Jumping on Other Dogs

Hi all,

I'm after some advice please as I really need to stop this before it becomes something we can't change.
Background on Misty as some of you may know. We rehomed her last Feb. She came to us having never been for a walk, knew nothing apart from Sit, had no toys to play with and wasn't spayed. When we took her for walks it was horrible, she would bark and lunge at everything and anything, people, dogs, trees, cars you name it she barked at it. It was awful taking her out but she has come such a long way. Now walks are wonderful (apart from pulling but she is improving slowly but surely) she isn't scared of noises or dogs. In fact it's the opposite she pulls towards people and dogs, she is very scared of most people, she will pull to meet them and then when they say hello or try to stroke her she does bark at them. We are trying to work on this by trying to get her focus on us or letting people give her one of our treats. Luckily people are really nice to her. The last few months have been great. I've been taking her to a local park on the weekend and we have met so many dogs, big and small, young and old. She is always on the long line but when she meets a dog and they start to play I drop the line so she can have a good run with them. We have met a lot of dogs, some love to play rough with her, ie jumping on each other, mouth open, barging into each other,growling and barking at each other. These are mostly the little Terriers or the Staffy Crosses. There are the others who just want to play chase which is Mistys favorite game, these have been Greyhounds  to Spaniels. It has been lovely over Christmas taking her to the park each day and watching her make friends and have a good play with other dogs. Now the last two weeks has been a bit of a different story. I took her to the park and there was a lovely puppy(no idea what breed) She came running up to Misty. They had a sniff and then Misty jumped on her and knocked her over. The puppy yelped and the owner left the park. Then last week a beautiful black lab came up to her very politely, again Misty just barreled into him after a quick sniff and the poor dog was actually scared of her. When we walked around the park and met him again the poor dog wouldnt walk past her, he only walked past when I had Misty close to me. Last Sunday we were walking around the park and a guy had a German Shepherd and a Husky. The Husky saw Misty and made a beeline for her. He came to have a sniff, then wanted to play the chase game. Misty started to chase him, caught up with him then barged into his back legs and he yelped. The owner said it's ok but his dog can have problems with his back legs so he didn't like to be jumped on. So the Husky loses interest in her(which I fully understand) so then the German Shepherd came up to her. Again she barrels into him and he tells her off, does an air snap and really growls and tells her to stop it. His owner panics and starts to apologise. I just tell him no it's Mistys fault, she deserved that. I really hoped that might of told her not all dogs want to be jumped on like that. So in the week hubby takes her to a different park, she met (on lead) a greyhound fine, they didn't play but she was good. So this morning to get some excess energy out before our training class this afternoon I take her to the park. We walk round for quite a while, then two men appear with a chocolate lab,back lab and a collie. The chocolate lab comes over to say hello, straight away Misty jumps on him, and her heckles are up. He quickly runs off then the black lab comes up, Misty does exactly the same thing, he yelps. Now this is a much bigger dog then her and to hear him yelp made me feel terrible. I was so lucky the guys were so nice, they said I should use a half choke on her as it pinches a nerve to make them stop doing what you don't want them to do. I'm not going to use anything like this on her, I only want to stop her behaviour in a positive way. I won't use any form of hurting her to make her behave.
This is really upsetting me as I'll be honest, she looks really nasty when she jumps on the dogs and the barking doesnt help matters.
I honestly don't know why she is suddenly doing this. She used to play with every dog how they wanted to be played with, now she has no time for greetings and she is looking to jump right into play but it's not a gentle type of play. I truly don't think it's agression as she never retaliates when anything happens. When the Shepherd told her off she came running straight to me as she was scared and last year she was bitten by a dog and again just ran back to me and didn't attempt to bite back.
I have been racking my brain to think if anything has happened recently to make her scared of other dogs but I can't think of anything. Christmas and New Year she met so many and it was all fun, nothing negative happened. Last week in her latest training class she met a lovely lab (both on lead)and she was fine.
To be honest I'm dreading training class later! Does anyone have any experience of this ?
How can I get her to meet dogs politely again and stop this barging into them.

ask the trainer at ur classes emma the best way forward as I dnt know what best to advise

Read and thinking, Emma.

