Thank you all so much for your responses! Is there a "behaviors" book anyone might recommend? I had never heard this about his temperament not being settled yet...I certainly don't want to do anything to hurt his overall sweet temperament! I know I probably sound obsessed, but he is my first golden, and my first therapy dog. I just want to make sure I am doing things right! I am so incredibly thankful for this forum!!

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(I don't think my previous msg posted so sorry if this is a repeat!)

Thank you all so very much for your responses! Is there a behavior book or website someone might recommend about temperament? I have never heard that by age two it might not be "set" yet. I know I sound obsessed (I kind of am!). He is my first golden, my first therapy dog, and more importantly my best friend! I want to make sure I am doing the right thing to keep his temperament sweet! Thank you all!!!

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My recollection is that I've heard Golden's temperaments are still settling and maturing until about age 3. I think there was some discussion about this fairly recently toward the end of the rather long first sticky thread under Choosing a Breeder & Puppy. I wouldn't expect that doing therapy work should have an adverse affect on Banx's temperament.

We did our therapy dog training in a class geared toward the Delta Society program. Their training manual includes quite a bit of information on monitoring your dogs stress signals and we were taught that it's very important to be aware of how your dog is reacting to things and that you learn to anticipate how your dog will react to various situations.We were also taught that your first consideration should be insuring the safety of the situation for all concerned including your dog.

The Delta training manual has an extensive bibliography in the back with many entries relating to dogs. . .the first is Dog Language: An Encyclopedia of Canine Behavior by R. Abrantes. A Dog Who's Always Welcome by Lorie Long has some helpful information from trainers of assistance and therapy dogs on dog behavior and socialization.

With respect to your particular situation, is there someone in charge of the group that you could discuss your concern with? I'm interested that you and another poster work in settings where multiple dogs are present. This is different from the settings I'm familiar with where the dog and handler are accompanied perhaps by a facility staff member but not by other dogs and handlers.

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Zoe, Rockwall Nantucket Breeze, BN, CGC, Delta therapy dog
Zeke, our introduction to the world of Golden Retrievers

Hi Kelly

I'm surprised that the facility you're at would schedule two therapy dogs on the same time slot.

What you might want to try is getting together with the owner of this other dog and try meeting at a neutral open park area and practice walking together in the same direction, try walking towards each other and not stopping, and do the neutral dog test, all the time keeping your dogs attention on you.

Our dogs are like people, they can have an off day and react negatively. Your dog is fine, just some fine tuning. It's too bad we didn't live closer so we can work on this little issue. Keep us posted on the progress, you'll get there.

Regards,

Rodger