# Overexcited with strangers on walks



## SummerLove (Feb 15, 2016)

Hi there!
Summer just turned 4 months yesterday, and we are just finishing puppy-K classes. She knows her basic commands well, but does very poorly when there are distractions - in particular, people.
She LOVES people - when we go on walks and she sees people, she goes nuts and drags very hard to meet them. Our neighborhood is very dog friendly, so everyone approaches us and pets her when she gets that way (rewarding ) - we do stop, try to make her sit and not jump, but all she wants is to get petted by the neighbors (so she gives a half sit and proceeds with the dragging - completely disregarding us and the treats). So a few questions for all the wonderful GSD owners here:

- We have her on a freedom harness - I don't think that's very effective in stopping her drag. I'm considering a head halter, any thoughts about that for this purpose? 
- What are some training exercises we can do to dial down this enthusiasm? ( I want her to be calm, check in with us, and greet nicely - because a 35 lb excited puppy is cute, but a 70 lb lunging is not...) 
- Will more exposure to people (i.e. seeing other people, but not getting greeted) gradually desensitize her? We take her out to the public (i.e. parks, coffee shops, classes about 3 times a week) and wonder if we should do more of that. 
- Will she outgrow this friendliness? I hear that sometimes GSDs become aloof to strangers at a certain age.

Thanks!


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

harness? Head Halter? Any reason you don't walk her with a regular flat collar? There is NO reason a 4 month should be getting her way on a regular basis. You have to step in and step up and control the walks.

The way many of us raise dogs, is to teach them that their whole world revolves around US! Strangers are BORING. They don't get to visit people as they please (us owners control this), and we are the bestest, funnest, MOST rewarding people on earth. We do this with Play play play with our dogs. Going on a walk with pup? I bring a tug toy or a tugging ball (ball with rope/handle attached) and walks are very interactive with me. 
Treats if your pup isn't all that toy focused. 

Socialization is just hanging out and observing the world. So you are right in thinking that her being exposed to people but not interacting will help (well, it should, IF you can get her focus on you). 

Doesn't mean that I don't want a friendly dog - Gryffon loves people too, comes to work with me, has lots of human friends that he interacts with, but when I say, Gryff, lets go! He drops everything and comes running. This is from my early engagement work with him from the time he was a puppy. Tons and tons and tons of one-on-one walks, training, play play play!!! When he was at the point that he could be in an all-out chase in a big field with my other dog, and I called him, and he immedietly dis-engaged and came running to me, then I felt that I had achieved what I had set out to do - but it was a lot of focused work and managing him and his environment so there wasn't all that much pull to other distractions when I was building this engagement with me. 

Short term solution: get a collar on her - most dogs and pups HATE head halters, and some of them come to hate walks and being on leash because of head halters. I for one don't like them, because dogs don't learn anything with them. The instant they come off, they are back to their old behaviours. There is also a real possibility of your pup getting injured if she lunges and gets her head snapped back by the Head halter. In addition, Dogs learn how to wriggle out of them, and then you have a loose dog - very scary if you out on the street. When I was assisting in OB classes, the trainer let the owners use whatever leash or collar or head halter they wanted to use - EVERY class, no exeption, at least one of the dogs with a head halter would get loose and go visiting. It didn't do anything to endear me to head halters. 


So a normal collar, and YOU take charge! No more letting her drag you anywher, you control the walks. Bring toys or treats if need be, but walk with a purpose, and engage your puppy with a purpose, and people will know that stopping you and engaging your pup is not a good time.


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## SummerLove (Feb 15, 2016)

Thanks Castlemaid! 
We used a flat collar like you said initially, but then our trainers saw how Summer was almost strangling herself from dragging, and recommended us to go with the harness. 

