Should you let your dog greet other dogs?
Katarina Hintz
2025-06-04 05:54:23
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There are about a hundred reasons that I could list that about why your dog should not say hi to other dogs on leash, I could even advise you to never allow this. But, we live in NYC and there are dogs like Fluffy and dogs like Ben everywhere. What we should all aim for are appropriate on-leash greetings with other dogs. For some dogs, it is ok for them to say hi to dogs once in a while. Once in awhile means saying hi to only 1 out of every 10-20 dogs. Not every dog wants to say hi and they need to respect that. If your dog is insisting on saying hi to every dog they see then they might be friendly, but they are not being polite. A calm, confident, respectful dog will not be approaching copious amounts of random dogs for no reason. If you are unsure if your dog is about to have an appropriate or inappropriate on-leash greeting you should air on the side of caution and opt not to stop and say hi. Remember, just because your dog is friendly does not mean he is being polite.
Vida Marks
2025-05-23 17:53:17
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You will exchange hellos and chats with people you know but not perfect strangers. So why do some dogs feel the need to do this, mine does for sure, he thinks it’s perfectly acceptable that he should meet every dog and get the opportunity to play with them - or does he? I look back and I imagine a world where I’d put all my effort into teaching Elvis that if we meet another dog then we just walk on by calmly, or at the very most, if it’s unavoidable, we meet have a quick bum sniff and move on. Would he have then forgotten how to be a dog and just stood staring at them hopelessly if he had been taught to mostly pass other dogs calmly instead, I don’t think so. It’s if buts and maybes but what dogs that struggle with dog to dog interactions lack is usually the ability to disengage and ‘socialising’ them with every dog they see won’t help that it will make it worse. So that’s why I’d prefer it if on lead greetings just weren’t a thing amongst dog owners, unless it’s an arranged meet between pals. When dogs meet on lead they are contained by us, mostly unable to behave how they would naturally, we break their behaviour chains for them.
Elisha Stiedemann
2025-05-23 17:32:47
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I have an almost 6 month old pup who I've been told by trainers has poor impulse control when it comes to other dogs. I do my absolute best to only allow him to meet other dogs on very controlled ways, and I attend socialization classes. Anytime I see a dog ahead I bring him to the side and do training, and this works well. But of course when out of for walks you can't avoid other dogs, some leashed some not, surprising you and running up. Do I avoid pulling on the leash? Do I lure away with food. I don't know much about protocol and what the dos/donts are.