Puppy off-leash trade off..

Hi:

I have a 9 month old female GSD Meika. She's a great pup. We've been
working through some issues of on leash dog aggression through
desensitization from a distance.

I thought that some more off leash socialization with other dogs would
benefit her. She has been socialized off leash, especially when she
was younger (puppy kindergarten and other occasional play sessions).
She generally plays well off leash however has not had the opportunity
to do this on a regular basis (average is once a week to once every
two weeks for the last few months).

Other dog parents get together at a neighbourhood park every night and
let their dogs play. We've joined them for the past week but I dread
going down there because my puppy TOTALLY ignores me when she is
there. This is not much of a problem until it is time to go home. We
get there a few minutes before others and practise come on a 30ft line
and this works quite well with no dogs around.

I've had a previous trainer tell me not to let her off leash until she
is coming back reliably. I want to strike a balance between this and
allowing her the socialization opportunity.

Any thoughts of whether this is the right approach (continuing to set
her up to ignore me for nightly socialization). Frankly I'd be much
happier spending our half an hour together on a walk but I want to do
whats right for her.

BTW. I've tried everything to get her to pay attention with other
dogs around off leash (does reasonably on leash once she is settled
down). I bring food (liver) / toys - to no avail. All the other dogs
start surrounding me for the goodies however :-).

-Aamer

You ain't there yet! You still have a PUPPY... a teenaged twit, in
fact, and you expect her to pay attention when she's with other dogs and
playing? Not Yet! Get a grip and go back to teaching the recall. I
would not expect ANY puppy to have a 100% recall with this level of
distraction.
If you want her to play, and she plays well, just walk out there and
fetch her back when indicated... don't call her and let her ignore a
command. If she doesn't play well, she's probably overwhelmed in the
group, and is not ready for this intense activity yet. As with kids,
it's unfair to compare one pup's development and training with
another's. Your trainer is right. That's why he's the instructor
<grin>. Puppy kindergarden is just that.... a beginning. Sign up for
basic obedience class and keep going! The fun of training is just
starting.

Jo Wolf
Martinez, Georgia