2nd dog to help with current dog problems?

Hi everyone

My boy Chase is an adorable loving and beautiful looking dog who is deep in my heart and here to stay.......BUT....... I have massive problems with him when he is on freerange whilst out on our walks.

Other people, other dogs, any small animals including birds people jogging and people on bikes. For all of these he is off like a rocket with ears closed to my calls. I have been working on it and now use a whistle and reward. He will come back every time no matter how far away he is as long as there are none of the above excitements.

He is doing this because he just LOVES people and other dogs and just wants to say hello and play with everyone. I feel so sorry for him, but we have had occasions where he nearly knocked someone off a bike and another when he ran towards a couple who were walking their 18 month old toddler and they had to grab the child up out of the way. I then had to accept loads of abuse from them.

Yes I know the only real solution is to never let him off the lead unless 100 % sure we are alone, but he is a bundle of energy and even a 2 hour walk does nothing to tire him out, he has to have free runs to burn it off.

I have been wondering if a second, better trained and stable dog might 1. be a good influence on him and 2. satisfy his craving for doggy company?

OR could his bad behaviour rub off on another dog? I need help

Thanks, Sue

His behaviour would be more likely to rub off on another dog.

Have you thought about trying a long line? You can buy them on ebay - about 60' or more. You just clip it to your dog's collar like a normal lead & let it trail. If he shoots off you can just pick up the end & reel him in.

most young staffies do that, stay strong, he will get out of it and you can help accelerate the process

A line works well to keep him near but there are other things you need to consider as in my view the lines restricts him rather than convince him that he wants to stay with you.

some ideas you might also want to consider

reward based

actively play with him in the park rather than just walk, it will be tiring but make sure he knows the fun is on your side of the park

never ever tell him off when he eventually comes back. treats and gentle strokes on his back so he eventually knows that whatever thing he is up to, if you shout, all he has to do is come to you and all is forgiven

get ball throwers, ropes for tug if you are strong enough to win, whatever you can think of.

negative association

get some mates to walk in the distance and arm them with a plastic bottle filled with little stones, as he gets very close, ask them to shout no and shake the bottle. he will soon learn that he is not welcome . they could just turn around and ignore him but it takes longer for him to register that

sorry, the other part of your question, I would only consider another dog
when the first one is as you want him to be as you might end up with twice the trouble rather than twice the fun

I wouldn't advise another dog if your first dog is still a problem, my brother tried this when he had a pug cross, now he has two pug crosses each with their own set of problems and now with a baby too, the dogs are pretty much unwanted and live with the mother in law!!

Just persevere with your first dog and maybe try some training as suggested above, no problem then trying to get a second dog once your first is behaving like a star!!

I would only add another dog to your group once the 1st dog is stable and trained to respond.
I have 3 dogs and didnt add the 3rd one for a long time until the other 2 were responding 100% of the time to my commands etc.
Dog number 3 has her own issues but is learning by example from the older 2.

She tends to run off when loose so I use long tracking lines and have various lengths to play with depending where we are, ranging from 2ft to 100ft. They are relativly inexpensive if bought from ebay they start about £5.

When using the long line, let ur dog get as far as you want (not the end of the line) and call/whistle them back and reward. This is so that you still have control and can make sure that if he dosent want to listen you can 'reel' him back in. Just be careful using it on his collar as you dont want to pull too hard on his neck or let him yank and jar his neck at the end of it if he decides to run off.

If you keep trying with the line and allowing him a certain distance before recalling him and rewards he should quickly learn where his limits are.

You will need to go through this process with a 2nd dog also if you decide to add another one once you get him sorted.

If I can help please message me.

Claire

As has already been said really. Only to add if using a training line use it with a harness not a collar