fed fresh cooked meals (due to his endless list of allergies!!) and we hike everyday. I hate putting him on the leash as he has so much energy. The weekends we do 5-10 mile hikes and weekdays 3-5mile hikes. He is well excersized and I live in a beautiful rural location, so we have endless places to go exploring but of course we will always see people.
He loves to play hide and seek and I always do a mini training session in the garden before we go out! But I’m obviously missing something!
I would do anything for my boy, so please anyone who’s gone through this can you let me know how you got your dog to stop being so rambunctious?
Thanks so much for reading this post.

 

[JudyN]

Oh he's rather gorgeous - do you know what breed/cross he is?

You sound like a very responsible dog owner - 'He only wants to play' is such a common refrain! My dog's not so sociable so I've not a lot of experience of this, but my approach would be to work on making recall as good as possible - mega treats and/or games (squeaky ball?) for coming back to you. I'd start when there's no other dogs/people in sight, and build up the distractions (e.g. one person half a mile away) very gradually. Easier said than done, I know...

If he likes hide & seek, maybe you could use an outdoor game of hide & seek as a reward - e.g. throw some kibble into long grass for him to find, or a toy. You might be able to do this with him on a long line (attached to a harness, not his collar, for safety). Though I never got on with a long line, and you'd have to consider the consequences if he should charge to the end of it while you were holding it...

There's been other threads recently about over-friendly dogs, but I'm blowed if I can find one. Hopefully someone else will be able to dig one out

 

[Caro Perry]

Harri is also over friendly - he was also unbearably cute as a pup and got loads of attention ( he still does - he looks like a teddy bear!). He's also 16 months old.

I have yet to find a solution I'm afraid. We are working on controlling his social interactions but it's hard work as no treat is as high value as interacting with another dog. We have had a few glimpses of success recently so I'm hoping eventually we will crack it.

 

[Akela]

Oh he's rather gorgeous - do you know what breed/cross he is?

You sound like a very responsible dog owner - 'He only wants to play' is such a common refrain! My dog's not so sociable so I've not a lot of experience of this, but my approach would be to work on making recall as good as possible - mega treats and/or games (squeaky ball?) for coming back to you. I'd start when there's no other dogs/people in sight, and build up the distractions (e.g. one person half a mile away) very gradually. Easier said than done, I know...

If he likes hide & seek, maybe you could use an outdoor game of hide & seek as a reward - e.g. throw some kibble into long grass for him to find, or a toy. You might be able to do this with him on a long line (attached to a harness, not his collar, for safety). Though I never got on with a long line, and you'd have to consider the consequences if he should charge to the end of it while you were holding it...

There's been other threads recently about over-friendly dogs, but I'm blowed if I can find one. Hopefully someone else will be able to dig one out

Oh he's rather gorgeous - do you know what breed/cross he is?

You sound like a very responsible dog owner - 'He only wants to play' is such a common refrain! My dog's not so sociable so I've not a lot of experience of this, but my approach would be to work on making recall as good as possible - mega treats and/or games (squeaky ball?) for coming back to you. I'd start when there's no other dogs/people in sight, and build up the distractions (e.g. one person half a mile away) very gradually. Easier said than done, I know...

If he likes hide & seek, maybe you could use an outdoor game of hide & seek as a reward - e.g. throw some kibble into long grass for him to find, or a toy. You might be able to do this with him on a long line (attached to a harness, not his collar, for safety). Though I never got on with a long line, and you'd have to consider the consequences if he should charge to the end of it while you were holding it...

There's been other threads recently about over-friendly dogs, but I'm blowed if I can find one. Hopefully someone else will be able to dig one out

hi,
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me! I think you are right, I need to keep him away from busy areas and really work on his recall.
I never want to be that owner waving in the background ‘he’s a friendly dog’ because I do respect each dog has had there own walk of life, and why should anyone be plagued by my big old goofy boy!
It’s a little disheartening because I work so hard with him! I did watch a great training video that taught me the walk starts with having him calm before we leave the house, and Akela does go nuts the second I put his harness on! So controlling him more before I leave the house may help things?
I worry that his behaviour has been so self rewarding already, therefore I will have to manage this carefully and consistently!
I’m unsure of his breed, he was a rescue from Romania (my friends had a few rescues from Romania and I loved there energy levels) initially he looked like a wolfhound cross, so much so that even our vets thought so! Then he started looking less skinny and tall, then his fur grew a crazy amount and now I think he looks like a sheepdog cross! He definitely has strong herding instincts! Mental training is so important with him.He is a fantastic cuddle buddy in the morning though!
I will try to utilise his hide and seek skills when we are out.
It is hard not to get stressed and be a calm and patient owner sometimes!
Thank you again x

 

[Akela]

Harri is also over friendly - he was also unbearably cute as a pup and got loads of attention ( he still does - he looks like a teddy bear!). He's also 16 months old.

I have yet to find a solution I'm afraid. We are working on controlling his social interactions but it's hard work as no treat is as high value as interacting with another dog. We have had a few glimpses of success recently so I'm hoping eventually we will crack it.

Hi,

Thanks so much for replying to me. It’s nice to know there’s someone else going through this, I have just followed you on this site! I love a glimpse of success.. it is the best feeling! Keep doing whatever your doing (and please share any secrets to success)
My boy is the same with treats, I think because he gets home cooked food no treat is ever worth it when we are out! He already has liver, chicken, beef and white fish in his diet therefore he doesn’t care about that when he’s out and gets to see other dogs!
I think I may have to start walking him at anti social hours to avoid the amount of people we see until I get this fixed.
The problem has definitely got worse now he’s an adolescent dog, I’m not sure he realises his size and I hate that he runs over to children (never jumps or barks) but I was scared of dogs when I was a little girl and I never want a child to feel scared, or dog, or adult!
People even stop us out and pull out treats to give him, I think I need to be more assertive and say ‘please stop, I need him to ignore people!’
Today I have started working on a ‘STOP’ command, I’ve been getting him excited and then freezing and when he stops too, I say STOP and give him a treat. He’s picking it up quickly- whether he does it outside is another story!
It’s tough.
Please post any progress, I would to hear more from you.
x

 

[Akela]

hi,
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me! I think you are right, I need to keep him away from busy areas and really work on his recall.
I never want to be that owner waving in the background ‘he’s a friendly dog’ because I do respect each dog has had there own walk of life, and why should anyone be plagued by my big old goofy boy!
It’s a little disheartening because I work so hard with him! I did watch a great training video that taught me the walk starts with having him calm before we leave the house, and Akela does go nuts the second I put his harness on! So controlling him more before I leave the house may help things?
I worry that his behaviour has been so self rewarding already, therefore I will have to manage this carefully and consistently!
I’m unsure of his breed, he was a rescue from Romania (my friends had a few rescues from Romania and I loved there energy levels) initially he looked like a wolfhound cross, so much so that even our vets thought so! Then he started looking less skinny and tall, then his fur grew a crazy amount and now I think he looks like a sheepdog cross! He definitely has strong herding instincts! Mental training is so important with him.He is a fantastic cuddle buddy in the morning though!
I will try to utilise his hide and seek skills when we are out.
It is hard not to get stressed and be a calm and patient owner sometimes!
Thank you again x

I also think maybe a solid fetch may be a great idea, so thank you for that suggestion too! I’m not sure why I’ve never kept up with fetch, I think to many times of me going to find the ball became frustrating! However from what I can find online i probably haven’t taught him the game well enough?!
I will try to teach him that again.

 

[Caro Perry]

I wrote a bit about what I'm doing with Harri in this thread
Recall training?

He has actually twice broken off from playing with another dog to come back to me when called. That was huge! And the glimpse of success. Sadly he then picked up a scent and I had to climb under a barbed wire fence and wade across a huge bramble patch in pursuit. It took me half an hour to catch the little wretch.

We have a long way to go!

 

[JudyN]

People even stop us out and pull out treats to give him, I think I need to be more assertive and say ‘please stop, I need him to ignore people!’

