I have a rule at my classes: on-leash greetings between dogs are not allowed. I learned this rule at St. Hubert’s Dog Training School, and have found it to be pretty common among dog trainers. Owners, however, often find it surprising.
There are three big reasons why you shouldn’t let your dog greet other dogs on-leash:
- Leashes can lead to dysfunctional greetings.
- Dogs that are permitted to greet on-leash learn to expect it, and when they can’t greet they get frustrated.
- When your dog is on-leash, you want her focus to be on you.
Watch two dog-friendly dogs greet off-leash. Broadly speaking, they tend to sniff faces and fannies, while circling or at least approaching each other from oblique angles. The mutual sniffs are important: especially or the first time but often for subsequent meetings too. I think of good greetings are relaxed and circular.
Watch two dogs greet on-leash. It couldn’t look more different! The leashes make circling and sniffing difficult, if not impossible. Oftentimes the people involved keep the leashes tight, further restricting movement and leading to more straight-in approaches and raising the anxiety level. I think of on-leash greetings as tense and linear.
When dogs are allowed to greet others while on-leash, they learn to expect it. When they can’t, they tend to become frustrated. On-leash aggression is frustration. How many times have you heard (or thought) “He’s not aggressive! He just wants to say hi!”? To make matters worse, what starts out as a display of frustration is often misinterpreted by the other dog as an aggressive display, leading to a snowball effect. Avoid the greetings and avoid the association.
But the best reason to avoid on-leash greetings is you. Want your dog to walk nicely on leash? You want her attention. Want to avoid on-leash aggression? Get her attention. The fastest and most reliable way to accomplish this is to make being on-leash about you and not about other dogs.
If you want to give your dog an opportunity to socialize with other dogs, arrange off-leash playtime with trustworthy dogs (that have trustworthy owners). In the meantime, make on-leash time fun and bonding time between the two of you.
Interested in more information about leash aggression? I have a series of posts over here. You may also want to subscribe to my newsletter using the form on the right.
Photo Credit: Tobyotter
Related posts on Dog Spelled Forward:
On-Leash Aggression: Where Does It Come From?
How to Stop Leash Aggression
On-Leash Aggression: Power Brakes and Power Steering
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Great series of posts about on-leash aggression.
Just wondering– What do you see as the appropriate response for a dog to have when they encounter another on-leash dog on a walk (in the city, that happens at least once a block)? And what do you recommend the person do to encourage it?
For example, would you call for eye contact or another behavior each time a dog walks by on leash?
I think a good argument can be made for TEACHING dogs to greet politely on leash. it is going to happen, regardless of the desire that we may have that it won’t. Greetings on leash should be VERY short, and heavily reinforced.
If asked well, like now
, I think a “check in” – eye contact – would be the behavior.
But at the same time, if the dog is able to look at the other dog and stay under control, it’s not a big deal. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I’d hate to give the impression that I expect a dog to be an automaton. It’s the expectation and/or insistence on be able to greet that’s the issue.
How would you teach it? Serious question – not a retort. I don’t know how I could fit it into a 6 or 8 week basic curriculum.
I have to disagree with you on this because what you are suggesting greatly reduces the dog’s opportunity to practice social skills. Limiting your dog’s social opportunities to “arranged playtime with trustworthy dogs” is counter productive and not practical for many people. How is a dog ever going to learn how to behave around other dogs if it is limited to one or two mommy approved playmates?
I think that for most people, chance encounters with other dogs that they meet while walking Fido are the best opportunity they have to let their dog do the greeting thing. Sure, the leashes get tangled and can sometimes send the wrong signal, but at least the dogs are getting a chance to practice their greeting skills and get to know other dogs.
You list one reason for not letting dogs greet while on leash is that they will come to expect it and thus become frustrated when they’re not allowed to do it in the future. That is so backwards! Most dogs are eager to meet other dogs, so naturally they’ll be frustrated if you don’t allow it. What you propose is kind of like suggesting that it’s not a good idea to let your children play with other kids in the neighborhood because, afterall, they’ll only feel frustrated when you prevent them from doing so in the future!! Ridiculous!
Giving dogs every opportunity to greet other dogs they see is not practicing proper social skills. As I said in the post, greetings on leash are dysfunctional. Having another dog approach you gasping for air, with her front legs off the ground, is not a greeting. It’s a threat.
You even admit that the leashes get tangled and can send the wrong signal. How many fights does it take to create a behavior problem? (Hint: less than two.)
I’m not sure what your point is with children. By the time they get to preschool children understand that there’s a time to play and a time to do other things. This is the same idea. Leash time is not greeting time. Period. If you think that socialization is so critical, make proper time for it.
I can’t see what’s backwards about eliminating the expectation to greet other dogs. If you stop making greetings an option and give the dog something to do instead – such as focus on you- over time the dog will stop anticipating the greeting. It’s just like eliminating any other unwanted behavior. Instead you want to let the dog drag you over to any other dog you pass, which is teaching the dog that all dogs are a cue for a greeting, and don’t seem to believe that it’s possible to train your dog to that being on leash is about the handler, not the environment.
How do you believe the leash aggression starts in the first place? I have a leash–aggressive dog that I would never allow to greet another dog while on leash for fear of the mis-communication and biting. But, I am wondering what I did or didn’t do to contribute to his behavior in the first place. I want to be aware of it so I can avoid that problem with future dogs that come into my life.
It can have a lot of causes. I need to put together a post about that. Stay tuned – I don’t want to give you an off-the-cuff answer.
I agree with Eric’s opinions regarding on-lead greetings; more inappropriate behaviours than enough are started this way.. The only word I would change would be off-lead PLAYTIME. I think interaction is better as this can include play and/or a canine chat. Pups and adult dogs need to learn to also just nod ‘good morning’ (so to speak) to other dogs as they walk on by. Children do not play with every other child they encounter; it needs to be a balance of play and the art of polite conversation.
I could not agree with you more! Too often, I have seen on-leash greetings go badly. I personally prefer to not have them on-leash when they greet on another. I realize that not every situation can be an off-leash experience, but if I do greet on-leash, I am watching the dog’s behavior and the owner’s behavior and how they are holding the leash.
The truth is too many owners don’t know anything about dog behavior, so on-leash or off-leash, there still may be problems because the owner thinks something is “play” when it is not or that their dog’s barking and leash pulling is a sign of aggression when it is simply frustration.
[...] the comments for last week’s post about on-leash aggression and on-leash greetings, Melinda asked where on-leash aggression comes from. I promised a response here in the blog, since [...]
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