[Kristen Cabe]

So I took Jak (and hubby had Gypsy) for a walk today up at the new apartment complex (not as scary as the new housing development, and it's a longer walk). Both were wearing their backpacks to get used to carrying them. About 10 minutes into it, as we passed a van where a guy in a wheelchair was being lowered to the ground (there were three or four people standing around at the rear of the van out in the parking lot), this vicious chihuahua came roaring out of nowhere, tiny fangs beared and dripping, and started seriously going after Jak! Of course it wasn't leashed - it wasn't even wearing a collar. Jak didn't go after it; he was more startled than anything, but it was RIGHT under his nose jumping up and down, yapping and snarling like crazy, and biting at his feet; and he was just looking at it like "what the heck is THIS thing supposed to be, anyway? He never hackled, or barked, or lunged at it, or anything; I was SO proud of him. Can you guess what the people standing around were doing? Yep - absolutely nothing. They all just stood there and watched, and I just kept on going, praising the heck out of Jak because he wasn't trying to eat the little horrid evil creature, and tried to stay calm and not make a big deal of it (and held my tongue about the chi even being allowed to act that way - it's a GOOD THING Jak did behave, because he easily could have snatched up the little dog and done serious damage, even though he might not have meant to).


He behaved MUCH better than I thought he would have. WHEW!!!

 

[Connie Sutherland]

So I took Jak (and hubby had Gypsy) for a walk today up at the new apartment complex (not as scary as the new housing development, and it's a longer walk). Both were wearing their backpacks to get used to carrying them. About 10 minutes into it, as we passed a van where a guy in a wheelchair was being lowered to the ground (there were three or four people standing around at the rear of the van out in the parking lot), this vicious chihuahua came roaring out of nowhere, tiny fangs beared and dripping, and started seriously going after Jak! Of course it wasn't leashed - it wasn't even wearing a collar. Jak didn't go after it; he was more startled than anything, but it was RIGHT under his nose jumping up and down, yapping and snarling like crazy, and biting at his feet; and he was just looking at it like "what the heck is THIS thing supposed to be, anyway? He never hackled, or barked, or lunged at it, or anything; I was SO proud of him. Can you guess what the people standing around were doing? Yep - absolutely nothing. They all just stood there and watched, and I just kept on going, praising the heck out of Jak because he wasn't trying to eat the little horrid evil creature, and tried to stay calm and not make a big deal of it (and held my tongue about the chi even being allowed to act that way - it's a GOOD THING Jak did behave, because he easily could have snatched up the little dog and done serious damage, even though he might not have meant to).


He behaved MUCH better than I thought he would have. WHEW!!!

Wow! Good Jak!!! Don't you wish Cesar Millan would pop outta the
woods and say "Little dogs need training just as much as big dogs do"
like he did on the dog park episode?

Man.......... why don't owners see the danger they are putting everyone
in? The little dog, the big dog, the owners......... :evil:

 

[Kristen Cabe]

Oh it was all I could do to bite my tongue about it - I just tried to focus on praising Jak and getting on down the sidewalk.

It's a GOOD thing I spent 12 weeks a couple of summers ago working with Gypsy to stop her aggression towards other dogs. She went right to heel position and stayed there the whole time the chi was attacking Jak. Before, she would have been trying to eat him back.

 

[Maren Bell Jones]

Speaking of which, something very similar happened to me a few days ago. I was walking my Mal at dusk to get him used to the fireworks as he's distractable under gunfire at Schutzhund practice. I started up a conversation with a girl about my age walking her border collie and this Chihuahua comes bursting out the front door of another house snarling and barking its fool head off. The people are like "Coco! Come back, Coco! Please come!" but never try to retreive their dog, let alone does it occur to them that a Chihuahua would make a nice snack for two hungry herding dogs. :roll: I got in front of my dog, did Cesar Millan's "Shht!" and gave the Chi the alpha bitch evil eye. Backed off real quick. I do something similar if it's a bigger dog out on the off leash trails. Usually I bark "leave it!" and I might even snarl at the dog. The owner can think I'm nuts, that's fine, but I probably just avoided a fight with their precious doggy who can do no wrong.

 

[Connie Sutherland]

Speaking of which, something very similar happened to me a few days ago. I was walking my Mal at dusk to get him used to the fireworks as he's distractable under gunfire at Schutzhund practice. I started up a conversation with a girl about my age walking her border collie and this Chihuahua comes bursting out the front door of another house snarling and barking its fool head off. The people are like "Coco! Come back, Coco! Please come!" but never try to retreive their dog, let alone does it occur to them that a Chihuahua would make a nice snack for two hungry herding dogs. :roll: I got in front of my dog, did Cesar Millan's "Shht!" and gave the Chi the alpha bitch evil eye. Backed off real quick. I do something similar if it's a bigger dog out on the off leash trails. Usually I bark "leave it!" and I might even snarl at the dog. The owner can think I'm nuts, that's fine, but I probably just avoided a fight with their precious doggy who can do no wrong.

Yes. I do (well, it's only been twice) exactly what Ed Frawley says to do (and which you describe). He says "Go home!," I think, but it's the manner and tone that do it. So far.

It KILLS me, these owners who carry on long reasoning conversations or pleading arguments with the DOG. Like "Static, static, static, Coco, static, static, Coco, static, static, Coco.........." :roll:

 

[Maren Bell Jones]

I like "go home" but "leave it" comes out in a shorter, clippier (is that a word?) bark. I noticed when you say it in front of a mirror, you show you teeth more when you say "leave it" than just about anything else. Adds to the effect of the dog knowing you mean business and the owner thinking you probably have Tourette's. 8)