Can you share more advice (or share locations of threads if they already exist) on examples on what you mean by “early engagement work” to become the dog’s center of the attention? Currently, we use all meal times (3 times a day) for training, then we play some too – either fetching, chasing flirt poles, tugging, that's throughout the day…


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

slip collar , pinch collar -- give her a correction and immediate reward from you after 

make the correction meaningful , not nagging 
http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...0-rethinking-popular-early-socialization.html

it is good that you have a dog friendly neighbourhood , and dogs can be good ice-breakers -- but this is going to be very frustrating to your training and having your dog be a good member in the community.

everyone loves a puppy . This is going to get very old hat when your dog is 8 months, 3 years , big and obnoxious.

the behaviour you want her to have when she is an adult has to be promoted NOW

she should have total disregard for strangers -- keep her focus on you , don't stop for the neighbours , no more greeting rewards .

tell your neighbours , "you'll thank me later"


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

Lol. My pup's name is Summer too! I have the same problem - she loves everyone when out and about. I introduced her to the HS Prong collar at 8 months of age and it saved us! No more bruises from the leash handle on my hand - no more dragging me down the street and most importantly - no more greeting every person that has the misfortune to come within 10 feet of her 80 pound bundle of joy self..... 

I used treat training in addition to the prong initially for the "sit" command while on walks. I would just keep working on it and if there is still a problem a few months from now, you might consider the prong - your pup is too young now for it but it really works wonders.


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

Hmmm LOL indeed! Boxer mistake, 101?? If you "train" your dog to be excited to meet people ...then your dog will be excited to meet people! 

If your dog already likes people, call it good and now "show" her that she does not need to meet and greet *"everyone."
*

Personally I think those EZ Walks things are crap, you can't correct a dog walking them on a harness and a "proper" correction would be a "slight tug sideways" not straight back ... but whatever. 

Teaching your dog that they don't need to "greet" everyone looks like the second article in here and for back to basics on Walking a Dog, see the first video clip in that link:

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/5296377-post8.html


For more information on my tool of choice Slip Lead Leash "sigh" as well as some basic info on "Prong Collars" see here:
Slip Lead leash - Boxer Forum : Boxer Breed Dog Forums

And to enhance the see not meet thing would be "Sit on The Dog" out and about your dog would just "Sit" and observe, details on that and "The Place Command" can be found here:

Fearful, Anxious or Flat Crazy "The Place CommanD - Boxer Forum : Boxer Breed Dog Forums


Back to basics, sometimes ... less is more. 

Welcome aboard ask questions.


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## Coleen (Sep 18, 2015)

Everyone advice is great! Keep in mind tho that she is still a puppy! Puppy's get excited! ( easy to forget at times because they are "big" at 4 months) I had the same problem with my girl. She is turning 6 months now. The "leave it" command will be your best friend! Tasha is walking on loose leash much better then 2 months ago using that command. Patience and keep working with her, she will get there!


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Look at getting a wide collar for summer - 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches wide - more control than a harness, and wont choke her like a narrow collar.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

More on the subject of engagement training. 

http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...ime-owner/162230-engagement-key-training.html


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## SummerLove (Feb 15, 2016)

Thank you so much for all the great advice, such generosity!! I don't know what we'll do without you guys 

Very good points on not stopping for the neighbors - I guess for us this will be as much "people/neighbor-management", as "puppy-management" (as we have a few very friendly neighbors who really go out of their way to pet our dog - Mostly people who used to have GSDs when they were young, and now reminiscing.)

Appreciate all the info on the various types of leashes and collars too, we'll research a bit more on this - the easywalk really does nothing for us, in fact we seem to be creating a "sled-dog".

Interesting to learn that the "leave it" command works for people too. We'll have to try that one out, along with the other :gsdsit: commands and training suggested ! I'll keep you guys posted in a few months on how it goes!