Thanks guys. Well it's so strange, we went to training on Sat and a lady was walking a little Westie around off lead. He came over to us and we couldn't move anywhere as Misty was laying down as she wanted to meet. I was a bit on edge but she was fine, they sniffed and then she did a tiny jump but nothing as forceful as she has been doing. In class we were doing off heel work in a circle and crossing in the middle of the circle, all dogs would meet in a circle so we had to judge when to wait and when to walk. We had to ensure our dogs were watching us and not running off or trying to play with the others. She was the star as a Lab ignored her owner and came running up to Misty, and Misty completed ignored her! Very impressed with that.
So Sunday we take her for a long walk down a local river. We only met a couple of dogs, Misty was on the lead and the other weren't. A little Jack came up to her, she was pulling to see him. They walked close to each other but didn't actually meet. Then later on a Border Terrier came up and I was waiting for her to jump but she didn't. They had a very very brief meeting and we went our separate ways. It's very strange this barreling into dogs. I don't know if it's because she is very confident in the park so is rough with dogs as she's always had a good time with do dogs there and then in other places she doesn't know as well she is a bit calmer with the dogs? I really don't want to stop going to that park as we have met some lovely dogs and people there in the last few months. Our reputation there was always, 'Her dogs ok, she's only on a long line as she doesn't come back'. I would hate this to change to 'her dogs on a long line because it's aggressive'.

I'll be honest, it's all a bit of a mystery! We've had some similar issues with Chaos, who started off just being a bit OTT in his greetings with other dogs but has more recently become less confident and has an aggressive response. I've been trying to find out why this might happen but, even an email to the fabulous Patricia McConnell has yielded no real answer. She said 'Dear Liz: I wish I could give you the lengthy answer that your question deserves, but briefly I can say that many dogs, no matter the breed, become more reactive to other dogs at maturity. We can only guess at the reason: Sexual maturity (often associated with an increase in reactivity)? Experience? (Having learned that when they see another dog and try to happily go to greet it, the collar/leash ‘corrects’ them and so they learn that approaching dogs are dangerous.)'. I don't think the latter is our case or yours, so we're back to it possibly being an age thing, or possibly a kick back to some experiences before we knew them.

Patricia did point me towards another trainer who has a fab and different way of working. Because it might be of interest to others who may not read this thread, I'll start a new one. It's something I'm going read up on more and try myself, it makes a lot of sense.

As for having to explain why a dog is on lead, just say 'I'm doing some training'. It's true without you needing to go into any detail as to what sort of training.

I'll go an pop that other info up now.

Thanks so much Liz it's much appreciated.

I don't think it's because she's sexually mature as we had her just before her second season and she was spayed last year.

I'll admit the second option could have been a possibility last year when we first got her as we were nervous of her meeting other dogs and I would hold the lead tense but for about six months now we have been far more relaxed and she has made some lovely friends and had great fun chasing them. She's always on the long line in the park so she has options to run if she doesn't want to meet them but half the time she will just lay down or sit until the dog comes to her. It's only a new behavior so I'm hoping she will learn most dogs (some don't mind her jumping) won't play when she does this and it might just click that if she wants to play then no barging into them.

Yes when people ask about her long line I just say her recall isn't great (which is true) people always relax then and most admit their dogs dont have great recall either!

Well yesterday hubby took her to a different park on her long line. A Chihuahua type dog came up to her to play. He said they had a sniff then a game of chase. Then Misty jumped on the dog and they yelped. He said the dog still wanted to play so they were running again but Misty jumped on this dog again and he said this time the poor thing yelped louder. He said even Misty looked abit shocked by it so he decided that was enough and stopped the play and walked Misty off. It's really frustrating as I really don't know why she is suddenly doing this and I don't want to go back to being wary of her meeting dogs.

