Doggy brags

Lab_adore

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Otter you are amazing! :inlove: .

Took her on what I call a "social walk" these are walks where we are likely to see other dog walkers, as well as people cutting through a common. There is also a "road to nowhere" basically a road that was never finished but good training for passing people, practicing turns etc...
Otter did well when the odd person called out a friendly "hello" and even remained calm and controlled even when two big dogs barged over growling, a mastiff x bulldog, and what looked like a large labrador but the head shape was a bit peculiar. Recalled both Benson and Otter and they come back to me in a flash and enjoyed a minute of high value scatter games before we moved on.

Finally at the end of the walk we headed down the "road to nowhere" . Out of a side field a young collie erupted, with couple of screaming boys with ball chuckers, UGH!!! One lad lobbed a ball towards Benson who promptly picked it up and ran off with it, the kid yelling "DROPITDROPIT!!! Of course Benson ignored him! :rofl: The lad glared at me and yelled "WHYWONTHEDROPIT"... I just sighed and said quietly he doesn't know how too. I got a sullen look back. I asked Benson to hand me the ball, which he did. I handed it to the horrid child, although my arm was itching to lob it. The collie at this point was still zipping left and right.

A weird woman turns up with 3 labradoodles and loudly announced she was a breeder and squeezy cheese was bad for dogs...did I mention a young, bouncy Great Dane had appeared on the scene? He was on lead being drip fed squeezy cheese. Understandably so, as all four paws were paddling excitedly, this pup wanted to GO!! The "breeder" then says he should be off lead, all puppies should be off lead. She glances at me, and at Otter...who is also on lead. Then comes the funny bit. By way of explanation I say "Hope you don't mind being a stooge" She stares at me as if I had said "You have a face like a slapped duck" Well she did have a face like a slapped duck to be fair. She then says "What's a stooge?" At this point I wanted to go, it was all a bit odd, and I swear I had seen this woman somewhere before, Crimewatch UK crossed my mind.
The wonderful thing is, Otter was just viewing all this with a bemused expression on her face. We left and both dogs walked back to the car quietly...well mostly! We got home and all had cuddle fun on the floor, a bit of gentle engagement to check Otter was nice and relaxed after her rather peculiar walk.
WHAT a great post! I am still chuckling.....slapped duck indeed.....:giggl:
 
My teeny tiny brag...Meg was a Good Girl at school today. She didn't go for anyone. She didn't even glower at anyone. She walked reasonably to heel. She did all the exercises. We even had to pass New Boy, a delicious black Lab called Tucker, lots of times (Meg has a massive problem with black dogs...yeah, I know..she's mostly black herself, as is Coco), she was focused on me & my squeezy cheez.
 

HAH

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Location
Devon, UK
My teeny tiny brag...Meg was a Good Girl at school today. She didn't go for anyone. She didn't even glower at anyone. She walked reasonably to heel. She did all the exercises. We even had to pass New Boy, a delicious black Lab called Tucker, lots of times (Meg has a massive problem with black dogs...yeah, I know..she's mostly black herself, as is Coco), she was focused on me & my squeezy cheez.
Hey, this is excellent! Well done Meg and her support team :clap:
 
Having had my training lesson cancelled last week , I have been working hard on getting Reuben to focus on me and not go charging off ( albeit just for a few minutes ) the moment his lead comes off . Now this might just be a blip , but over the past few days he has been a star :star: His focus is much keener , he has only charged off once and was back before I counted to ten , and had a massive fuss on his return . He is still very young , heading to 18 months now , but he is really putting in the effort . Now to work on his mad excitability when he meets someone he adores ( @Emily_Babbelhund comes to mind ) :happy: xx
 

Lab_adore

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Staff member
Now to work on his mad excitability when he meets someone he adores
If you have any tips let me know because we have been working on this, very unsuccessfully, for about a year. We've tried everything all our MLF friends have offered but he is just a VERY happy dog who insists on greeting everyone with a kiss on the face. Sigh. :rolleyes:
 
With all the other stuff going on in our life I have sort of given up on this, at least for now. We just warn people and manage the behaviour as best we can. Thankfully Chewie is small enough that we can do this, and doesn't approach strangers unless they come up to him first.

I've made peace with the fact that my dog is excessively happy. :partyhat:
 

Lab_adore

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Staff member
Thankfully Chewie is small enough
I see lots of small labbydores out and about and always wonder how we ended up with a monster :unsure:. Of course we love our monster to bits but seriously, even if I sat on him (not that I would) he would be able to shrug me off and jump up.

I've made peace with the fact that my dog is excessively happy. :partyhat:
Same :love:
 
If you have any tips let me know because we have been working on this, very unsuccessfully, for about a year. We've tried everything all our MLF friends have offered but he is just a VERY happy dog who insists on greeting everyone with a kiss on the face. Sigh. :rolleyes:
Embrace the happiness! If Squidge is excited, I tell people she will jump up. It just really doesn't bother me at all! She doesn't run up to strangers anymore, so those greeting are only when people approach us, and if they're warned and she still jumps up then that is what it is. I keep her away from children because she loves them but is a bull in a china shop with no concept of her own size and strength.
As it's half term in the UK and parts of France this week, there are loads of people around, and lots of people who are missing the dogs they've left at home, so we're having lots of greetings. W&S can still be a bit overwhelmed at time by people walking straight up to them (although they've had some totally lovely loose-waggy greetings with strangers recently), and I can tell you that I would choose to have the happy, potentially bouncy, dog over one I have to worry about whether they're feeling relaxed enough or if they're going to bark at the strangers. Even Willow jumped up at someone to kiss her nose yesterday, and I almost melted with pride! Different perspectives on the same behaviour :)
 
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