watermelonkiwi

Do you have any advice for the owner of a Jack Russel that has become somewhat reactive/protection on leash towards other dogs? The problem is if I just let him go up to every dog, he's fine, but if I hesitate, or stop to ask the owner if it's ok for him to greet the dog, or put a little tension on the leash, he takes it as a sign that it isn't a relaxed situation and becomes reactive. I'm pretty sure he think I want him to be unfriendly, and thinks that's what I'm communicating to him, even though that's the opposite of what I want. I've tried the advice of just keeping him away from every dog, giving him treats if a dog is around and having him wait till the dog is gone. This is really impractical and seems to be making things worse, I've taken to having to pull him away from friendly dogs, and it's started to translate to him being less friendly off leash as well. That's the only advice I can seem to find for the situation, basically don't let your dog go up to any dog, distract him with treats as soon as a dog is in the distance. This seem really overboard and unnecessary. He never snaps at other dogs, just growls and acts unfriendly, and keeping him away from every dog just makes it worse. I ideally would like a situation where he can go up to dogs and greet them if the owner of the other dog is ok with it, and will go away from the dog if the owner is not ok with. Right now he pulls to get to any dog, and if I don't walk up without hesitation, he then becomes reactive. I'm certain it was me pulling him away from dogs originally that created this behavior, but now I'm not sure how to correct it. Online advice, as I've said, has been unhelpful.

I don’t mean to be rude, but if you’re not allowed to give advice and all you do is listen, it doesn’t sound very useful for most people. It seems more of an empty gesture. I understand that there is a fear of being sued if someone gives advice that ends up being harmful, but there could always be a disclaimer beforehand that prevents that.

Tenrec? I follow her IG and I’ve never seen a tenrec.