Argghhhh. just taken Misty out for her evening walk and we saw a lady I had met previously so I stopped to have a chat with her. she has a spaniel (not with her tonight) and we had previously mentioned meeting up in the park for the dogs to have a play. So as soon as I stopped Misty just kept barking and going mad whenever this lady spoke to me. Luckily this women was really understanding- I made Misty sit and gave her some treats which calmed her down, until she started again! It was really upsetting as she seems to do it all the time now with people. So we carried on the walk and later on we were crossing a road and a lady was next to us. I make Misty sit at all kerbs and then say finish to get her to cross- she is always good at that. So the women had seen her act very very well and then Misty moved her head towards the women for a sniff- so I just said no stop being nosey. The lady smiled and said how gorgeous she was and she was in the middle of asking can I stroke her when she took a half step towards us. That set Misty off again and the women literally jumped back and said oh ill leave it but she is still lovely. I could of cried- she was such a nice lady but she ran off after Misty did her barking/lunging. I don't know why she is like this- if she meets people in our house or my mums she is all over them but on the streets its a different matter. No one has ever hurt her with us, the only negative thing was when a guy picked her up in the park a few months ago when she ran off from us to go see his dog. I don't know if that has triggered something but it was a one off.
I really don't know what to do as I know how awful this behaviour looks and I want it to stop now.

As she is walking much better to heel now and looks good while she is on a walk people want to meet her so I really need some tips please.

I was thinking of maybe taking some very high level treats out each time I leave the house and give her normal treats for heeling etc but if someone talks to me then Jackpot her with the high level ones so she associates strangers with tasty treats?
What do you think?

Did you have a look at the BAT training thread, Emma? I'd try that. Keep Misty not too close to other people, even if it means talking to them at arm's length, and scatter treats on the ground for Misty to snuffle up.

One thing I learned through horse training is that the fear of something can have a slight basis and then grow because of the way fear makes you feel. If you think about it, fear is a nasty feeling, and just that can reinforce that the worrying this is nasty, even though it's never done anything at all to physically hurt you.

Fear's a big word but even a slight concern is the start of fear, and it can still make you feel worried. It still sets off the same alertness, the same (albeit lower intensity) adrenaline response.

So when working with a fear response what you need it to keep her adrenaline down. That how the BAT system works. I'm really fascinated how Chaos is responding to it, almost entirely positive. Do have a look.

Thanks Liz
I did look the other day at the thread but couldn't watch the video but ill have a look now.

The only thing I was a bit wary of is the food being on the floor- she is already a terrible hoover both in the house and outside. Anything, even the tiniest bit of rubbish she can find will be eaten in a flash and I worried that allowing her to eat from the floor will only encourage the behaviour. Even in our training class the instructor has changed the rules for Misty- whereas some tasks we throw food on the floor near the dogs, tell them to leave and then give the command so they can take it, with Misty we have to reward her by hand.

But what would I rather have? Misty going mad at strangers or her eating rubbish off the floor..... Its not the first one!!

Ill watch the video now and put this in practice on her walk tonight. Thanks very much for your advice!

Can you do set up training with other people on long grass? Having to snuffle out treats off a surface that's less easy would slow her down.

Yes I think that would be a good idea. She knows most if my friends but has never met my friends boyfriend so I might ask her if it's something he'd do.

Just one thing I picked up reading your post. Try not to give treats when she's in that frame of mind. I know it's hard because you want her to stop but you may be inadvertently telling Misty if she behaves like that she will get a treat. I had this with Axl he would kick off and to calm him I would make him sit and give him a treat which would calm him for a few seconds but he'd still be in that frame of mind. In the end I only treated him when he calmed down completely. I watched his body language, when his ears relaxed, the growling stopped, his hackles went down a bit and he stopped looking around at the thing he was barking at (usually a dog but sometimes a wheely bin, bush or pesky leaves lol) I would only treat him in that state. That way I wasn't reinforcing bad behaviour. It's all about timing x

I'm not sure I'd go along with that, Deb. There's a saying in training that you 'reward the try', because if you get a reward for doing something you try harder, whereas if you make something too hard you give up. And, of course, the dog might not be able to reach the point you feel they should get the treat at all.

