My dog, Chance, we think is a Golden retriever mix, but he's mostly white with gold patches. Also he's about 2/3 size of a Golden Retriever.

He's 18 months old and has been loose-leash trained pretty well as long as you don't let him get distracted.

The thing I don't know how to handle is that some dogs that we meet when we're out jogging or walking, he goes ballistic.

We have used a choke chain to train him, and it seemed to work well. But there is that occasional dog that we meet will get him so riled that he pulls, then spins, then pulls backwards, then jumps up and down, then spins again - all to get loose to go attack other dog.

What are my options?

- Greg

Dear Greg:

My first question is: Why aren't you using a pinch collar? This is advocated ad nausea in book…

I'm wondering if you could tell me why-- when I'm walking Yogi through some grass-- that he smells something and next thing I know, he's stuck his head on ground and starts to roll his body over area he was smelling. On two occasions, he coated himself in another dog's poop. I've been asking vets and laypersons to explain this behavior but no one seem to know. Thank you so much for listening.

Very Sincerely, -Robin

Dear Robin:

This is a hold-over instinct from before dogs were domesticated. They would roll around in a heavily scented object to mask their own scent, when hunting.