Issue with Brother's Dog

[isla]

Some of you may remember that my brother rescued the lovely Oscar from Lizzie's Barn at Christmas time this year. He is neutered and about 18 months old. I think he is a show/worker cross due to his size (he's massive!)

He is an absolute poppet and his food issues are well on their way to being resolved, he's put on weight and is just fantastic... however he hates Jem.

When I say hates I mean hates! He attacks her every opportunity he gets. He gets on fine with my parents dogs (6 year old male unneutered cocker and 3 year old neutered female Shitz Tzu) but not Jem.

Jem is a wee friendly thing and if she goes to say hello or if she walks too close to him he will attack her. He tries to pins her down by the throat and she obviously fights back. So far there has been no damage as they are always supervised and we pull them apart.

As a family we meet up every Sunday and this is now starting to cause problems. Does anyone have any suggestions at to what we can do? My parents are about to move 2 and a half hours away so the chances are we will be spending weekends together as a family due to the distance and this could become a disaster.

Jem is a very friendly wee dog and can be overly friendly with other dogs (she likes to sniff bums and lick faces... delightful combination!) but we can't really see the reason for Oscar's problem with her.

[AnnieM]

Is it really vicious or could it be over exhuberant play.  I only say this as when my brother and his wife came over the other week and witnessed Jade and Amber playing, they were horrified and said aren't you going to stop them fighting, they always play like that it looks and sounds terrible.  They pin each other to the floor by the throat, snarl, growl, bark and generally look as though they are fighting, they have done this ever since we brought them home at 8 weeks, although it has got more noisy and boisterous.        I know when they are really fighting and would most definitely not go anywhere near them when they do.     (which is not that often really) 

[isla]

No its nasty. This Sunday he walked through the door, said his hellos to the other two dogs, Jem walked up to him and he went for her. Its definately not play 

[PennyB]

Speak to Fionna as she may have some advice (if you haven't got her no. I'll PM it to you)

May be it might be worth doing stuff on neutral ground.

[isla]

I'll get Iain to call her. We are going to take the two of them out for an off lead walk on Sunday just the two of them. Must admit I am a bit anxious. He is at least twice the size of her and in the house its contained so I can get them apart. I'm worried about racing after them in the woods if it doesn't go well  Technically they only meet on neutral ground (parents house). I have never taken Jem to their house since they got Oscar (no particular reason just the need hasn't arisen).

Really worried about this as we as a doggy family all pitch in and help out with each others dogs and this is making thing dificult.

On a seperate note thought Penny other than this he has come on so well. Is has settled really well and he adores Iain 

[Elisa]

Isla

Can't believe any other dog wouldn't love Gem    She's gorgeous.    Bailey is dusting off his duelling swords as we speak 

How is Oscar with other dogs on a day to day level?

We have a similar problem with MIL's westie.  She loves Bailey (most of the time, she can be a bit moody), but doesn't like Harvey at all    It turns out that she has a big problem with black dogs (she is a rescue dog).  Not uncommon I'm led to believe.  I've read that some dogs find their facial expressions hard to read, and so are defensive.  I also have a friend who has a lovely dog, but has a real problem with black labs 

Could this possibly be the problem?  I'm not sure how your brother would deal with it tbh, maybe speak to a trainer/behaviourist?

Good luck, hope to meet him soon 

[Top Barks]

Walk them in parallel  with the humans between them to start with at a distance apart they can cope with.
Whilst you do this feed them lots of a Yummy treat that they do not normally get.
Roast chicken or roast beef should do the trick.
If this goes well then move closer and closer.
If this goes well then let them interact on lead but keep the leads slack and keep feeding.
keep any interactions brief and positive.
Don't ask too much of them it may take a while.
Keep them separate if possible if you are not there to supervise their interactions.
Can you tell if Oscar is about to react?
Look for any telltale signs such as prolonged eye contact, rigid body bared teeth etc.
Try and distract him before he gets chance to lunge at jem.
It maybe worth investing in a houseline for Oscar
If he does react you could remove him from the room with the line without saying anything or chastising him and giving him a time out for thirty seconds or so.
Then let him back into the room and behave like nothing has happened but keep your eyes peeled on him.
Mark

[isla]

Thanks for the suggestions. Mark we will definately give that a go. Oscar is really food focused so hopefully that will help.

They are always supervised. Jem was over a year old before I left her alone with my parents dogs...just to be on the safe side!

We do get signals from Oscar. He stands still and sort of cowers his head if that makes sense. He sometimes growls but usually he just lunges snarling 

The black dog thing makes sense. Iain says he's not fond of another black dog near them but his dog walker says he is quite friendly with a black scottie dog. He is walked solo and on lead by the walker but in an area with lots of other dogs so he is interacting with other dogs (not just the family's) on a daily basis.

Fingers crossed we sort this one out quickly.

[sarah25]

Can i ask what colour Oscar is???.

I know of a dog (a poodle) ...and she does not like black dog's due to being attacked buy one.They say dog's cant see colours they can they just see them as type of spades.

I was just wondering if anythink had happend to Oscar befor your Brother had him 

[isla]

Oscar is gold. Much of history is unknown. He was with a family in Ireland until he was about a year old. He hadn't been trained properly and became too much to handle as he reached his teens.