You do want to reward things like relaxed ears and hackles down, but at the same time you need to encourage them to work towards that.

Having said that, the ideal is to work with the dog before they get to that point. Whether you're doing the BAT method, using 'watch me' or 'look at that', you need to find the point that they are aware of the other dog but not 'in the zone', as that is the place that they are least able to learn.

Well, I have been using the method of when she does sit I immediately reward with a treat and then try to give her more straight away to keep her calm. I'm trying to reward her sitting not her barking.

Well last night I walked her to my dad's. On the way I had a lady compliment me on how well trained Misty was she saw Misty sitting at the kerb before we crossed the road. So we were chatting and she reached out and stroked her, Misty let her do it for a while and then had a bark but nothing like the last time someone stroked her. We walked off and she was fine. Then down another road I saw behind us a lovely German Shepherd. I tried to hurry Misty along but she was in full on sniffing everything mode. So the gs quickly caught up misty saw her and immediately lay on the pavement so there was no way I could move her. The gs saw her and started crying ! So I told the owner misty may well jump on her dog and she said that's fine as hers does it too and doesn't know how to greet dogs. So they sniffed for a bit and it was fine. They sniffed each other all over but then misty started barking and growling. The poor Gs literally jumped away from her. The poor dog was scared, so I said to the lady if you want to go first I'll follow as I knew if I went first misty would just lay down again to meet the dog. So we followed them up the road, misty was calm and the gs started pulling back to meet her again. So they left and I was a bit upset as the gs was a lovely dog and I felt bad for Mistys noise. So after a peaceful twenty minutes I see up the road a lady with a small fluffy dog coming our way. The pavement is quite thin so I didn't want to walk past them in case misty tried to jump on the dog and push it in the road. So the lady came up to us and said thanks for waiting so long (I had given misty some venison tongue so she was fine waiting) so this time I thought I would tell the women misty will prob jump on your dog and bark. She said oh don't worry my girl is so submissive. So as we were talking the dogs met and sniffed and it was lovely. Misty didn't react at all. In fact in the end she turned away from the dog ( who loved her) and asked me for some more treats. I couldn't believe it, never have I been more happy to be proven a liar!
So tonight I'm stocking up on tongue and will try to be proactive and if I see a dog we can't avoid, treat her with that and hopefully she will be calmer. Fingers crossed!

Sounds like that's working for you, Deb. Carry on and see how it goes, and fingers crossed! I'll be looking out for updates

Well I was very proud of her last night. Took her for her evening walk, we saw a guy coming down the street and as it's a small pavement I got her to ' watch me' and gave her a nice treat. The guy walked past and Misty went to sniff him so I said ' don't be so nosey' guy smiled and said she's beautiful so of course that made my night.

Then we turn the corner and there are two spaniels on the other side, they and Misty and pulling to meet. So I carry on and we see a puppy coming towards us. So I can't cross the road as the spaniels are there and now behind  us as there are now some mums coming down the road. So I have to carry on towards the pup. Now I know misty had very briefly meet this pup before so I'm semi positive about the meet. The pup is completely hyper anyway so I knew they would meet. So they meet and Misty is fantastic, they sniff and the pup is so hyper jumping all over her etc. I talk to the lady for a short time and the dogs are great so I was really happy. Misty did give a little growl and an air snap but I think that was just to calm the pup down as the pup was whipping herself up. It was just telling her to calm down. I was very impressed with misty, normally she's the one getting told to call down by other dogs! She had some lovely treats after that meet.

