A New Tactic

I generally walk Ben off lead on an old pit site local to me, its been turned into a country park but it is not officially open yet. It is very quiet early in the morning and during the day on week days so I go there quite often, plus you can easily see well ahead and change route to avoid other dogs if necessary. Last week I took Ben there and we were having a good walk, the sun was shining albeit a little chilly. A husky type dog appeared from no where, I couldn't see an owner anywhere. This is a breed that Ben always gets quite stressed around for some reason. The dog went right up to him sniffing him. Ben tensed up and his tail went all stiff, I know this means he is not happy in the situation.

I shouted his name and started running away from Ben and the other dog. Ben followed me straight away and forgot about the other dog. The other dog followed briefly but soon lost interest. I gave Ben some tasty treats I always carry with me and all was well. He did go slightly over threshold as he tensed up but it was much better than him growling/lunging. And in that situation there was not much else I could have done. I am taking this as a success though, because in the past he has gone from 0-60 within seconds! But I had time to think about the best thing to do to keep Ben as stress free as possible

I want to use this technique more often as I think it shows Ben he can just move away from the other dog if he feels worried, and come to me. He needs to have trust in me that I will protect him and I think doing this will help with that too.

Here is a picture of Ben posing at this country park;