[nagdu] issue with dog going to greet people

[Julie J.]

Welcome Nemanja!

I'm Julie, one of the moderators.  I love your name!  How do you 
pronounce it?

I think you are on the right track with the unwanted greeting behavior.  
If you are noticing improvement I'd stick with it.  Consistency is the 
key.  Also the earlier you can catch her the better.  So if you notice 
her turning off someplace you don't think you should be turning, I'd 
stop and do some obedience exercises or somehow get her attention back 
on you.  Then proceed on your way.

If the problem is more than a nuisance and you want to take a more 
serious action to extinguish it, you could enlist the help of some 
friends.  First get them to wear clothing that makes noise, carry a 
crinkly shopping bag, jingle the change in their pocket or something so 
you can hear where they are.  Then set up lots of training opportunities 
by having the friends approach you from various directions.   Since you 
will know what is coming up you can intercede with Mary early.  You can 
use whatever works, the gentle leader, a correction, a treat for focus 
on you, obedience exercises-whatever you have been taught or what you 
feel comfortable doing.

As she gets better you can increase the difficulty by asking people to 
approach her directly, by reaching to pet, by offering food, by making 
eye contact etc.  Start easy and build up her self control gradually.

HTH and welcome!
Julie


On 9/5/2011 1:38 PM, Nemanja Djurdjevic wrote:
> Hello List,
>
> My name is Nemanja Djurdjevic, and I am a recent graduate of the seeing eye
> with a yello lab named Mary. She is my first guide of any kind from any
> school. While I am doing routes on campus, Mary likes to turn off routes and
> greet other people and investigate other things. I tried using the gentle
> leader and it seems to have curbed the behavior slightly. I correct her when
> she does this, with and without the gentle leader, but again, it only helps
> slightly. I discourage people from petting her while she is in harness, so
> it's not like they're greeting her. Are there any other steps I can take?
> Thank you very much for your help,
>
> Nemanja
>
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