We carried on the walk and she did bark at a delivery man but I think it was just because he seemed to appear from nowhere but again the barking wasn't half as bad as it has been recently, but then again the guy didn't talk to me or her so maybe if he had she would have been barking for longer?
But it was still a huge improvement for her to not bark at another dog so I'm over the moon.

You are sounding a lot more relaxed, Emma. Good to hear.

aww emma fabulous I like to your stories every day is a learning day specially with our staffies mia tried yesterday and failed on our walk we came across pizza I said a firm leave it and we carried on shes no been one for picking food off the pavement but the pizza must have tempted her . after the leave command she looked at me with the sad "but mum im a poor starving staffy" love the look she gives me melts my heart sometimes I give into her too much . anyway we went back home and she got 3 bits of venison and blueberry as a reward ill have to bite the bullet and go back to pets @ home its a trek but worth it as she likes the treats . may have to bribe my local pet shop with extra money

Hi All,

Just a quick (actually exceedingly long) update on the latest with Misty and other dogs/people.

Well, I don't know what has happened but its been a wonderful few weeks with Misty. After the incident I mentioned above with the other dogs and her being far too noisy and intense I was really upset as I knew she did like meeting dogs and just wanted to play but her behaviour was so off putting to owners and dogs.
Well we took it really slowly and I will admit being so scared when we were meeting other dogs but to be honest there's no way we can avoid all dogs as there are so many around our way. At training class Misty was very well behaved while meeting a very very excited (completely hyper) spaniel. He was so submissive rolling on his back and Misty was very good with him. After that she has gotten better and better. Its been lovely the last two weeks as Ive been leaving work at 4pm or before and getting home while its still light enough to take her to the park.

We have met SOOO many lovely dogs and their owners and she has been a complete star! So to rewind to when we first starting meeting dogs again. I would (and still do) have her on the long line in the park and only let her meet dogs that come to her. I don't let her run up to dogs as Ive learnt from previous experiences. Nine times out of ten when she sees a dog she lays down and waits for them to come to her. Once they come over I normally drop the long line completely and she can do her thing of sniffing and then trying to get them to play chase. She has made some wonderful friends in the last few weeks- theres Reggie the Sprockett, Louis the puppy poodle type, Hetty the greyhound, Thor the Huskey, Millie the Spaniel the list just goes on.

I have no idea why but she hasn't jumped on one of them or been too much with them. Her and Reggie play for ages just chasing round the park (but never leave us) and they sound absolutely terrible the noises they both make. He is actually more vocal than she is- his owner said he is boisterous when we first met as some people don't like the noises he makes but I laughed and thought 'Perfect'!
Louis the pup she just chased and chased- his owner was laughing his head off at the pair of them as they were having the time of their life.
I was very impressed last night- we were down the park and Misty was doing her ' I want to meet this dog so much Im laying down until they come over' and so Milly the Spaniel came over and was a bit nervous of Misty so I was a bit concerned Misty might go overboard but no she was great. The owner asked if Misty was friendly as when the dogs met Misty wasn't wagging her tail at all- I said she never wags her tail unless its with humans ( is this strange?) When she saw Misty was ok she totally relaxed, they had a chase then we moved on. She met Thor whose owner doesn't let him off the lead as he has no recall. I said maybe let him off as Misty is on the long line which I can grab if she goes off and hopefully that will make Thor come back. So he let him off and it was lovely- they played wonderfully together. I was a bit nervous when a Red Setter came over and Misty was being sniffed by both of them at either end. She used to not tolerate this but she was fine, they sniffed then it was her turn!

She was a bit naughty the other Sat- she was playing with a spaniel and her friend the Greyhound came over they all played chase together then it was sniff the ground time trying to find some scraps. Suddenly the greyhound bolted across the park- Misty then followed. My heart was in my mouth as I coudnt even see her and was terrified she would run into the car park or someone would take her as she had her long line on but thankfully she came back! (she ignored my calling and a whistle )

Tuesday night was lovely- in the park and she met a lovely 8 month old Sheltie. They had a whale of a time- he was very nervous as his owner said he had a bad experience in the park before- they met and she was perfect- you could actually see the Sheltie growing in confidence the longer they were together and he was the one enticing her in play when she wanted to have a sniff for food. The owner was lovely and we both walked together round the park doing a lot of recall training on them both and Misty acted as though Victoria Stillwell had trained her from birth. It was amazing!!

