Hello and for some who checked out my introduction you guys know I own a HuskyxDutch Shepherd cross named Pyrrha.
We've been working with her to get her to ignore dogs when we walk. Now I walk with a free-hand leash with bungee leashes (basically a rock-climbing harness with some leashes attach to it.) We use the same thing for biking or trail walks mainly because I want to avoid having my hands on the leash and the dogs feeling the tension of me pulling them away which has done some good for my large dog and has allowed me more control. Now both of them DO pull but not severely. Pyrrha is more so just trying to get to whatever catches her nose quick enough and will usually relax to a gentle tug once her sniffing high is over, Kuma is the same. We've been working on getting her to sit and let other dogs pass while riding the mountainboard we acquired. This is important because my large dog gets annoyed easily when doing pulling work and has the strength to easily snap a leash if she is that determined, she hates dogs barking at her or giving her eye contact when working. (Heck she has escaped more collars than the HUSKY mix trying to approach dogs that have massively offended her) However she is pretty reasonable and as long as we keep moving and I tell her 'On by' she'll keep going. Pyrrha however is a reactive little bugger and feels that she must charge and vocalize her opinion once the dog gets close enough. I've tried treats, maybe a toy? We do have some tug toys that I can maybe use to reinforce that it is ok for a dog to be walking past her and she doesn't need to blast off into bark charging. (None of this is aggressive by the way, she just REALLY wants to play.)
This is different when we bike actually, Pyrrha does pretty well with "On by" while biking except for small animals but she doesn't weigh enough to actually make it an issue, also she is learning she will never get them while biking, its slow, but she is getting there.
Basically what were trying to achieve is being able to sit calmly while dogs pass by. She's got the sit down almost, just not the barking. If your wondering about exercise it varies from 30-90 minutes of biking, 2-4 hour dog park, 1-2 hour regular park that contains fetch, free-roaming, occassional training and playing on the children playground (mainly slides and tunnels), 1 hour power-walks with sprinting bouts or lightly packed backpack, and every once in awhile trips to petco for training. Were working on Mountainboard-joring to add to our "what do we do today?" so this is why I need her to learn to sit and wait patiently. The training for this lasts for about 90 minutes to 2 hours (they are just trotting/walking this path while we teach them commands as they pull, Pyrrha lacks the strength so we take breaks frequently). We also designate one day every 3-5 days that we don't go outside at all as a rest day, and do some training. Were still working on getting her to not jump on people as well, we tried the sitting and then praising her when does it part with minimal success, so i tell people to gently shove/tap her and tell her no. She's been a challenge, Kuma picked up things much quicker at her age and loved learning food or not, Pyrrha is rather 'special' LOL But i love her and her annoying butt all the same, she just needs to learn not everyone wants to hear her opinion or say hi.