We are on the other end of the leash this week.
I was training Alice in our unfenced, shared backyard a few days ago when I lost control over Alice's long line and she ran up to my neighbor who was walking his reactive dog.
Everything turned out okay, the dogs met and I was able to capture Alice's face (letting her nibble on treats) so the other dog could get a really good smell of her, like I was taught to do at my last job. Face to face greetings are very difficult for dogs so pulling faces out of the equation can really help a scared dog. We jollied the dogs through the situation and everyone went on their way, a little stressed out but okay.
I left the situation feeling like a major jerk, though. I have a dog who is scared of other dogs (Phoenix) and I know what it's like to have a friendly dog charge up to me. How could I have let this happen to someone else!? Even though Alice was way more interested in seeing the owner than the dog, it still really sucked for them. So I baked and took them some cookies for the humans and their dog this morning.
I know it was a total freak accident, Alice was leashed and the long line slipped from under my foot and she's in training, she's not trained yet. I still feel so bad, though! It's definitely something we will be working really hard on in the coming weeks.
Friendly dogs!!! Dammit. Friendly dogs. I've never had a dog this friendly before. Zoe has always been indifferent with people. She has her favorite people and she's good. Phoenix is a one woman dog and my family dog was also shy. I've always said that each dog is here to teach us a specific lesson and Alice has a lot of lessons for me!
The lesson that I learned from this is that I need a longer long line, need to spend more time proofing my recall around other dogs and people and I need to be more understanding and empathetic of other owners when accidents like this happen, instead of getting irate.
Accidents happen to the best of trainers sometimes! Dogs are dogs, even the best trained dogs have their moments, they are not robots and they don't always listen. Everything is a lesson!