Comments on: Dog/Dog Aggression, or Is It?

By: Christine Hibbard

Christine Hibbard — Thu, 10 May 2012 01:11:29 +0000

I would find a positive reinforcement based dog trainer who has experience counter conditioning fear on leash. If you’re having problems finding someone in your area, email us privately at info@companionanimalsolutions.com and we’ll help find someone for you. In the meantime, you might want to read “Protecting Your Dog on Walks” to help your dog in the meantime: http://companionanimalsolutions.com/blogs/protecting-your-dog-on-walks/

By: Christine Hibbard

Christine Hibbard — Thu, 10 May 2012 01:08:14 +0000

Wow, no one likes a bully, including dogs. I would recommend a couple of things: 1) Monitor Bella very closely around other dogs. Use a 20/30 drag line if you have to. Do not hold onto the drag line but be ready to step on it and reel her in. 2) Use timeouts. If she bullies another dog say “too bad”, get a hold of her and put her in the car or leave the park. If you’d like our handout on executing timeouts effectively with your dog, let me know and I’ll email the handout to you privately.

By: Bthompson

Bthompson — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:03:27 +0000

I have 3 year old female boxer who has always been well mannered with other dogs and people, We have taken her to dog parks to play off leash many times with no incidents. We have another dog, a shiloh shepard and they get along great. Recently she seems to “pick” on small dogs. She especially likes the ones that arent interested in her. If they growl, bark or bite she is drawn to them like a magnet. She dosent growl, or bite back she just WONT leave them alone. The last time we went to a dog park there was a small dog there along with our two. She ran straight for it, not barking or growling. She pinned it to the ground and would not get off her. The other dog in the mean time, is biting her face (drawing blood) and of course doing everything it could to get out from under Bella. We finally got her off, and the only dog hurt was herself. I dont know where this insistance to jump on small dogs is coming from. We try to only go to parks that separate the big dogs from the small ones, but she always seems to find the one. I dont know how to get this to stop. She is very dominate with our other dog, but he doesnt care. She is wonderful with our children and all the neighborhood kids. I am just scared to take her back to the park or day care. Any comments would be appreciated.

By: Laura Smentowski

Laura Smentowski — Sat, 05 May 2012 14:04:34 +0000

I have a 6 year old collie shepard mix that I adopped when she was 3. She was given up by previous owner because of a new baby and an alergy to her. My dog is very sweet and gentle. 2 weeks ago she was attacked by another dog. She was meeting this dog for the first time in our driveway. The other dog is a 5 year old Shar pei Boxer mix. It had been adopted by our friends about a month ago. The dog had been a stray. The other dog was on a leash my dog was not. they started to sniff eachother and then the other dog attaked my dog. The other dog put his paws around my dogs neck while he was bitting her just under her ear. My dog as very scared and was yelpping so loud that other people came out of their houses. The other owner myself and my husband were all trying to get this dog off my dog ( I know is was dangerous). The other dog finally let go of my dog. My dog was not injured bad. She had some hair gone and one tooth mark that scabed and is now coming off. My problem is now she bark a lot in the house about noises outside (she rarely barked before) She is also a little scared around even her best friend a yellow lab. On walks when she used to see other dogs she would want to see them. She would only bark if they would start to bark at her first. Now she is barking at them and lungging on the leash at them. How do I help her through this. I know she is scared of being attacked.

