[Green Dreams]

My oldest dog, Revan, most certainly knows what I want when I say, "Revan, come!" or "Revan, STOP!" or "Revan, stay!" When he was just a wee puppy, he ran out the front door while I was taking the trash out and I spent a good 5 minutes chasing him down, terrified that a car would come zipping around the bend in the road and take him out.

Never again. I'm surprised he's not fat. If anything, I over-trained and over-rewarded on nailing down these very important commands. He's been great - at home, on the street, at the dog park.

Case in point: The other day at the park, I got a bad vibe off the body language of another dog as Revan was running around pestering him to play (it seemed this other dog wanted to be left alone) and the moment the words, "Revan, STOP!" left my lips, Revan was on his belly so fast, he skidded through the snow on it, with his full attention on me.

And then, that very same day, he decided not to heed my call, and things went south, fast. A new dog had just come into the park - along with his (her?) elderly owner, who didn't quite have the strength to keep the dog physically controlled. Tails were wagging, but I didn't want Revan going over to investigate the newcomers until the new dog was off his leash. Basically, I didn't want him being an over-excited bother to the gentleman with the dog.

He headed off and I called, "Revan, come!" He stopped, turned, took a few loping strides towards me, and then tore off back towards the newcomer.

"Revan, STOP!" Nothing. He completely ignored me. Was it the distance, maybe? He was a good ways away from me (100y?). We'd been playing fetch...

Well, he only wanted to play, but so did the other dog, a husky who was leaping on the end of his leash as his owner tried to pull him back as not to be pulled over! Unfortunately, this resulted in Revan catching a raised front paw to the face just as I got to him, and boy did he let out a yowl of pain.

It was a complete and total accident, but Revan didn't see it that way. He immediately let out one heck of a verbal warning. If I had to take a guess at the interpretation, there was probably something about ripping throats out in there. It sounded awful!

I grabbed his collar, but he went right on snarling and snapping, now fighting me as I tried to pull him back and turn his attention to me. He was NOT happy. I'd never seen him so upset. I leashed him, and this other dog owner stood there completely dumbstruck, it seemed, his husky still rearing to go (play). (Uh, sir? A little help on this one? Move away, maybe?)

I apologized, even though I was a little miffed with this man for not aiding the situation in the least. I left, and then I got to thinking... how do you nail down recall from 99% to 100% for those moments when it really, really counts? 99% is not good enough.

Okay, so Revan is still a puppy, and he's still learning. He's the first dog I've ever trained and I'm still learning, too. Is there something I've done wrong or not done?

Also, how in the world do I curb retaliatory aggression/calm him down after an incident like the one above? Honestly, how often is a situation like that going to happen such that there's an opportunity to intervene!? Yes, the other dog hurt him, and I suppose it's "normal" for dogs to react to such a thing. He's given our new puppy a few sharp warning barks and snarls, and nothing more, but she's all of 8lbs. He's 30, but he clearly adores her. The other dog was probably close to 80 and a total stranger. It's not the same thing... I can't just stand back and say, "meh... it's not going to escalate" because it easily could have.

So... How could I have handled that situation better? What can I do to improve his recall? (I had a pocket full of treats and he knew it full well.) Any advice? It would be much appreciated.

[lange]

Hi! It sounds like you're working hard in training & reaping the rewards. Good for you!

Ok, so I'm not an expert but I do have some suggestions. First, as far as emergency recall some of us recently talked about it in this thread: Electric shock collars Once you read it, hopefully you'll see that the point of an emergency recall for a nosy or playful dog who is running off for "fun" is to match his energy or go above it. Get him interested in what you're doing more w/the proper body language. Emergency recall for aggression is different and much harder. You obviously don't want to be "happy" because it won't respond to that. All I can think of in this case is to be assertive & if your dog is not so intense hopefully it will listen.

If your dog gets into a fight, there is a possibility of being bit even by your own dog if you intervene. It's called redirected aggression. It's similar to when some drunk guy starts a heated argument, someone steps in to separate or push him away, and drunk, angry guy punches/lashes out at "friend or neutral party". The safest way to separate a dog from fighting is by grabbing it's back legs and swing him side to side as you pull him away. The side to side motion is to prevent him from having the stability to turn to bite you. Ideally, someone else would be doing the same to the other dog. I've NEVER done this myself! I don't imagine it's easy to do but it's something that is good to know but hopefully wouldn't ever be needed. (This is obviously meant for bigger dogs since a smaller dog can be handled easier by the back of the neck and body)

In your situation neither dog was bad IMO. I wouldn't blame the other owner for not helping. We all come with different knowledge about dogs & some people do better in emergency situations than others. Going into a dog park you have to be aware of how many things can go wrong. I personally don't go to dog parks because the excitability there is too high & uncontrolled. The benefits don't out way the risk for me but everyone has to decide what works for them.

I hope something in there helped!