Helping an older dog socialize

[3totsinabox]

I wrote this on a dog site, but have not gotten any responds. I took our dog for a walk, she is two, new to us. Her pervious owner said she grew up around two dogs, but didn't like other dogs. I took her for a walk and a dog off leash came up to us. Me, knowing she might have an issue i tensed up,a bit. This pup is a very friendly puppy. It belongs to our babysitter. We walked by and the pup came to us near the street. I didn't know how it going to go. At first they were nose to nose. I didn't want a problem so I did a slight tug to get her to keep moving. Instead she let a slight growl. I then pulled her back. It was a little bit of a struggle to keep her focused on me instead of the pup. I had her in a sit and I had a hold of her collar. The pup kept coming back and trying to snif and play. I was nervous, but tired to remain very calm. My son took the pup back to her house so the owners could put her in till we were gone.

I figure my actions made things worse, also I don't feel like we ended on a good note. But the other dog was unleashed and owners were not out, so I really didn't want to stick around and try to fix things on my own.

I want to be able to take her out places. I guess I should look into some training classes, but I am not really sure if we would be able to do them if she shows agression toward dogs. Plus affordability is difficult right now. Is there anything I could do myself?

I know that she is able to listen and change focus because, the other day my son stepped out to take her out and there was a moose next to the house. The leash was let loose, but once he saw it he called her back and they were both able to get back inside. I need some good tips please.

[furbabymum]

A training class would be a good thing. If your dog becomes a danger to other dogs in class you would probably be asked to leave. However, it would be a great place to figure out what is going on.

[underHISwing]

 I had a trainer tell me to just really work on obedience with our dog.  It's helped a little.  Our dog isn't really aggressive with any dogs, just runs the fence with one neighbors dogs.  So we work on obedience every day. 

[NancSBRN]

Find a real trainer avoid PetSmart as they have no idea how to deal with tis issue.

But I can tell you your tensing up and grabbing her and pull back is more then likely what cause her to be tense and have an issue.  Tension runs down the leash and if you are worried she will be also.This is exactly how we get out dogs to start altering in Protection training.

Hard to do I know when you unsure and afaird but try to be calm and keep a slack leash but ready to make a correction if need be.  Ask your Vet or ther Vets, even a Shelter who the best Trainer are in your area most of them will know.

[3totsinabox]

Quoting NancSBRN:

Find a real trainer avoid PetSmart as they have no idea how to deal with tis issue.

But I can tell you your tensing up and grabbing her and pull back is more then likely what cause her to be tense and have an issue.  Tension runs down the leash and if you are worried she will be also.This is exactly how we get out dogs to start altering in Protection training.

Hard to do I know when you unsure and afaird but try to be calm and keep a slack leash but ready to make a correction if need be.  Ask your Vet or ther Vets, even a Shelter who the best Trainer are in your area most of them will know.

Thanks I didn't even think to ask a shelter. We have pretty good one in our area. Since she is two and did the same with the pervious owner, do you think it take longer to change the behavior?

[underHISwing]

 The Lytles in the butte are trainers we really liked.  I think their business name is alaska board and train. 

[NancSBRN]

It will t ake a while to change an issue that has been learned but I can tell you I have seen dogs make a good recovery not to the point where they Like other dogs but can at least ignore them.  Many dogs will not chose to play with other dogs, they are often only loyal to their packs but should be tolerant.