When dealing with a dog obsessed with other dog, one can feel uneasy because your lovely companion is perfect, but reacts to certain situations and stimuli.
Whether it’s dog to dog aggression or a pup that just wants to play with every dog he encounters, this problem is one that should be managed!
Why Your Dog Obsessed With Other Dog? The Simple Answer:
Your dog is obsessed with other dogs because your pup either wants to play with the other dog, is fearful, or has created a bad habit of trying to interact with every dog your pup sees.
The Underlining Issue
One thing we have to do as dog owners see things in our dogs deeper than what it may just look like.
If your dog obsessed with other dog, there is a reason for it and can stem from a variety of different situations.
This can vary from a dog that reacts from fear or lack of exposure to a young pup that just built a habit of having to play with every dog he encounters.
Dogs don’t just get obsessed for no reason, there’s always an underlining meaning between everything your dog does!
3 Common Underlying Issue For Dog To Dog Obsession
Created a Habit Of Letting Your Dog “say hi” To Other Dogs On Leash
When uncovering why your dog obsessed with other dog, we have to understand how dog behaviors develop.
Many dog behaviors begin as a voluntary response than with enough practice and repetition the response then becomes involuntary.
For instance, the first time you let your dog greet another pup on a leash, your dog made the voluntary decision to interact with another dog.
After enough repetitions of you allowing your dog to “say hi” to other dogs on a walk, your dog’s response every time he sees another dog becomes involuntary because up to that point you let your dog make a habit of saying “hi” to every pup your dog sees.
When you don’t want your dog to say “hi” to other dogs you’ll notice your pup may whine and pull toward the other dogs because of the habit created.
Fearful
Another reason your dog obsessed with other dog is that your pup is fearful of another dog.
This is common in many dogs who were poorly exposed, socialized as a puppy or may have had a negative experience in the past with dogs.
Many fearful dogs mask there fearfulness with aggression to create more space between whatever is making your pup feel uncomfortable
Play
The 3rd main reason your pup is obsessed with other dogs is because your pup lives to play!
This is common in certain breeds more than others such as labradors who act like they never met a stranger in there life!
A dog that is obsessed with other dogs because he wants to play most likely has either had too much time playing with other dogs to the point where it created the obsession or the complete opposite the dog rarely plays and when he encounters another pup is gets flooded with excitement the key is about balance!
How To Handle A Dog Who Is Obsessed With Other Dogs
They’re various ways to handle dog obsession depending on the underlining issue.
Habit Of Letting Your Dog Say “hi”
For those who have created the bad habit of letting your dog say “hi” to every dog the first thing to do is stop on-leash greeting between dogs.
Don’t let your pup stare at other dogs and if your dog whines just help your pup do through the motions, because at this point what you are trying to do is stop a bad habit and create a good habit.
Fearful
With fearful dogs, you may need to instill a specific rehabilitation process in where you start teaching your pup that, although your dog is afraid there is no need to react because you have your dogs best interest at heart, you can read more on how our rehabilitation process works here
Play
If your dog is obsessed with other dogs because your pup wants to play an easy solution is to play more your pup!
You want to begin playing indoors with your pup than outdoors than around dogs.
what we want to teach your dog is that paying attention to you is fun and more rewarding than other dogs, of course, you also want to provide your dog time to play with other dogs swell but this time you want to be the main source of fun!
Tony The Rat Terrier Rehab From Obsessed To Following Our Lead
Below, you see “Tony”, the Rat Terrier who is focused on another dog just walking by.
This is a common occurrence with numerous dogs and owners.
After our evaluation, we discovered that Tony was reacting to other dogs out of fear and insecurity because his owners were not advocating for him.
Within one session, we started teaching Tony how to take direction from not only the leash but his owners as well.
We started teaching Tony, the Rat Terrier, to follow instead of leading, where he was always in a state where he feels he needs to handle situations himself.
Now that Tony knows how to follow, instead of lead, his state of mind is more at ease because he knows that his owners will advocate for him.
Many owners assume that their dog is comfortable with other dogs.
Be aware of what your dog is trying to communicate to you, and become a leader for your dog so that he looks towards you for guidance instead of feeling like he has to take control of the situation at hand.
To awaken your dogs true potential contact us here or Give us a call!
Receive your free dog training consultation and set your pup up for success!