Absolutely - I struggle to be assertive and tend to give in, particularly when the other person has the treat out and under Jasper's nose before asking But thankfully he's only a pain with those people who reward him for being a pain

Remember that being a big lad, Akela will be slow to mature and that many adolescent dogs are unruly menaces - it's in their nature, it's not a case of bad training. Keep on doing what you can, but don't blame yourself when he runs riot despite all your efforts.

 

[Ari_RR]

Re walking at “anti-social” hours - that was my approach.

My boy was not a goofy/friendly type back then, he galloped to other dogs not to play but to challenge and provoke and stir the pot in all ways possible... so, we walked at 5 am at remote areas, deserted nature parks... anti-social hours and/or places

3 conclusions for me:
1 - this approach worked, in general.
2 - nature parks are interesting and beautiful at sunrise. We saw owls flying, for example.
3 - important! - there are other dogs out there at 5 am. And some of them are not the goofy ones. We’ve ran across some real beasts... so, need to keep your eyes open and scan the surroundings event at 5 am.

Good luck. He is a good looking monster ;-)

 

[Akela]

Re walking at “anti-social” hours - that was my approach.

My boy was not a goofy/friendly type back then, he galloped to other dogs not to play but to challenge and provoke and stir the pot in all ways possible... so, we walked at 5 am at remote areas, deserted nature parks... anti-social hours and/or places

3 conclusions for me:
1 - this approach worked, in general.
2 - nature parks are interesting and beautiful at sunrise. We saw owls flying, for example.
3 - important! - there are other dogs out there at 5 am. And some of them are not the goofy ones. We’ve ran across some real beasts... so, need to keep your eyes open and scan the surroundings event at 5 am.

Good luck. He is a good looking monster ;-)

Hey!
Never saw this reply before! Thanks for the tips- as you can see got a few things to work on with my boy!
He is a handsome monster right! X

 

[Drift's Owner]

Hi, same for us. Young rescue and didn't listen for ages, no recall etc. especially when other dogs were about, (dogs are way more interesting than my owner to listen to / play with), but just recently it has clicked and he has started to respond well. I am lucky and have found 99% of owners totally understand that they are young dogs and play is all they want to do. It just takes time and repeat, repeat, repeat and repeat...Did I say repeat?

Oh and one thing I did do is change treats from stock items, to fresh meat and dried fish as these were way more enticing to come me than dried treats.

Keep going.

 

[Akela]

Hi, same for us. Young rescue and didn't listen for ages, no recall etc. especially when other dogs were about, (dogs are way more interesting than my owner to listen to / play with), but just recently it has clicked and he has started to respond well. I am lucky and have found 99% of owners totally understand that they are young dogs and play is all they want to do. It just takes time and repeat, repeat, repeat and repeat...Did I say repeat?

Oh and one thing I did do is change treats from stock items, to fresh meat and dried fish as these were way more enticing to come me than dried treats.

Keep going.

Hey again!
That’s great to hear!! Awesome news, I will look forward to that day! Akela has the stinky sprats too.. he can’t have processed food. He’s allergic to potato, sweet potato, carrots, rice (brown and white) salmon and so much more! He’s strictly chicken/white fish/ liver/heart/ beef wholemeal spaghetti (randomly!) and broccoli or cauliflower! Such a finite balance with him but he’s worth it!
I find the same, so many people are amazing on walks and understanding to his age but there’s been a few times I’ve been asked to get him away from a dog and that makes me feel terrible! Hard not to take things personally but he’s a big work in progress. X

 

[Akela]

Hi, same for us. Young rescue and didn't listen for ages, no recall etc. especially when other dogs were about, (dogs are way more interesting than my owner to listen to / play with), but just recently it has clicked and he has started to respond well. I am lucky and have found 99% of owners totally understand that they are young dogs and play is all they want to do. It just takes time and repeat, repeat, repeat and repeat...Did I say repeat?

Oh and one thing I did do is change treats from stock items, to fresh meat and dried fish as these were way more enticing to come me than dried treats.

Keep going.

What a gorgeous dog you have!!