Bandit's Buddies: On Leash Dog Greetings: Yes or No?

by Laurie Luck

A colleague posted an interesting question on her Facebook page last week: “Do you let your dog greet other dogs on leash?”

The question wasn’t as interesting as the trend the answers took. There were almost 200 responses at last check. Most of the responders were professional dog trainers, although I’m sure there were a few pet owners responding, too.
The interesting thing was that the answers followed a trend: dog trainers were emphatic that dogs shouldn’t be meeting on leash, whereas dog owners were either neutral or liked the idea of dogs saying hello while on leash.

Why the discrepancy?

The differences were clear. The pet owners didn’t see anything wrong with letting dogs greet on leash (some even encouraged it), while professional dog trainers rarely let their own dogs greet other dogs while on leash. I think it’s because trainers have thousands more hours experience reading dog body language and can tell, sometimes before the dogs even get to greet, that the interaction won’t be a pleasant one. Many dog owners think that their dog should like — and want to greet — every dog it runs across, when in reality lots of dogs don’t really want to meet (or shouldn’t meet other dogs). Think of it this way: do you want to shake hands with every person you come across in the mall? Probably not — and neither do most dogs want to sniff up another dog.