My 1 year old Lab, DeeDee, was a puppy mill survivor if it might have anything to do with it. Recently my female Lab has gotten overly aggressive when meeting other dogs. I should say that I found a small terrier, CeeCee, near my church, which I adopted and now lives with the smaller dog. They are both girls and have been living together for over 6 months. DeeDee and CeeCee play fight all of the time. Their growls get ferocious, but neither ever really cries out of pain. Its mostly DeeDee putting her mouth around CeeCee to signify that she has won while CeeCee is jumping around her and biting her legs. But recently my dog has become more and more aggressive. At the dog park today, I was playing fetch when a dog also tried play along by running next to DeeDee while she chased the ball. He would nibble at her lower back while running, as a way of saying "I got you!" DeeDee ignored him for the first eight throws, but suddenly snapped and attacked the dog. The dog started crying out and I immediately got there and pulled her out off him. She just got some of his hair. It was not warranted, but DeeDee gave him a bark letting him know that she was not comfortable with him doing it. After the fight the lady had to leave anyways and I kept playing fetch by myself. Later another dog arrived and I put the ball away and tried to get DeeDee and the other dog to interact a bit. Low and behold I go to pick up a #2 and while the dog is running towards the owner, DeeDee jumps on her and attacks the other dog. I say attack, but the dogs are never hurt. They are just scared. This definatly does not condone her behaviors, but none of the dogs have ever been hurt. I should also say that DeeDee loves to only fetch a special rubber baseball that shes had since she was a puppy. If another dog tries taking it, she will snap at him. If the dog snaps back, it turns into a fight. On a leash, when she approaches another dog she starts barking, wiggling her tail, and jumping around as if she wants to play. When I actually take her over to meet the other dog, she just goes and smells him before losing interest... My dog was very submissive as a little girl, and I did my best to socialize her. She used to love to play fight with other dogs. Jumping up and wrestling together, but never actually jumping at the other dog and having malicious intentions. She is also trained by me properly. She knows sit, stay, lie down, shake paw, and come. She can also walk off of a leash since I hid from her at times when she was a puppy and now she makes sure that I am around her. She never goes too far from me at the dog park and will always stay next to me if I choose to sit down. She used to occasionally run around and play with the dogs before checking if I am there. She is extremely lovable with me and my family. Shes a great, obedient dog that I thought I did a good job raising, but it seems like i need more help! Should I start over the basics and train her from scratch? I have been neglecting teaching her, but I always thought that she was good to go...
What happens when the ball isn't there at all (not even in a pocket)? Could she simply just be being possessive about it? Repeatedly throwing a ball over and over for a dog is really bad on their joints anyway, so maybe it would be best all round to try giving it a miss for a while? It sounds as if the dog that was nipping at her was being rude and she was remarkably tolerant putting up with it for eight throws of the ball. Whilst her reaction may have been disproportionate, I'd have been tempted to stop that interaction before it escalated.
Usually if I'd put the ball away she would look at me expecting the ball to be thrown. When she attached the other dog, the one that came after the first one, the ball was put away and I was trying to get the two dogs to interact just a bit.
Hi, I would be moving away to avoid any interaction. How were you trying to get the dogs to interact? x
This part sounds more like defense to me, not aggression. The other dog was being a pest and DeeDee let him know it. Now, maybe she could have warned him first with some growls. Growls are good, they are warnings that preceded a bite. Maybe she did growl and you did not hear? If all DeeDee got was some hair that's likely all she intended to get. Dogs are usually pretty good at making contact when they want to. Or at least so said my Sister's Vet after an incident with her dog. I wasn't there but this does not sound too serious to me. DeeDee sounds like she doesn't want to share the ball so that's ok. Children need to share, dogs don't. Neither needs to share with a stranger.
Just from my experience with Axel as a puppy, when ever he would nibble a dogs back it would lead to him humping. He was HORRIBLE for this and thankfully no longer does it. So she may have known that was going to happen and gave warning growls you maybe didn't hear due to the fact they were running, and then it escalated a bit too much.
I was trying to get my dog to interact a bit. I really wanted to see her actually play with another dog, and the dog was a black lab. I was keeping an eye on them. The dog would run and my dog would just chase her a bit. The other dog kept running around, and my dog was kind of paying attention to both of us. Later I went over to pick up a #2 and the other dog was running towards her owner and suddenly my dog attacked. The other dog was running away form her, so I came immediately and broke it up. The other dog was not hurt at all, and I had my dog lie down around the other dog.
I understand that the first occurrence was not her fault, but the second one was. My dog has completely changed her behavior, she would have never gotten into a fight even over a dog nibbling at her. I dont trust my dog near other dogs now. If she can get into a fight like that, what happens if its against a dog that can fight back and can't control their bites in a fight. A pitbull would be scary for me.
Dogs don't need to play or socialise with every dog they meet. My two are a touch boisterous and pushy so I'm careful who I let them play with. Usually the dog is already known to us and isn't a dog which will wind them up too much. It can be tricky to find the right dogs but it's worth it. A quieter dog may just need a buddy to share sniffs with for example. If she were mine I would concentrate on her playing games with me and find one or two buddies for her and leave the other dogs alone.
I don't allow Harley to play with a lot of dogs. She can be reactive (due to being attacked several times) and I now know when she's going to react before she actually does it due to me spotting certain body postures. I intervene before it gets to that stage.
I agree with Barbara. We can get caught up with thinking that our dogs need to socialise with their own kind, but the fact is that some dogs, just like some humans, are a little bit anti-social and actually prefer not to interact with other dogs. My girl Willow is like this; she has a couple of good friends, but she's really not interested in meeting new dogs, thankyouverymuch. That's fine by me - it makes for a far easier walking experience than having to worry your dog is going to pounce on every other dog out there!