As well as dogs she has come such a long way with other people. Now she will let one of the other owners stroke her for a short while! Today was amazing- we met a lady that Misty has previously reacted terribly at- barking and lunging at her. I took Lizs advice tonight and fed her a lot while I was talking to her. She barked once then decided food was much more interesting- the lady even stroked her!!!!

Its amazing- with dogs I am so relaxed again now as I trust Misty- if she does get over excited I call her to me and give her some treats to calm her down a bit.

I am so lucky to have such a sweet lovely little girl like her xx

Yay for Misty!!!!

Yay for Emma!!!!

I SO pleased for you. It does just show how good they are when we set them up right. I'm sure that if you'd kept her on a tight lead it would have been downhill all the way but by just providing that safety net and letting yourself relax, you've brought her back to her even keel. A great example for us all.

I spoke too soon Liz

Well today as I'm not working and I've slowly gotten her used to going in my car -I hate having her in my hubbys boot so I put her in my back seats but she try's to push through to the front seat but I bough a back seat guard which covers the gaps between the seats so she is much better now at sitting in my car but anyway I digress.
So as Im not working today and its a lovely day I think why don't I take her somewhere nice in the car for her morning walk. So we go to a local beauty park where all dogs must be on the lead (apart from a dedicated area where its a dog park) So we get there (shes amazingly well behaved in the car) we get out and start walking. Its lovely- shes looking at the swans on the lake and we are having a lovely walk around. We walk past the dog off lead park and I must admit Im tempted as there are only a few dogs in there but I thought don't rush things.  After 40 mins we are walking down a path and there is a group of about 10 people - no big deal, I have my venison tongues ready to distract her if she starts to pull to them. However when the first guy walks past he starts screaming and hitting his head (the group was special needs but I didn't see this until it was too late) so Misty then starts barking and growling but I cant blame her as this guy was making so much noise plus waving his arms about so she was rightly scared. So we get past them and I give her loads of treats and praise when she is calm. So off we go - Now I wish I had gone home then but I didn't want to end the walk on a sour note. So on we go- I see a couple with two dogs one on lead one off- the one on the lead was scared and making loud whimpering noises so I kept Misty away. She was very well behaved- they overtook us a bit later as Misty was sniffing - Misty saw his dogs and laid down and the owner laughed.

Then I saw a couple with a French Bulldog- both Misty and the Frenchie wanted to meet so they came over. The guy then says hello and I look up and its a guy from my office with his wife. So the meeting goes on and then suddenly Misty pins their dog down making some truly horrific noises. I was in shock- it was so sudden- I had to literally yank her by her harness and collar. There was no marks on the Frenchie and we stayed for a few seconds after as the women picked their dog up and I was looking over to see if any damage had been done but I couldn't see anything. The lady then said oh she doesn't like her which is surprising as both being bull breeds I thought they would have got on. I just tried to downplay it by saying oh I think Misty is frustrated as she wants to play. When we left them I could have cried- it was horrible, Misty can be vocal anyway but these noises coming from her were horrendous- at first I couldn't tell who was making them but Im pretty sure it was Misty.
I then lurked for a bit as wanted to give them some space as I wanted to leave but didn't want to follow them back to the car. So when we get to the car park the women is walking back to the car (man and dog are already there) and she says its a shame they cant be off the lead so I just ramble on about how down the local park she has lots of friends and loves playing chase. I was so upset I was just gibbering on about how she does have friends as I really don't want them to think bad of her.

