My 2 year old Boston Terrier and I are in training to work at my school. Currently we have to do six nursing home visits, each time is a new environment, new people and new dogs. When doing our "meet and greet", Leroy snapped at another, smaller Boston who was a stranger to us so we decided to avoid that dog for the night and instead hung out with the St. Bernard, who he has no problem with.
The visit went great. The other three dogs joined us after about 45 minutes and Leroy was fine with that, but still very interested in the Boston. During that time we let him meet another dog nose-to-nose and that went fine. We enjoyed the visit and the residents enjoyed him.
When we were about to leave and in the lobby, I took Leroy around the corner of the couch, out of view of Beau. As we were chatting the ladies were commenting that Leory did well with the other dogs and asked if we should try once more time with Beau. So we did and he snapped again.
I am encouraged by his overall behavior and also appreciate how the leaders at the sites have been suppportive and given techiniques to ease him in. It seems to be working - most of the time. I also am attentive to which "type" of visit/location would best suit Leroy. Thinking about the end of the visit on Wednesday, I now see that it was a bad idea to try at the end of the evening with Beau. It was obvious there was tension between the two dogs and now I understand that was a bad recommendation and I should have declined.
He is a good little dog who loves people, plays well at the dog park, and has had a successful nursing home visit in the past.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE give me some tips for helping him with this. I know we will need to continue to work very hard. I am attentive to him at the sites and need to be more conscientious with others' recommendations, understanding that everyone is trying to help but they don't know Leroy as well as I do. It was recommmended I bring a treat reward but they are not allowed at the nursing home. :-( Some trainers have thought it might be the leash, but taking him off is not an option, and he has had successful interactions on the leash in the past.
You are the experts but I am wiling to do whatever it takes to curb this behavior, not just so he can go to school but because in the long run Leroy will be a happier, more polite dog no matter what occupation he chooses to follow.