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## sebrench (Dec 2, 2014)

Asher was a little overfriendly as a youngster also...if gave people the okay to pet him, he would get excited and want to jump up and give them smooches. Not okay. Though there are far worse problems to have, in my opinion.  I used a martingale collar when he was young. I had him "sit" while being petted. Before people approached, I explained that I was teaching him not to jump, and to stop touching/petting him if he broke his sit. With a lot of repetition and consistency, this helped a lot! I want Asher to ignore most passersby while I'm out and about, but I also want him to greet people politely on occasion...so it is something we practice. I never approach people, but if they ask to pet him, most of the time I say okay--with the stipulations I mentioned above. At around 8 months we started using a prong/pinch collar. If you want to try one when your pup is older have a trainer show you how to use one. Asher acts pretty calm when meeting people now. I think some of this is due to training and some from the puppy exuberance fading away. 

Anyway, this is what the trainer in our obedience class recommended, and it has worked fairly well for us.


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## tedchung08 (Apr 5, 2016)

I have similar problems as SummerLove. Inside the house, my 3.5 month pup knows commands for sit, lay, paw, etc. The moment she goes outside, it's out the door. 

She just learned sit with distractions around, but it has been a very slow process. She tries to kiss strangers and I don't want her jumping on people. I generally will tell her to sit before she gets any rewards (meet strangers, play with other dogs, etc). However, the moment I let her get out of sit, she gets overly excited. 

Will she eventually calm down as she gets older? Any other way to train dogs to be calm when greeting?


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## Agaribay805 (Jan 7, 2016)

Our trainer told us not to let people pet our puppy. She also loves people and it gets her way too excited, to the point that she loses all focus and self control. She starts pulling starts walking in every direction. He said our puppy should be focused on handler and aloof to people. Not forever just until she can actually handle it.


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## Rosy831 (Feb 27, 2016)

tedchung08 said:


> I have similar problems as SummerLove. Inside the house, my 3.5 month pup knows commands for sit, lay, paw, etc. The moment she goes outside, it's out the door.
> 
> She just learned sit with distractions around, but it has been a very slow process. She tries to kiss strangers and I don't want her jumping on people. I generally will tell her to sit before she gets any rewards (meet strangers, play with other dogs, etc). However, the moment I let her get out of sit, she gets overly excited.
> 
> Will she eventually calm down as she gets older? Any other way to train dogs to be calm when greeting?



Maybe get some friends or family members to help out teaching her to sit to greet before trying real strangers. Tell your helpers what you are trying to do and tell them how to act. If she gets out of sit, have them back away, only to interact when she remains sitting. Strangers don't always get it, they just want to pet the pup


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## Chai (Dec 11, 2014)

I used to put a harness on Tchai with a badge that said "ask before petting" or another one "In training. Do not disturb" and that reduced the number of people bombarding us in public.


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## SummerLove (Feb 15, 2016)

Hi folks! 
Been only a few weeks, but thought I'd check back in 
Though it hasn't been too long, we are seeing some incremental improvement - her "radius " of excitement has noticeably shrunk. E.g. Previously she starts dragging about 20 yards away. Now, maybe 5-10 yards and that's only when people is walking towards us. 
So far we've been taking folks' advice here and making the walk more interactive. We bring her favorite ball, so she carries it, sometimes we throw it a little. We also upped the tastiness of the treats, and that's the type of treat that she only gets when she is out - randomly during the walks, we would start training here and there (heel, sit and etc). We also reward her for checking in with us (eye contact). She is definitely not perfect, but, making strides nonetheless!

So Tedchung08 - Though it can sometimes be frustrating and occasionally embarrassing (Summer once made two long muddy paw streaks on a stranger's white jeans, or another time, jumped and pawed a lady's rear end who turned around and saw my husband )... But GSDs are just so smart and trainable, so hang in there!

Chai, I am seriously considering a sign like that because removing the stranger's petting seems important. But my husband is not on board with it (he says the sign is too dramatic - probably because the leash wrap I found on Amazon is bright red with a stop sign symbol and giant print "DO NOT PET") I guess we just have to keep up with the training...


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## Chai (Dec 11, 2014)

Lol I guess... but while I agree with the sign perhaps being a bit 'dramatic', it was definitely worth looking a bit silly, and now my boy is aloof to all strangers. If you're serious about fixing the situation, I encourage you to reconsider it 

Good luck!!


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