No problems with dogs but issues with People with out dogs ... kinda long

[morph's mom]

Morpheus has a lot of issues but there is one that is driving me crazy and kinda scares me.  We found kind of a "Park" that a lot of people around here take thier dogs too.  It is pretty much just a closed road back into the woods but it is great.  Well we took the boys today and they had a great time. About a 2 mile romp in the woods and a lot of other dogs and people to play with and we had no problems at all.  The problem came when we were leaveing the park, about a half mile left.  A man and his wife were walking down the road and they DID NOT have a dog.  Morph went kinda crazy and ran down and started barking and jumping around at them.  After a nice sprint on my part and a few choice words in German that he understood(thankfully they didnt)I finally got his attention and he came back and I put him in a down/stay right beside me.  He stayed in his down/stay with the watch me command till they got close and they said that they wanted to pet him.  So I allowed him to sit and he was a perfect gentelman and they loved him but they said that it had to be the mastiff in him cause they had never seen a great dane act like that. 

After seeing this happen on more than one occasion we have finally figured out that, He has no problems with dogs or with people with dogs.  But he thinks that when we are at the park that everyone should have a dog and if they dont then they dont belong there. He did have a bad run in with a bum at a dog park in San Diego and the guy was tweeking out of his mind and he did kick at Morph so I think that has added to the problem. If we take him to a festival and he is on leash he is a perfect angel so I know that it is not people in general.

Soooo.... How do you socialize for this situation???  Help please

[schelmischekitty]

have you taught him a "leave it" command?  it sounds like he listens really well, but needs to be reminded he can't just run off after someone whenever he wants to.

[morph's mom]

Yes he does listen very well when he wants too.  He is veryyyy food motivated and he knows lass das sein "dont do that" and lass es which is leave it.  Usually I can call him off and toss out a treat before he gets too far away from me but sometimes like today he saw them first and was already off like a scalded dog for lack of a better term.  When I yelled at him the third time while I was running after him you could almost see the light bulb turn on that he had screwed up.  I just need that to happen faster before he gives somebody a heart attack. 

I mean picture this... you are going for a nice stroll in the woods and all of a sudden a 130 lbs great dane is charging at you and kinda growl/barking and jumping at ya.  One of these days somebody is gonna keel over cause of it, even though he doesnt really mean anything by it.

[schelmischekitty]

what about the collars?  a friend of mine has one with a remote, that does a beeping to tell them they're doing the wrong thing.  i think this is the collar they use, it has a "tone only" option. or even one of the citronella spray ones might work to get his attention back(second link), that one has a 250 foot range.

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441782015&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302032900&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023689&bmUID=1176154693815&itemNo=3&In=Dog&N=2032900&Ne=2

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441806682&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302032900&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023689&bmUID=1176154694344&itemNo=19&In=Dog&N=2032900&Ne=2

[schelmischekitty]

oh forgot to mention you could use the long training leashes to give him "freedom" but still have control.  they come in 20ft, etc lengths.

[morph's mom]

hahahaha Jacksmom  that is just about right.  I never thought of it that way but it makes perfect sence.  I think that we are gonna try the remote collar.  There is a really good trainer here that specializes in remote training.  We have done the super long training leash before and that sooooo didnt work.  Picture this... 130 pounds of dog charging at some people and me on the other end trying to get the slack out of the lead and brace for the end because he can Never take off when he is at the end of the lead. He always has bout a 10 or 15 foot slack lol.  Sooo remote collar it is.

[schelmischekitty]

ha ha ha that's the downfall of it!  it works good with the gentle lead / halti lead being used with it though...  usually.

[morph's mom]

OMG NO that was the worst fight that we have EVER had with him.  He is SUPER sensitive around his nose.  I think the "breeders" and I use that term loosely or thier kids must have hit him or messed with his face too much when he was little.  Like I said he has alot of issues and that is another one of them.. So the Halti and Gentle Leaders are most definately out.  We do however have the no pull harness that we usually use if we are taking him out in public instead of a collar and that works great.  One gentle tug and he is spot on watching me and everything. So... It is looking like remote collar for dog park off leash stuff and no-pull harness for general walks.  Sounds like a plan to me. What do you think??

[schelmischekitty]

sounds like a plan!  i know how it is about the sensitivity, diesel has problems with collars and we do a lot better with the halti's.  the second you grab his collar he's on the scared deer in the road attitude and we only go backwards  i didn't know morph was a rescue.  very sad that there are so many here on bpo.  diesel is still a mental nut case after 6 months.

[morph's mom]

well he isnt a rescue but he was almost 4 months old when we got him.  The family still had 4 puppies left and they couldnt get rid of them cause at first they were asking $500 for each pup cause they were "designer dogs" but in reality they were Mutts.  When we got Morph they let us have him for $100 cause they couldnt afford to buy food for everyone anymore.  I do know one thing... He sure wasnt treated right in that short amount of time and it sure has affected him.  But he is getting better everyday and now he is happy and that is all that I care about.