Warning: This is a long post. I am not known for giving Reader's Digest versions of any story I tell. Thank you. 
As a lot of you know, DH and I take Ellie to the dog park very often for her to play and socialize with other dogs. She behaves extremely well when she is finally in the enclosure with other dogs and is off leash. She is kind, gentle, and friendly to both dogs and people. She is extremely obedient with us and will come immediately when called. So, what the problem you might ask? The walk from the parking lot TO the enclosure!
Ellie goes bonkers when we get her out of the car and she discovers where we are. She is not allowed to walk on the path until she suffienctly "gathers" herself and calms down in the parking lot. When we start to walk, if she lunges on the leash (which she likes to do), we stop walking and we don't go forward until she quiets herself. She loves to bark and growl (!!!) at other dogs that are approaching us on the path. When we see another dog approacing or know one is coming behind us on the path we make her sit and give the command "watch me" until the other dogs go past. She is treated when she will do this. We have a 100% success rate with this. We are SO proud that we can get her to focus on us and be a perfect lady and ignore the other dogs. She is now starting to totally "get it" and is getting so much better, however it is a work in progress and we have to do it consistently to get it ingrained in her that she is not to bark, lunge or certainly GROWL at another dog!! Here's the rant (finally--thank you to everyone who made it this far!, lol!):
When we have Ellie sitting and looking at us, we are either on the very, very edge of the path or completely off the path so people have a huge area to get past us and not bother us. The path is wide enough so that I think four people could walk side by side and not touch each other They can SEE we are working with the Ellie and that she is quiet and not bothering anyone. I can't count the amount of times that people have walked by with their dogs on a super-long leash and they let their dog either sniff Ellie (who has her back turned to them and can't see them from behind) or run into her!! Some pea-brain with a husky let their dog side-swipe Ellie and knock her over while she was sitting and watching me!! HELLO!! What is UP with people! I am a passive person and so far have just said something witty like "HEY!!" Ellie never lost her composure but I sure have!
When I am focused on Ellie and making her watch me I have to be bending over (she's really small) and have her focus on me so I can't see how close the dogs are and she can't either. I leave people plenty of room to get past us, we are not blocking the path at all and most of the time we aren't even on it! There have been two people who have had their dogs off-leash and no control over them so they came up and were sniffing Ellie and one even pawed at her while she was sitting. I yelled "HEY! GET!!" at the dogs and they backed off and one owner said nothing to me when she walked by (I was glaring) and the other one mumbled "sorry" when they walked by.
So, what is UP with people??? Any ideas on what I can say or what I can do to help this situation that isn't likely to start a fist-fight with someone? I want to be able to protect Ellie and I want her to feel safe sitting and looking at me. She is VERY smart and I am afraid that she is quickly going to start associating sitting and watching us with being vunerable and unprotected from other dogs.
Thank you anyone who made it all the way through this post.
As a lot of you know, DH and I take Ellie to the dog park very often for her to play and socialize with other dogs. She behaves extremely well when she is finally in the enclosure with other dogs and is off leash. She is kind, gentle, and friendly to both dogs and people. She is extremely obedient with us and will come immediately when called. So, what the problem you might ask? The walk from the parking lot TO the enclosure!
Ellie goes bonkers when we get her out of the car and she discovers where we are. She is not allowed to walk on the path until she suffienctly "gathers" herself and calms down in the parking lot. When we start to walk, if she lunges on the leash (which she likes to do), we stop walking and we don't go forward until she quiets herself. She loves to bark and growl (!!!) at other dogs that are approaching us on the path. When we see another dog approacing or know one is coming behind us on the path we make her sit and give the command "watch me" until the other dogs go past. She is treated when she will do this. We have a 100% success rate with this. We are SO proud that we can get her to focus on us and be a perfect lady and ignore the other dogs. She is now starting to totally "get it" and is getting so much better, however it is a work in progress and we have to do it consistently to get it ingrained in her that she is not to bark, lunge or certainly GROWL at another dog!! Here's the rant (finally--thank you to everyone who made it this far!, lol!):
When we have Ellie sitting and looking at us, we are either on the very, very edge of the path or completely off the path so people have a huge area to get past us and not bother us. The path is wide enough so that I think four people could walk side by side and not touch each other They can SEE we are working with the Ellie and that she is quiet and not bothering anyone. I can't count the amount of times that people have walked by with their dogs on a super-long leash and they let their dog either sniff Ellie (who has her back turned to them and can't see them from behind) or run into her!! Some pea-brain with a husky let their dog side-swipe Ellie and knock her over while she was sitting and watching me!! HELLO!! What is UP with people! I am a passive person and so far have just said something witty like "HEY!!" Ellie never lost her composure but I sure have!
When I am focused on Ellie and making her watch me I have to be bending over (she's really small) and have her focus on me so I can't see how close the dogs are and she can't either. I leave people plenty of room to get past us, we are not blocking the path at all and most of the time we aren't even on it! There have been two people who have had their dogs off-leash and no control over them so they came up and were sniffing Ellie and one even pawed at her while she was sitting. I yelled "HEY! GET!!" at the dogs and they backed off and one owner said nothing to me when she walked by (I was glaring) and the other one mumbled "sorry" when they walked by.
So, what is UP with people??? Any ideas on what I can say or what I can do to help this situation that isn't likely to start a fist-fight with someone? I want to be able to protect Ellie and I want her to feel safe sitting and looking at me. She is VERY smart and I am afraid that she is quickly going to start associating sitting and watching us with being vunerable and unprotected from other dogs.
Thank you anyone who made it all the way through this post.
