Supervised off leash dog play is crucial to socializing puppies. It is also important to teach a puppy that there are dogs that they do not get to meet while on leash. New puppy owners want their puppy to have fun with other dogs and thus make the mistake of trying to introduce their puppy to every dog they see. Wrong!
Firstly, if the dog and handler are someone you do not know, you do NOT have a 100% guarantee the other dog is friendly. It's never worth the risk to let your dog meet a dog you know nothing about.
The thinking behind the idea of on-leash greetings is well-meaning, but it often causes the puppy to grow up expecting that s/he gets to meet every dog they encounter. Wrong! As the puppy grows and the owners’ turn to teaching the puppy how to walk on a harness and leash without pulling, suddenly the puppy is now expected to walk past another dog without pulling? UH OH! This leads to a very frustrated puppy – “What do you mean I cannot go see everydog, what the heck? ignore the dog? I ALWAYS get to meet the dog! I must meet dog!" Pull, bark, pull, bark...frustrated puppy!!!
To avoid this issue, teach your puppy that good things happen around other dogs even if they don’t get to meet the dogs. Do not leave your house without your treat pouch. This will be helpful for both socialization and leash training. We practice this skill each week in our dog walking group. We teach the dogs to sit around or lay around and ignore each other, learn to walk past and ignore each other.
I recommend that you completely avoid on-leash greetings with unknown dogs! Say what? Yes, avoid meeting dogs while on leash! Dogs communicate through their body language. Tight leashes can cause miscommunication and that can lead to dog altercations. Save your dogs’ playtime for when they’re off leash in a fenced in yard.
You can always tell the other handler as you pass "No greetings we are training!" Or, walk to the other side of the street. Set your dogs up for success and teach them to ignore the other dogs on walks.
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