Advice on Dutch's bus stop antics :)

[MrsBeeks]

I assume that probably what I have started to do is maybe the best thing in this situation, but I really value your opinions, so I thought I would post a query and see what you all thought. Every morning since Dutch was a baby, and school started again, I have taken Dutch to the bus stop to send the kids off, and again, to welcome them home, and Dutch has always been very well behaved. He still is very well behaved, and he LOVES all the kids, also, another one of the parents brings their 8 year old retriever along as well....which is great...she is also a real sweet heart of a doggy.
Now, my question is....lately, Dutch has been being a pain in the butt when it comes to Ally....he is desperate to play with her, and always has been, but Ally wants nothing to do with him. He used to try to play, and then when Ally said no, he would back off and go back to loving up the kids, but lately, he is A LOT more persistent, he fixates, and will not give up...I should add, he is in no way being aggressive...he just wants to play. He lunges at the end of the leash, whines, barks and flails around like a crazy thing trying to get at Ally, and my "leave it", and "enough" ain't working so well when he gets like that. I should also add....he doesn't behave this way when we are on a walk and we see another dog....he gets excited, but he ALWAYS responds to my "leave it" commands, so I am flustered as to why he is so different with Ally. :(
So, currently, I have been putting him in his crate while I take the kids to the bus in the morning....I figure that Ally is the one who is older, and behaves extremely well, so she deserves to have her morning. I take Dutch out in the afternoon when the kids get dropped off because often Ally is not at the bus stop in the afternoons. I'm thinking this is probably the best solution, but Dutchie does miss his morning cuddles with the kids.
Any ideas or thoughts on this query would be very much appreciated as always!

 

[pghboxers]

Just as a short reply - I'd try taking a water bottle with ya and giving her a squirt when she gets out of hand!

 

[CoraBoxer]

Curious how people would/have dealt with this. Would holding a dog that gets this 'excited'/'reactive' frustrate the dog and make things worse? I know Cora can be like this, where as Kahner would rather just chill a lot of the time. He's pretty good at ignoring Cora when she's too in his face and it appears that he prefers to play when she's more relaxed. That said I have had to step in and give Cora a time out because I could see that Kahner was becoming frustrated with her constant tapping of his butt. I'm with you in that I would not meet another dog in this state. But would keeping him home or bringing him and keeping some distance away/getting him to sit/relax etc be better.

 

[TwoDogs]

Is Dutch neutered? Is Ally spayed?

 

[Sansal]

Maybe try really high value treats (I recommend spray cheese - not the healthiest option but easy to carry around, and no mess) and give him a high rate of reinforcement for quietly sitting (or whatever else you want him to do). You can literally spray his mouth full of cheese. Another option could be a tug toy if he likes to tug?

 

[MrsBeeks]

Both Dutch and Ally are spay'd and neutered.....so that is taken care of. :O) I will try a high value treat tomorrow morning and see how we do.....he responds really well to praise, normally, so adding treats should help.
I took him for his walk tonight, and as we were walking we came across a woman with two dogs, and immediately when the dogs saw Dutch, they went crazy and started barking and jumping...just being generally very reactive. Dutch perked up and was going to join in, but I used my usual "leave it", and he did....right away, and then off we went to continue our walk, I wish it were that easy with Ally. :O)

 

[MrsBeeks]

UPdate on Dutch's Bus Stop Antics :O)

So! I have been working on Dutch's "leave it" command here at home, and this morning was the morning I was going to attempt the bus stop again. When we walked out the door all the kids cheered "DUTCHIE!!!!", which was pretty funny, and of course, he got swarmed when we got over to the stop and he was just in heaven again.
So all was well, I had my high value treats at the ready, and down the street comes Ally....I started Dutch with "leave it", and he was being such a good boy....I was so impressed with his composure. Then, Ally's owner kind of screwed up our winning street, by letting Ally go and of course she ran straight at us, and Dutch responded by jumping at her and getting all excited. I went back to "leave it", and you could see he was really, really torn as two what the right thing to do was.....and I must say, the temptation was immense because Ally's owner was taking forever to control her. BUT, all in all....Dutchie did very well I think! If I keep working at it, he should be back to his normal ol' self at the bus stop.....I am also taking into consideration that Dutch is almost 9 months old.....smack dab in the middlle of his "teenage rebellion" stage.