By: Kristina

Kristina — Sat, 05 May 2012 03:12:40 +0000

Hi, i have a 5 month old king shepard, rottie, chow, wolf mix male dog. We got him from a local breeder at 8 weeks old. He was well socialized and around the other puppies up until we adopted him. My friend adopted one of his sisters from the litter, and we had play dates for about a month. Then out of nowhere he started baring his teeth and acting fearful and aggressive towards the other puppy. It slowly progressed from there. At first we couldnt walk him because he would just sit down and refuse to move if anything passed us by, a car, bike, person, dog, even if a leaf blew past us. We got him over and ignoring everything except people and dogs now. He luges and barks at other dogs and people, and if they get to close he snaps at them. He hasnt bitten anyone or any animal yet, but it still worries me. I have tried the techniques above as well as many others, with patience, but none seem to work. As soon as that other dog or person is in his eyesight he gets fixated. We have even tried blocking his line of view to get his attention back on us, and he will sit there and keep trying to see around us. ive tried just walking past using the command ‘nevermind’ which he knows very well, but if the person or dog is in his sight before i make the command he will sit down and refuse to move, then bark and lunge when they get near. Ive tried forcing him to continue, and immiedately he puts his paws on the leash and rolls on his back. Ive tried waiting him out, he does the same thing. And sometimes he will sit down, then try to hightail it home. I even tried getting him to sit and focus on he as they person or dog walked past as that is how we got him over his fear of cars and bikes. He is also fearful or loud noises, garbage bags, booming voices (men), and pringles cans and objects like them that make noise.
I have never had a dog with this behavior before so i do not understand where it came from, or how to correct it. All his playdates were well monitored, the breeder he came from was excellent, i knew him and his family personally and they are great with dogs and training them, and there had been no ‘incidents’ at my home, or anywhere else. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

By: Christine Hibbard

Christine Hibbard — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:46:25 +0000

In my opinion, your dog is too young to be attending the dog park. It’s too overwhelming and scary. I recommend finding a dog training studio in your area that holds Puppy Playgroup drop ins. Play can be monitored by a trainer and your dog can get a chance to join in at her own pace. If you need help finding a facility in your area, just let us know and we’d be happy to help you.

By: meg

meg — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 02:44:56 +0000

hi Christine i have read through most of your recent posts and found some fantastic information i am going to read a few of your reccommended articles next but am just seeking some advice regarding our 13 & 1/2 week old puppy she is a french bulldog, American Staffy cross. Very sweet and loving pup when we first got her she was young 7&1/2 weeks and was pretty timid understandably. We took her to the local dogpark yesterday and she barked incessintly, it sounded kinda agrressive and she demonstrated scared, stressed behaviour tail tucked up to her tummy a couple of times she really became aggressive towards dogs approaching her under a table almost like she was guna attack. We took her back the next day and she behaved the same, just seeking some advice on how to handle this reaction as I do not want it to have a long lasting negative impact on her ? Thanks

By: Christine Hibbard

Christine Hibbard — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 20:48:28 +0000

It’s impossible for me to evaluate dog/dog interactions without seeing them, either in person or via video. Given your description though, I would probably time her out for soliciting play from a dog who doesn’t want to play with her. Also, make sure she gets other dog/dog interactions so she’s less likely to make your Boxer the target of her play drive. The thing you have to watch with Pits is that their play doesn’t tip from “play” to “gameness” which can get ugly. It’s all about the individual dogs (what lines is she out of) and what was her early socialization like?

By: Christina

Christina — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:35:01 +0000

I have a 1 1/2 female red nose pit. We just took her in because her owner couldnt keep her where is was moving. I am trying to do research and came across this article. I was just wondering is it agression when a dog growls and bites the under side of the neck. She wags her tail when she does it but seems to be real rough, (but she was played with rough). The other dog is a 2 1/2 male boxer who doesn’t like to play with other dogs. He is really good with other dogs just doesn;t want to play. She on the other hand is very hyper active, most the time she doesn’t bother him but sometimes when he walks by she jumps up and starts biting him and biting his legs. She has drawn blood or anything but I also always stop her in fear it will start a fight or that she is trying to fight? Any suggestions or advice on her behavior.

By: Christine Hibbard

Christine Hibbard — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 01:15:44 +0000

Hudson is what we call a “Reactive Rover”. You can read more about leash reactivity here: http://companionanimalsolutions.com/blogs/what-is-a-reactive-rover. You’ll likely need professional help with this since you’re seeing this behavior at 6 months old. Keep in mind that dogs go through a biological fear period between 8/9 months old so trying to suppress the behavior will just likely make it worse in the long run. If you’d like, you can email us at info at companionanimalsolutions.com and we’ll help you find a leash reactivity class. If you’re in the Seattle area, we just updated our schedule over the weekend: http://www.companionanimalsolutions.com/dog-training-classes/class-schedule-and-registration