We’ve all been there – who can resist saying hello to puppies, they are like little magnets. If you are out with your puppy, you know that you are going to struggle to get very far before someone stops and makes a beeline for the puppy.
With an incredibly cute little puppy, that may not sound too alarming. One of my favourite sayings comes to mind here, ‘what dogs rehearse they become’, so if a puppy learns that every time they see another person, they get to say hello, they get made a fuss of and get cuddles, they are going to start to expect this pattern every time they see someone when out and about. 💡✨
The bigger they get, the more problematic this could get, (especially if they grow from a 6kg puppy into a 30kg bouncy and energetic ‘teenager’🐶🤸🤼♂️🙈).
No one wants their dogs focus to suddenly be on yet another new passer-by, with their dog wanting to greet everyone in the street – which is exactly what they’ll learn to do if they’ve received attention from every passer-by when they were young. (Or worse, people who aren’t dog lovers won’t appreciate your dog wanting to share their personal space).
It’s perfectly acceptable to politely say no to the fuss. Something like, “Sorry we are going to keep walking. We’re practising that we can calmly walk past people without total puppy bouncing chaos. Maybe next time… enjoy your walk.”
This can be incredibly powerful and will give your puppy a really good basic foundation for enjoying their walks while focusing on you and ignoring potential distractions.
This approach can also help you with older dogs, especially if they can be people shy or maybe you have a new rescue dog.
Do you have a particular breed that you seem to be drawn to? For me, Boxers will always be like magnets for me (I practice restraint when out walking I promise). My grandparents had one and their sparkle always catches my attention. You have likely experienced strangers making a beeline for you and your dog, saying something (or gushing), ‘oh I love this breed, aren’t they just fabulous? So good with people” (your dog may struggle with people🙈) “I always have to say hello when I see one. Can I give them a treat?”.
If you are laughing at this, then I guess you have experienced it a few times. I always suggest to my clients that they have their dog’s bucket in mind. If you can sense that your dog’s bucket is fairly full and a hello with the nice stranger may be a little too much for them (and you), then have a go with the above ‘get out clause’ sentence. Feel free to blame your dog trainer as well😉. Having a sentence like this ready to use when needed helps you out so much rather than feeling flustered and afterwards wishing you had declined their ‘hello’.
If you have a puppy or an older dog give this a go and let me know how you get on.