I have a 21 month old, who has recently started to show a bit of aggression with some other dogs. She's normally submissive (often lies down as an unfamiliar dog approaches) and very playful, and is fine with most dogs, but every so often a seemingly random outbreak of aggression occurs. It is normally when she's on the lead or confined in a small space. I think when she's off lead she has the freedom to run away if she's scared or unsure, so it might just be a fear reaction in those instances. There are other times when you can see a younger dog is getting a bit too pushy and she puts them in their place with a very quick snap. So this may be a 'coming into maturity - asserting dominance' phase. Sometimes I just don't know what's got into her though, when the other dog has done nothing wrong. It's rare - but I hope it does pass!
This is exactly what Poppy is like at the moment. She is 3 1/2 but this has only ever happened in the last 6 months and I've been getting quite paraniod about it - to the point where I was quite nervous about taking her to the recent COL meet up as she cant seem to meet a dog on the lead without wanting to dominate the situation (I've been avoiding all lead hello's for a while now!). I keep saying I think she is having a bit of a "Diva" phase.
Anyway kept her away from most of the dogs when she was on the lead she did have a bit of growl at poor Sid I think it was but then off the lead she was fine - running around with all the other dogs and not really a whiff of bad behavior. She does put jumpy puppies in their place but I see this as "normal" dog behavior and I was always glad of a "nice" dog doing it to Poppy when she was a pup to teach her doggie manners.
So all in all I'm learning to not let her say hello on the lead and accept that dogs do growl at each other occassionally - she does not nip or bite its all noise so I'm trying not to let it spoil my enjoyment of having a 99% well behaved dog who generally LOVES other dogs.
I'm really glad Louis seems to be ok now - I know exactly how unsettling this can be.
