In the last 2-3 weeks Odin has developed some agressive behaviour when he meets other male dogs. Almoust every time he meets another male they will first sniff and then start a growl and a fight. "Funny" thing is when Odin is not starting a fight the other male will go for him. It's almoust impossible atm to meet other studs without getting into trouble. He has never shown any agressive behavior against females though. (Plays very nice with them and is even kind of submissive when playing gets to rough). He also is quite relaxed with older males(no problem at all with our breeders 10 year old boy and also no problem with our trainers 7 year old black lab) but is really very tense when meeting dogs his age or a little older (Odin is 15 month now). Any tips or suggestions how to handle this situations?
Re: Agressiv behavior towards other males My old lab was never aggressive towards any dogs but other dogs were quite often aggressive to him. I'm no expert but I would think with dogs odins own age it's probably a dominance thing as in whose top dog and going to get the female. There is a lot of young testosterone flying about. If you look at the thread I started on the behaviour section called BAT tips that might help. My labs i have now have nervous aggression towards strangers and some dogs. BAT is a form of counter conditioning to teach the dog a different behaviour to aggression. Also on the clicker section I started a thread click to calm which is similar. You don't need to use a clicker you can use a verbal marker then reward. I'm sure somebody with more experience will have more advice. Good luck
Re: Agressiv behavior towards other males Is Odin entire? We definitely had a phase about this age when Riley was getting a bit of grief from other (mostly entire) dogs. I think the free pass puppies get no longer applied and he was definitely seen as competition that needed to be put in his place It still happens occasionally but much less, I'm afraid I don't have any advice from our experience we just rode it out.
Re: Agressiv behavior towards other males [quote author=bbrown link=topic=5710.msg72754#msg72754 date=1399021603] Is Odin entire? We definitely had a phase about this age when Riley was getting a bit of grief from other (mostly entire) dogs. I think the free pass puppies get no longer applied and he was definitely seen as competition that needed to be put in his place It still happens occasionally but much less, I'm afraid I don't have any advice from our experience we just rode it out. [/quote] He still got all his man parts yes
Re: Agressiv behavior towards other males I think Jen's right - it's the testosterone. If you do nothing, in time it may get better, or it may not. You'll probably find he's fine with smaller or much bigger and older dogs, as well as with puppies and bitches. He'll probably also have no problems with dogs that he knows well, where they have sorted out their relative placement in the doggy hierarchy. It's male dogs of his own size and age that he is trying to measure himself against. I would advise you to go to some training classes for obedience, agility, retrieving or search and rescue. I was just thinking today at our dummy exam how nice it was, that all the dogs got along fine. They didn't play or fight - they knew they were there to work Is he a very keen retriever? If so, you may just be able to distract him with the dummy or his ball when you see a dog that you think there may be problems with, or else just make him sit until the other dog has passed. Then BIG praises and treats Labradors are generally very friendly dogs but I have to admit that my old Bones was a bit of a bruiser in his time... He calmed down once he got past about three or four years old, but I also found out that once I was more in charge of him, he stopped fighting and also stopped barking at men (which I think he did out of anxiety and out of a sort of protectiveness to me). Once I myself believed that I was the boss, and managed to get this across to him, things were much better. I'm not suggesting you should dominate Odin - but it does help if he looks to you as the one who makes the decisions. He shouldn't have to fight any battles, because YOU will deal with any problems for him. I know we don't approve of Cesar Milan, but one thing he said really helped me. Both my dogs hated one particular barky terrier down our road, and used to create a horrible fuss going past his fence. It got so bad I was afraid they would rip this terrier to pieces if they met him off the lead. Cesar said just to walk straight past the fence, head held high, confident that you are in charge, refusing to anticipate any problems. Blow me down if it didn't work!! Good luck, there isn't an easy fix, but you'll be fine.
Re: Agressiv behavior towards other males [quote author=Karen link=topic=5710.msg72792#msg72792 date=1399032700] I would advise you to go to some training classes for obedience, agility, retrieving or search and rescue. I was just thinking today at our dummy exam how nice it was, that all the dogs got along fine. They didn't play or fight - they knew they were there to work Is he a very keen retriever? If so, you may just be able to distract him with the dummy or his ball when you see a dog that you think there may be problems with, or else just make him sit until the other dog has passed. Then BIG praises and treats [/quote] First of all thank you for your comments. We are actually going to obidience and dummy classes once every week since we got Odin(his breeder is also our trainer). Once the work starts everything is fine and Odin is very focused on me or my wife and he's making great process in dummy training. The only problem is our training group is roughly 10 labs all roughly Odins age. So walking to the training area together or leaving after training not to speak of some free running time after training is were the trouble starts.(The males have all become little hooligans lately hahaha) i guess its really some testosterone overload. Would you suggest to avoid a training class with to many males for some time or does being confronted with other males in a controlled(with a trainer) situation help curing the aggressive behavior( as i said its not just him but almoust all of the young guns)
Re: Agressiv behavior towards other males ooh a bit tricky.... I'm quite a fan of a bit of play time either side of class as once he's met the other dogs Riley finds it easier to focus but you don't see play time at many classes. If the dogs can't socialise nicely I'd be keeping my dog on a lead or asking the instructor how we(as a group) should deal with the challenge. Ideally you want your dog to be focused on you not other dogs but if everyone doesn't work to that standard it'll quickly turn into a free for all. I think exposure while being asked to focus will gradually make things better but you all need to be in control. A bunch of teenage male dogs together does sound like chaos
Re: Agressiv behavior towards other males I think being in the class with the other males is not a problem; in fact it's a good thing, as he is learning self-control and that training is WORK . I think I would just request that for now, all the dogs should be brought to and from the training area on the lead. They don't NEED to charge around causing trouble! Training is quite tiring for a young dog, and they are busy learning to deal with the frustration of having to wait and watch other dogs do retrieves. The way you are describing this now, it sounds as though some of that pent up frustration is getting let out in a show of over-exuberance and aggression, which you can easily avoid by not allowing the free running. If you don't want to suggest to the other owners that they keep their dogs on the lead for a while, I bet the trainer would, if you asked him/her. Odin doesn't sound aggressive to me; this is young male dog stuff that I am sure you will get under control.
Re: Agressiv behavior towards other males Barbara obviously pressed the "post" button just before I did!
Re: Agressiv behavior towards other males Oh you just have to love this forum!!! Great and very very good answers in no time!! Thank you guys!!!
