A neighbour has an 14month old cross Rottweiler/boxer and last few weeks has become dominant over male dogs so much so not allowed to go to one doggy daycare (we are in the U.K.) and we met him today he was in his garden and we were walking past and few months ago this dog and mine got on really well but today gate between them he tried to go for my dog a few times. Owner wondering why he is behaving like this?
I’m sure others will have more and better advice. As far as I know male dogs can go through a surge in testosterone but this settles down after a while. All I can think of is that this period would need careful management so as not to instil bad reactive behaviour. The good thing is that your neighbour is asking for advice. It must be hard and frustrating for the owner, having a dog that’s happy to play with other dogs, so I presume socialised, to having a dog banned from daycare.
Exactly what do you mean by 'dominant', one of the most over used and abused words to descrive a dog. What behaviours has he displayed? How did he try to 'go for' your dog when separated by a gate? It's not possible to guess at what is going on with this dog. Your neighbour needs to make an appointment with a positive reward based trainer/behaviorist who can assess the behaviour and suggest a plan of modification if/as required.
Taking all other factors out of it, having a fence/gate/barrier between two dogs is nearly always a recipe for what's called 'fence fighting' and will rile up dogs that if they were simply together (as your two dogs were previously) would have no issues with each other. Especially for the dog on the inside of the fence, it is very frustrating. Is your neighbour leaving him out there on his own or is the neighbour with the dog when he is outside? I ask because leaving him out there on his own is going to make his behaviour much, much worse over time. Agree that "dominant" is kind of a meaningless term in this case. Do you know what he was doing in daycare that caused them to ask him to leave? Rotties are usually pretty calm by 14 months but can have big bursts of energy - and their way of playing is to body slam (this is how Rotties herd, so it's in part instinctual). This is often not appreciated either by humans or other dogs, so you have to work with them to channel it in other ways, or at the very least keep an eagle-eye out for the start of the behaviour and a razor-sharp recall so you can stop it before it starts. Similarly, while I've never had a boxer, their way of playing is also very distinctive - very bouncy and using their front legs for a lot of contact with whomever they are playing with. Many times other dogs (such as my now-passed Rottie boy) HATE this and they'll tell the boxer off. In dogs parks over the years, the dogs I've seen cause the most trouble are boxers - not because they are bad dogs or even badly behaved dogs. I really think it's because they combine super high energy with the 'front legs off the ground' style of play that just sets other dogs' teeth on edge. No matter what the behaviour, the answer is usually proper exercise and mental stimulation plus a good positive training and socialisation plan. So that means a couple hours a day of walks/training, getting him out of the garden and off his home turf in general. Absolutely no leaving him in the garden behind the gate unattended. What a lot of people with powerful breeds do is around a year they say, "Oh, he doesn't get along with other dogs so I can't take him out." Or he pulls on the lead so I can't take him out. Or he barks in the car so I can't take him out. You get the idea. So they get stuck in the garden/back yard behind a fence and that's that. Another 10 years of a dog you can't take anywhere because you DIDN'T take him anywhere. It makes me so sad, because it's so much potential lost. I see it so much here in Spain where the norm for a large breed dog is to literally never take them past the front gate after they are puppies. People say it's because they act crazy when they take them out. Well, sure they do - you've never taken them out. How are they supposed to know how to act? Anyway, that was a bit of a rant as I feel strongly that dogs should not spend their lives stuck behind a fence. It's positive that the dog's owner is asking why his dog's behaviour has changed, so hopefully he'll take the next step to help his boy develop well as he becomes an adult dog.
