Sampson and Delilah don’t have the best greeting skills. Their idea of greeting a person is to rush to the door and wait to be petted.
We do work on greeting skills when people come over, but it’s what I consider a work in progress.
Their dog greeting skills are similar. If they are on leash when they see another dog, they go right to the end, straining and pulling. If they are off-leash, they will rush full out to get their sniff on.
When we are walking, I try to be aware of other dogs. Most of the dogs on the trails we walk on are off-leash and have the same greeting skills as Sampson and Delilah, making it difficult to work on our own greeting skills.
Occasionally we have what I refer to as a stalker dog.
You know what I mean, the kind of dog that follows you for a bit, never coming quite close enough and running the opposite way when my dogs try and approach.
Typically I let the dogs choose our route, unless I know there is a LaCrosse game in the field. Whichever way they turn I follow. Normally they go the same way, which is okay with me.
Last week we were heading up the main trail when I saw a small Jack Russell Terrier coming towards us at a quick pace.
I was quick, but not quick enough. Sampson and Delilah saw him too.
Not “THE” stalker dog, but similar. (This is my sister’s dog, J.D.)
Both my guys stood stock still, watching. The dog kept coming.
“Sampson come!” I called He stood watching. The JR kept coming.
“Delilah here” I coaxed. She stood still at the end of the leash, watching the troops advance.
“Puppy STOP!” I bellowed at the Jack Russel, not knowing his name. He kept coming.
“Puppy GO BACK” I yelled. His little JR legs propelled him closer.
I dropped Delilah’s leash and released the hounds.
There was a little growling, but no sounds of a scuffle. Meanwhile at no point in time did another person appear in the scene, this took place in about the course of a minute and a half.
I turned and walked the other way calling my dogs. Once the initial greeting was over, they quickly came back. But I watched, he still continued to follow us for a bit but once we hit the field, he left us.
Here’s what impresses me about my dogs. They were both stiff and focused on the approaching dog, when I dropped Delilah’s leash, it was if I’d blew a whistle, somehow they both knew it was time to charge and they moved as if they were one.
Just like Poetry in Motion.
I’m keeping a lookout for Stalker Dogs.
How do you handle uncontrolled dogs on your walks? Have you ever encountered a stalker dog?
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