| There is no way I am going to go face on towards an unknown dog when it can be avoided. It is one thing in training class or at trials where I know the dogs and can assume they have some control, but I am not going to deliberately put my dog in a position of possible confrontation during a neighborhood walk.
It is too easy to avoid these things. If the other dog appears to be under control but is out at the end of its leash so that it could scurry in, I step to my left so I am between them and my dog and simply wait for them to pass. If the dog's lead is being held by both hands with an owner who looks nervous, you bet, I'm going to turn out into the roadway and give them some space until they get past. I tend to walk in the roadways anyhow, so I rarely find myself cornered on a sidewalk. Truthfully, I have found that it is the other handler that moves.
Yes, we run into loose dogs often and I've not had those encounters be a particular problem, but my dogs don't fire off either. They simply know better. If the loose dog comes all the way in for contact, I wait patiently until the sniffing greeting ritual is completed, then shoo the dog away and we go on our way. Quite truthfully, few dogs want to mix it up with a Rottweiler no matter how peaceful the Rottweiler appears. We had a dog-fighting SharPei in the hood and encountered him a couple of times. He was quite nasty, but I followed my same practice. After he'd sniffed a bit (I was controlling the heads of my two), he suddenly realized that he was perhaps out of his league, and remembered a very important engagement elsewhere. The other thing I've had happen a couple of times which made me embarrassed for the other dogs is to have them run in front of us and throw themselves on the ground! How humiliating!
Now, you are entirely correct in forbidding your dog to issue challenges. She is most likely quite brave while being restrained and I imagine if your lead broke she'd be shocked and glued to your side. (don't try this). I get furious at people whose dogs do that because the assumption seems to be that the other dogs are supposed to ignore it.
If you really really mean that this is to stop, you will let her know in a way that she can understand. I see nothing wrong with a warning/reminding collar pop and a verbal caution. It is entirely justified and she has earned it. Until she has proven over time to have mended her ways, you are actually being fair to her by letting her know in advance that you are not going to allow the misbehavior. She is neither fragile nor demented, just an opportunists.  |