Needless to say I'm dreading Monday- there's me everyday shouting in the office about how much I love my dog and she's my angel when he is probably thinking she's a vicious so and so.
I'm also hoping that there are no marks/wounds on the Frenchie they discover when they get home (like I did after Misty was bitten last year)

Misty calmed down a lot when I pulled her off of the dog and didn't try to lunge at the owner when she had the dog in her arms or bark.

The only thing I can think of is :
Misty doesn't like females ( majority of dogs we meet are male) but she does have some female friends
OR
Something happens when the leads get tangled- as they were fine meeting until Misty went behind the FB and the leads got tangled- (this was also why it was so hard to get her off)

Im just so down about it- the walk was wonderful until this (she did have a little bark at a Jack first thing but no big deal) we actually saw them after the bulldog incident and Misty laid down to see the Jack but the owners were telling their dog to leave as they didn't want him to meet her. I cant blame them for that.

Really really heartbroken about it all- wish I had left the park after the incident with the group as we were near the car park but I wanted to extend the walk.

Hubby says try not to worry all dog owners go through things like this but I am - Just don't want Misty to act like this again so Im just going to have to not let her meet any dog on a short lead and if its unavoidable then keep the meetings very very brief.

It sounds to me like there was a lot going on and I wonder if it was not just one little thing in that tipped her over the edge. Adrenaline - which facilitates the 'fight or flight' response - is produced in response to a situation that might call for one of these, such as a scarey incident. It takes a while to be absorbed into the blood stream, which means that even after the incident itself as passed, the body is still physically primed.

If you add more stimulus, then not only can that inhibit the absorbtion, you can end up adding more. Grisha Stewart has a great diagram in her book, which shows 3 things that are all stimulant for a dog that he can cope with individually, or even two of them, but add the third and it's too much.

I think there are three lessons from this. The first is that Misty can cope with a range of things. Remember that, it's important. She's not a reactive dog who struggles to cope with anything, just with the cumulation.

So lesson 2 is that you need to think each time she's had a worry or has been in an exciting situation that she might now need the rest of the walk to be quiet. If you see other dogs or people coming towards you, either avoid or distract with treats on the floor, but don't ask her to deal with it even if she appears to want to.

And lesson 3 is that you need to pay attention to her all the time, even if you are talking to someone else. Learn how to use your peripheral vision so that you always have one eye on her. Chances are that there was a clue that she was now less than happy, albeit slight and maybe fleeting, and if you'd picked that up you could have quietly called her away for a treat.

I know these steps back can be a real kick in the gut, but don't be too downhearted. She's shown you some great stuff recently, she really is fab. It just sounds like she needs things to slow down, with plenty of space between excitements.

Thanks Liz- yes I agree with you I think after that first incident with the guy screaming and shouting I should have taken her home or at least gone round a quieter side of the park for the walk. After it happened I did spend some quiet time with her just letting her sniff down by the lake and looking at the water but I think it might have been better if I had spent more time just us alone instead of carrying on trying to extend the walk.

I was watching her when it happened, I had the feeling something would happen as soon as she went around the bulldog and the leads got tangled but I was far too slow to react as I should have just dropped the lead and as you said throw some treats on the floor so hopefully she would have gone to them and untangled herself before acting like she did.

The only saving grace was the bulldog wasn't hurt and I don't think it was real aggression as she didn't bite or anything it was more the sounds and the fact I couldn't get her off.

I cant stop thinking about what happened I feel so terrible a- putting Misty in the situation and b- dreading what (if anything) will be said on Monday.

Its Mistys gotcha day tomorrow -21st Feb- so I really wanted to take her there again but don't know if that's a good idea? Obviously Ill keep the walk quiet and maybe invite my friend who Misty loves but I don't know if that will be asking for trouble?

DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP ABOUT IT! Ok? You can't change what happened, just learn from it and be better prepared next time.

I wouldn't avoid the park but I would be just taking a step back and bumbling round quieter areas for a couple of days, more to settle you than because I think Misty will react to stuff because of today. If you have a friend you want to walk with, then do. If you see any sign of anxiety, walk a little apart but I'd be surprised if there is anything untoward if they have got on well in the past.

