Originally Posted by
MarthaT
I was at the vet once when someone came in with a little pit bull puppy that was very snarly at everyone but the owner. .... I think it has a lot to do with training and teaching any dog that other people are okay.
It really, really does. We have a lab mix right now that is absolutely a nightmare on a leash, and it's totally our fault. We tried to socialize her as a pup but she got attacked by other dogs twice while on the leash and it put her into a bad place, and we weren't knowledgeable enough to bring her out of that on our own and we never got professional help. OUR FAULT.
Off the leash she is the SWEETEST thing - loving and calm. Fine around other dogs, kids, cats, men, strangers, loud noises, even strange workmen coming into the house...she just wants to stick her big head into everybody's business and collect scritches from everyone.
Put her on a leash and she becomes a MONSTER if she sees another dog. She will snarl and snap and yank at the leash, rear up, bite at the leash, even snap at me. It's horrible, and it's NOT HER FAULT.
We tried training it out of her on our own but we failed. We should have hired help but we did not realize that for far too long. Now she's an old lady so we are just dealing with her as an un-leashable dog and learning from our mistakes. Our other dogs are great on the leash in all sorts of situations - we learned. Thankfully we have a nice yard so she doesn't NEED to go on walks. Big lesson we learned at her expense, and something I will regret for a very long time. Fortunately she is very obedient off-leash, so when we need to take her to the vet or to be boarded she will tag along right at our side. Not ideal, though, due to leash laws and unleashed dogs making OTHER people nervous. Not a mistake I will repeat.