How do I make my dog leave other dogs alone?

You can train a dog to ignore other dogs by following these steps. Dog owners can use positive body language and treats to teach a dog how to sit and stay when called and to obey you when around other dogs. Dog owners can use these steps to train a service dog or to prepare them to be friendly at daycare. Begin by taking a normal walk with your dog where there are no other dogs around. Every so often, stop and call your dog’s name, reward your dog and use your clicker if they look at you and remain calm, but turn away and withhold the reward if they don’t. Once you have trained your dog to stop, calm down, and leave objects alone while on walks, you can begin slowly walking around other dogs at a distance. Use your clicker and high-value treats to bring their attention back to you when you notice them getting distracted by the other dog’s in the distance. Over the course of multiple days and dog walks, begin moving closer to other dogs while still using positive reinforcement to bring their attention back to you when distracted. Eventually you can walk your pooch around another friendly dog and use your new training to teach them to leave the other dog alone.

Start training your dog the Watch Me exercise in a quiet place indoors where it’s just the two of you. Once you can do this at home, you can progress to the garden where there are more distractions from sights, sounds, and smells. Once you’ve mastered that, you can start going out and about – but stick to quiet places where you can avoid other dogs until you and your dog are experts at this. Distract them when meeting other dogs by starting off a long distance from them – beyond the point where your dog would usually react. All you want your dog to do is look at you, and you will reward this. Always use high value treats to reward them for paying attention to you and not the other dog. Practice is key and it is about being consistent and training each step very slowly and practising a lot. Avoid situations where you know your dog will be reactive – and that might be avoiding other dogs by turning round and going in the opposite direction rather than having an encounter that will sabotage all your good training. While you are training, you can use a comfortable harness with a long leash, this will allow your dog to have more freedom and practise your distraction training safely at a longer distance – and if you need to, gently guide your dog back to you.

Teaching a dog to cope when home alone should ideally start when they are still a puppy. You want to ensure that your dog doesn’t struggle when you leave them home alone. Before leaving your dog home alone, you need to teach them that it is alright and that they will be able to cope on their own. The more you do this before you actually need to leave the house, the easier it will be when you do. Make sure they have a comfy bed or build them a doggy den, teach your dog to settle down calmly when you are busy, rather than giving them attention when they follow you around, use baby gates across doorways to introduce time apart, leave them with a long-lasting treat or toy that releases food, slowly increase the time you leave them alone while you’re in the house, start to build up the time you leave the house for, factor some time apart into your daily routine. It’s normal for dogs to want to be with us, but ultimately you want them to learn to enjoy being by themselves and to not follow you around and rely on your attention. Dogs develop separation anxiety because they are worried, telling them off or being angry when they behave in a way that you don’t want is likely to make things worse. Dogs shouldn’t be left alone for more than four hours anyway, but if your dog is showing signs of separation anxiety then you should continue to build up to this gradually. If you come home and your dog has scratched up your floor or been to the toilet inside, they have done this out of worry, not because they are being naughty. Take your dog for a long walk before you go out, before you leave your dog alone, make sure they have been out for a long walk, this will give them a chance to burn off some energy, tire themselves out and go to the toilet, that way, they will hopefully be ready to settle down and sleep while you are out. Make sure they have everything they need, before you go out make sure your dog has access to water and their food or a long-lasting treat. Don’t make a fuss when you leave or return, you don’t want to make you leaving and returning to the house a big deal for your pooch, make it as uneventful as possible so don’t make a big fuss of them. Start by getting everything ready, so you can leave quickly and calmly, you could also use a word or phrase, leaving an old item of clothing that smells like you in their bed – and don’t forget that doggy den, which will help make them feel safe and relaxed.

If he gets too rowdy I've been pulling him back to me and trying to get him to sit and lie down for at least 30 seconds before he can play again. They will try to correct him but it doesn't seem to be taking. He's going to be a big dog and I don't want him hurting anyone or getting hurt himself.