As for Monday, instead of sitting at your desk dreading the guy turning up, maybe go over to him and quietly enquire after his dog and probably just say 'fine, thanks for asking' and that'll be it.

Thanks Liz- yes I think you are right to maybe leave that area for tomorrow. I may take her down one of our local parks or river that she is used to.

I think it would be right for me to ask him on Monday how his dog is- he is in a different area in the office so I might just send him a message or email. Im scared of making too big a deal of it and also scared of his answer but I think if it was the other way round I would appreciate it so I shall take a deep breath and do it first thing when I get in.

My friend loves Misty and that might also give Misty someone else to focus on (she doesn't have a dog) but we used to take Misty for lovely walks together last summer and it was always nice.

Thanks for your kind words and advice.

I can't really offer any additional advice other than what LizP is saying to be honest, she has it covered.

I am the owner of an aggressive dog. Now it doesn't sound to me like Misty is aggressive (the episode with the Frenchie may have just been a clash - like with people, you can't like everyone you meet yknow). What I mean to say is I totally understand how "problem" behaviours make you despair.

It's so easy to get upset by bad behaviours, but once you do, the dog picks up on it.

Some days I can't walk Tex within 10 metres of another dog without her doing her horrible inhaling growl and lunging onto the end of the lead.

People say allsorts but you just have to be an absolute pillar of strength about it, and remember that your dog is wonderful and capable of amazing things.

I've read this story with interest, and honestly I think you're doing an amazing job in helping Misty. It's great you're not going to use punishments on her like you said in the very first post. Its the easy option to subdue a behaviour, it takes a lot more work to teach a dog more appropriate ways to act.

The only advice I would offer is simply to try and not let her less desirable behaviours make you upset. I know thats easier said than done.

Thanks very much for your reply Em - you are right I need to focus on how wonderful she is and not worry about yesterday.

Well thanks for the suggestion for a quiet walk today Liz- I took your advice and we have just come home from a lovely nearly two hour walk.

I decided to take her on a street walk and then depending on behaviour and if it was quiet then pop into the nearby park on the way home. Well she walked beautifully, we saw a dad with two kids- I made her 'Watch me' and she was fantastic- obviously that had to do with the venison tongues I was feeding her but she was great- it was a thin bit of pavement and I didn't want her going up to the kids as I just wanted to keep her focussed on me and she was a star. Then up the road I saw a tiny dog on an extendable lead. Again I used the watch command and the women picked her dog up anyway but when she saw Misty behaving impeccably she gave us a nice smile.

So the rest of the walk was very unremarkable- just lots of sniffing and she was very good. So we got to the park that was on the way home and saw it was empty. Took her in and put her on the long line- she was very good. There was a jogger going around the outside- she had a look but didn't attempt to go over. We played the recall game and she was fantastic. We went to go home and a big Lab entered the park- she had  a look but it was easy to get her attention to leave the park.

The thing I was most impressed with her was after we left the park, she tried to sniff something under a bush in someones front garden so we moved away so she was still trying to go back there when a older lady came round the corner and saw Misty and asked if she was friendly. I said shes very nervous as I could see Misty was on the verge of barking so I quickly made her sit and fed her treats constantly. She was a star- we spoke to the lady for a bit and Misty was an angel. I was so happy as normally its older ladies that Misty really doesn't like. We were near home and a little old Border Terrier was walking down the road off lead- they have met each other before but today I didn't want anything to taint the lovely walk so I didn't let them meet. Misty was pulling to him but I kept them apart. She was amazing today so proud of my girl.

Thanks for all your advice and support

things happen sometimes emma that we can't change hen its a learning curve for both you and misty been a staffy owner myself 10 years id be lying if i said i never made a mistake the important thing is you are learning from your mishaps. wee misty is learning from your guidance and for that you should be proud it isn't easy being a staffy owner i know this only too well but i wouldn't have it any other way