How to take a control of my chow?

[cge2809]

hi guys, first of all I would like to say thank you all who's been asnwering and giving me all those good advices about
my 10 month chow. she's doing great.she seems healthy, and happy.

except! I kinda notice that my dog thinks she's the boss! some people say I give her too much attention.

I took her to a big big off leash park. I know she doesn't come when I call her at the off-leash park. becasue my dog loves loves loves to play with other dogs.
(she just loves all the dogs, she needs to stop at every dogs even we are at the opposite of street. it's been biggest concern about her.
I'm not strong enough to take the control. she just lies down on the street and doesn't move until we go to the other dog and say 'hi'.)

and this park was huge. I couldn't get her, the thing is, she comes to me when we go to park at night, when there's no dog. she comes to me.
but if there is a dog, she doesn't even care about me calling her... I *Censored Word* other people 'how do you train them to come and walk beside you?'
everybody would tell me 'give her lots of treats'...... she DOESN'T EAT treats outside.. I don't know why.. she just seems not interested in treats when there are dogs to play with.

so I've been thinking about this for a long long time and I think there are my problems;

1.I give her too much treats.. she gets treats at home (only when she's good) so, that's why she doesn't eat treat at outside. she thinks treat is something she can get all the time.

2.I give her too much attention. she knows I would do anything for her, she thinks that she's taking control over me!

I think these are my problems, so I'm not giving her any treats at home. I give her when we go out for a walk. what else do I need to do ? How to take control?
i want to walk with her at park enjoying the weather just like other dogs & their owners, not chasing to each other..I'm kinda worried one day I will lose her if she keeps not coming to me.

please help!

[Tippsy'smom]

Treats aren't going to help you here. It's the chow's independent nature. They think for themselves and don't care what you're asking of them unless they feel like it. Sounds like she isn't an off leash candidate to me. My chow girl wasn't either.

You should look up NILF (Nothing In Life Is Free) and start practicing it.

And if I were you, I wouldn't take her to an off leash park unless her recall is solid.

[Victory]

A lot of chows are horrible off leash, because of as Jess said their independent streak. Also your girl is at the age when they become VERY independent, the terrible "teens" for dogs begin at about 8 or 9 months and last until they are a year to 14 months old. This is the time when you have to put your foot down on behaviors you don't want. I would suspend the off leash for now and practice walking on a leash and coming when called, (recall) no matter what. You can do this with a long lead attached to her. But like Jess says, many chows can never be trusted off leash, and some surprise their owners by actually coming when called. Both my two have escaped their leashes a couple of times and come to me when I called them, but I STILL don't trust them off leash really.

[cge2809]

Hey guys,

thanks for replying me back!

I let her off leash only at the fenced park. because I dont trust her.

I guess It's just chow's thing! like you said.... we need to spend more time until she grows little more!

but how can I make her to ignore other dogs on the street? there are soooo many dogs in my neighbors and she stops at every block....

[Tippsy'smom]

I was actually never able to break Tippsy from paying attention to other dogs and a lot of time she wasn't thrilled to see them.... I just managed her by keeping her away from other dogs. If there was a dog coming towards us on our sidewalk, I'd cross the street to stay away from them. I do the same with my 3 now. I'd rather not deal with someone else's dog(s) trying to greet mine, and mine trying to greet others. Of course, I'm a bit antisocial anyways and would rather stay away from other people and their dogs that could very possibly not be friendly or trained.... And many people have attitudes about my chow mixes anyways.

[gablestacy]

lol I would love for Zoe to come to me when there are other dogs around! She is only 15 weeks so we are working on it but I don't know if it will ever happen. I have 4 other dogs and 2 of them she can play with no problem but the other 2 are very small and she gets very ruff with them. I have a large fenced in back yard and if its just me and her she will come to me but time I let one of the others in I can forget it!

