In the News: Tails of Marin
By Kristin Herrera
Not all dogs want to say, 'Hi!' So make introductions slowly
“She’s friendly! She just wants to say hi!,” he shouts from up the street as his dog comes barreling towards you and your leashed dog. Eighty pounds of Labrador are on an intercept course and you can do nothing but brace for impact. You try to position yourself between the oncoming dog and your own, who is much smaller, because how do you really know that the dog is friendly? And how does the other owner know that your dog is friendly? All you know is that you have a very large animal racing straight towards you and his shouting “She’s friendly” at a distance of 50 yards does not calm you. It just translates to “I have no control over my dog, good luck!”
A proper dog/dog greeting looks like this: The dogs approach each other at an angle, at an unhurried pace, without direct eye contact. They angle in towards each other and come in for a polite sniff. And from there, it’s either ‘Let’s play!’, ‘Have a nice day!’, or ‘Your mama wears combat boots!’ One dog rushing up into another dog’s face, no matter how “friendly” the approaching dog may be, is as rude as if I, a stranger, were to rush straight up into your face, throw my arms around you and lick you on the cheek. You probably wouldn’t appreciate it very much, and neither does your Fluffy when another dog does it to her.
When confronted by a large dog with unknown intentions rushing up into Fluffy’s space, your dog may bare her teeth and snap and snarl at the rude dog, which is dog speak for, “Hey! Get out of my face and learn some manners!” And the other owner might then yell at you for having an aggressive dog and call you an offensive name. But remember: It was his dog who rushed yours — you and your dog were walking at a distance from him, minding your own business. Your dog is also on leash as she is legally required to be. So your dog telling the other dog to back off is an appropriate thing for her to do, as long as it’s not over the top.
I have had many clients come to see me with their dog after they have had just such an encounter. They are afraid that their dog is aggressive because their dog lashed out at the so-called friendly dog who rushed up into their face. I have had more than one owner wonder if they should put their dog down. Imagine their relief when I tell them the truth of the situation — that the other dog was the instigator, the other dog’s behavior was rude and uncalled for, and the owner of the other dog is the one who is at fault.
So, please don’t be one of those owners who yells, “He’s friendly” or “She just wants to say hi”. If you don’t have verbal control over your dog, please keep your dog on leash. Be honest with yourself about whether you really do have verbal control in that given situation — you might have it in your backyard, but not on the street or at the park. And train your dog to come to you. Join a dog training class where we can work on various recall techniques. But please don’t put others in the position where they have to defend themselves against a maybe-friendly, but certainly rude, dog.
Kristin Herrera is a behavior consultant and training instructor at the Marin Humane Society.
Tails of Marin appears every Saturday in the Home & Garden section of the Marin Independent Journal
