Trying to get at other dogs

[Bertie]

Hi
I have a 18 month old Boxer who is great apart from whenever he sees another dog he wants to get to them. He is not aggressive but wants to smell them.
Even when he is with my sister in law dog in the garden he just keeps at her wanting to play, he doesn't know when enough is enough.
Is there anything I can do to stop this.
It is becomng a nusience and embarrassing
Thanks

[KOPcaroline]

Hi Bertie,

This is a pretty common behaviour for younger dogs to have - theyre just so interested in everyone! My own dog just turned 2 and is still super excited about other dogs. Most cases will grow out of it and calm down a bit with age, and until then you just need to remember to be patient and consistant.

My method with my own dog was to train hard on "heel", "enough" and "no", haha. Jackson used to tear off after other dogs at the park, just wanting to say hi and smell, like your Boxer seems to. I started using his lead in training, starting with giving the "heel" command, and saying "no" anytime he started to go for the other dog. If he was too excited, I told him to sit and snapped my fingers so that he would keep looking at me. I kept him in this sit until the other dog was gone, or until the other dog had walked up to Jackson to say hi, then I told him "ok" so he could get up to properly socialize :P If he came out of the sit too soon, or just didnt listen, I gave him his "youre in trouble" command (OI!!), and put him back on lead, keeping him at a stiff heel. This worked really well for him, and now he's so so much better about not rushing, and if he starts to rush off, he listens so well to "enough" and calms down. It didnt take long, but it did take a lot of persistance.

I'd suggest something similar for your own dog - especially having him sit and pay attention to you while the other dog goes about its business. I've heard a few other friends using similar techniques and it seems to work really well. Its just about keeping your dogs attention on you, listening to your commands, instead of working up over the other dog. You can even use this sort of training at home with your sisters dog.

I hope it makes sense, and hopefully other members will have some ideas for you. Please let us know how things go, if your pup makes progress with this or if we need to think of other ideas Good luck!