[kitten1426]

I dont know...what we did but we have 4 dogs 2 chows..1 Airedale terrier...and a collie..ALL can be off leash All listen very well when called..so what did we do so good?...I think it was we got them young and we worked hard with them to listen and follow us and to make sure they stay with us..You can ask anyone who has an Airedale that him being off leash is AWESOME....being that its very hard to train them to do that...And our 2 chows even at a dog park stay near us and when called come...When we get ready to leave all we say is go to the Truck and they walk to the gate and wait to we get there...then walk to the truck...and our oldest is only 2 yrs old...lol..there still pups...

[Fozzbear]

I dont know how to stop dogs being interested in other dogs - it is a difficult one. They have to meet and play with other dogs to learn social skills. I love seeing mine play with other doggies but wish I could get them to to stop and assess who may or may not be friendly first. I'm hoping that they will be less interested as they get older and it all becomes old hat for them. They have their time to play with others at Canine Club, so should be focussed on mewhen wevgo out walking. That's the theory anyway.......

[Pinoy51]

Simba and Nala are very interested in other dogs too. So I took them on short leash and kept on walking, if I felt the other dog owner is uncomfortable with my two. If okay they can meet and greet.
I established with Simba that I control the walk when he was very young and Nala just learned from him. If he refused to walk I gently pulled upwards which made him walk forward again. That I developed into the "short leash walks" which means now, I guide they follow. And last but not least "loose leash (retractable)" which means they can explore and take their time. Works fine for me.
No dog parks in the Philippines, so off leash only within the house and garden.

[Rory's Dad]

It may sound simple, but the answer is actually the question...to some degree. Take control of the Chow. Rory is a 17 month old, intact male. We show him on a fairly regular basis, so he is used to being around other dogs.

My 1st thought is stop avoiding the other dogs. They need to meet and interact to some degree. You just need to stop unacceptable behavior. A quick sniff or display of interest is perfectly acceptable. If you do a complete 180 degree turn to avoid other dogs on lead, then the dog is picking up on a sense of apprehension.

Now i will be the 1st to admit that Rory is not so good on lead walks. Somehow, though he knows the difference when in a show environment. We try to walk our neighborhood and he will pull to no end on either a standard or flexi lead. Not a lot of dogs on these walks, so it only annoys me. But at shows, he will walk without issue. And i mean just walking around, not even in the show rings. He dials up a Chow attitude and just walks down the aisles like he owns it. He will walk straight through whatever dog breeds they are and not even blink at them...male, female, big, small , it doesnt matter. And at my end of the lead...short, about 18 inches to be sure he is at my knee. No pulling or redirecting unless he tries to stop and mark something, and then we just keep on at normal pace.

Control the pace of your outting. Dont let him stop. Keep moving at the normal walk rate and keep him with you. If he is not treat motivated, try something else. Walking after dinner is tough, because he is not hungry. If you can practice at other times, he may bait better. Try outside the norm for treats. Rory will sit, stay, speak, etc for any treat in the house, but once outside, it takes a 'bigger' treat to get his attention. Cheese works for him, but yours may be different. In shows, Rory responds to liver bait, but we dont give that to him at any other time. Different baits and leads are his signal that he is 'working'.

[JasonandNat]

Kinda easy. Take control. No anger, no raised voice, say it, mean it, enforce it. Remain calm. Be consistent. Both ours have massive 'chow' independent streaks, that said they are both great off leash, travel all over nort America with us and love other dogs. Both have moments when they really want to know why they should obey, that will never change, nor do we want them too, after all they are chows. Get a long lead, 20 feet, that just drags behind your chow. Now as he wants to visit, you can control ow far he goes by stepping on that lead. Don't say a thing. Call him back to you. If he obeys continue, if not walk up the lead until your close, re-connect your walking leash and walk away, no talking. Never be the bad guy. Very quickly within a month you will notice a huge change. Ours won't go more than 50 metres before looking and asking if they can continue. Or they sit and wait for us to catch up. We stop, they stop, we go, they go. We use sit, down, come, up front, left, right to handle most instructions. Mommy, car, groomers, be nice, food are a few more. This all simple daily re-enforcement stuff that all animals respond to. We do not provide treats, ever. They won't even take them from others. Hope this helps.