my dog turns to steel

I adopted my dog three years ago, and she was a lot of work. At 6 months she was not housebroken and over-excited about everything. Thanks to crate training and consistency she's much better especially when she's in the house. Here's the problem: she gets super excited when she sees other dogs, and wants to play. When I try to briskly walk her away from other dogs her body tenses up and she becomes frozen. She will not move, and sometimes eve trembles with excitement. It looks aggressive, but it's not. I have tried to distract her with food and this sometimes works. If she does get the opportunity to play with the dog, she gets so excited (jumping, wrestling) that the other dog and owner get turned off, especially because I live in NYC and it can be dangerous. Ay suggestions?

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Aidan's picture

re: my dog turns to steel

Sounds like you've done a great job so far.

Do you have any friends with suitable dogs who she can have "play dates" with? If you can throw a bit of heeling training in for a couple of minutes (literally) before the play session so that the play session becomes the reward you should see some pretty good results. Start off at a distance from the other dog.

Failing that, a short course in a small group clicker training class should help a LOT. Anything you can do for socialisation with other dogs will be a bonus.

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com