I cannot even believe I am saying this, but we have a place here that has a trainer and she does a dog daycare kind of thing for dogs who need socialization with other dogs (I think - I don't think I'm making up how they do it). I/you/we would all have to have some amazing kind of trust in a trainer to do that but if there was someone it almost sounds like he just needs to get used to and have exposure to dogs more than anything else. Who knows - it could be fear, it could be aggression but it would take finding a good trustworthy person to identify it.

It's hard to find someone - I was going to take Rocco to a reactive dog class. We walked in - it was a giant warehouse kind of building FILLED with dogs and rings marked by cones. We were going to be in a room with walls but would have to walk through that gauntlet before every class. So the trainer is talking and I am looking at her...remembering her face...she tells me she uses her pit bull in the class because she's so good...and it hits me. Her pit bull was at an event with little children and that dog went after my Bruno twice (and then I kept him completely away) - and she did not remove the dog from the event! WHAT?!?!? At the event, she said it was because Bruno triggered her dog and that her dog had never acted like that before. Really? I know Bruno CAN do that, and have seen him do it - purposefully when he's being cocky - but he was in full calming signal mode with that dog. Because he knew she was not right.

So, moral of that story (other than complaining about the dog blindness of that trainer again) is that had I not known that because of my experience with her dog, I would have put Rocco in a situation where maybe "something about him" would trigger her dog. It is so hard to find someone who has all the qualities (or even most) that we need them to have to trust them with our friends.

Mary Jane, I am sending good thoughts and prayers for a talented, kindhearted, thoughtful, wise, trustworthy trainer to calmly guide you and Mars in his journey of comfortably learning to stroll right by other dogs. No stress, no crazy circuslike atmosphere, just a sea of calm and peace for you and Mars.

oh isn't that the truth, Very Very hard to find good trainers........i can think of many situations with trainers with my young male that were very negative. i did kick myself several times letting trainers use negative tecniques.

With Sam i always use very mild mannered dogs, goldens are perfect dogs to use for set up situations. they are so non reactive, and do not pass off any threats. i am lucky i have a friend with a golden, he has been such a good mentor for Sam. it took a while to ease into nice meets and greets, setting things up over and over again. i do think alot of leashed dogs get very frustrated when restricted, but at the same time when introducing to strange dogs there needs to be some safety. setting things up in the beginning you need alot of practice dogs, and the thing that worked the best for Sam was simply walking with his golden friend., watching his body lauguage and then letting him go sniff. with Sam he'd go sniff and give mixed signals then react by grabbing the goldens neck. i would put him down on his side by the golden wait until he relaxed, then let him up and give him another chance to go greet the golden properly. he would then go sniff and walk back to me. i would lavishly reward for that. this golden never dared to sniff Sam back for a long time, he sensed it wasn't a good idea. then after many times of greets and walking together one day the golden all of a sudden felt something change and to our surprise came and was smelling Sam. this was a huge thing. it is So important to be able to read things in these set up situations, and thats where a good trainer cane help. but, i would never set Sam up with another dog that had insecure issues, that would get us back to square one..........Obedience, and Focus and building trust, are other huge components in handling situations.

wanted to add that introducing to new dogs, just having your dog sitting starring at the new dog is totally nuts.! slow progression, and properly set up situations are the only way to go.

Debbie,

Thanks a lot for your experience and suggestions. Can I borrow Sam's friend?

Of course, as luck would have it, I was out of town when David seized an opportunity for a dog introduction to Mars. They were in the nice pet store and someone called David's name. It turned out to be a student who had moved away and then moved back to NY. He had a small female dog and was completely gung-ho about an introduction. It went reasonably well, in that they were treating each dog for quiet approaches and then let them sniff. They sniffed with no problem and then were separated. Once separated, Mars barked. I'm not sure that was the best, but it wasn't the worst, either. David failed to get the student's new address for further attempts.

Anyway, we haven't given up on the other suggestions of trainers here. I just haven't gotten any responses to my email inquiries.

Mary Jane

dont give up on trainers. the trainers i know all have inboards this next two weeks and are at thier busiest time of the year...