DOG GOES BALLISTIC WHEN JOGGING WITH OWNER …
By Adam Katz

Dear Adam:

My dog, Chance, we think is a Golden retriever mix, but he's mostly white with gold patches.  Also he's about 2/3 the size of a Golden Retriever.

He's 18 months old and has been loose-leash trained pretty well as long as you don't let him get distracted.

The thing I don't know how to handle is that some dogs that we meet when we're out jogging or walking, he goes ballistic.

We have used a choke chain to train him, and it seemed to work well. But there is that occasional dog that we meet will get him so riled that he pulls, then spins, then pulls backwards, then jumps up and down, then spins again - all to get loose to go attack the other dog.

What are my options?

-          Greg

Dear Greg:

My first question is: Why aren't you using a pinch collar?  This is advocated ad nausea in the book..

Furthermore, distractions should not be avoided.  They should be actively sought after.  Distractions make your dog better.  They allow you to teach your dog that you are going to make him behave EVEN AROUND A DISTRACTION. 

My hunch is that he’s not listening to you because you’re using a choke chain collar and you’re not able to get a good correction.  If you WERE getting a good correction, he wouldn’t be throwing a tantrum.

He can’t be watching the other dog and watching you at the same time.  If he has to worry about you sneaking off and getting caught at the end of the leash (where he gets a correction from the collar)… then he’s not going to have enough room in his brain left to think about going after the other dog.

To read more of my dog training ramblings, read about my book:
Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer!