Author Topic: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?  (Read 2451 times)

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Offline Sarahcam

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Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« on: October 15, 2017, 09:24:26 PM »
Hi, I'm looking for some advice please. My dog who turned 1 last week has suddenly started showing aggression towards other dogs. He’s been well socialised with dogs since we got him at 10 weeks. He goes  out with a dog walker 3 times a week and spends time with about 3 dogs at a time, different dogs each day. We never had any issue until about 2 months ago when he started getting possessive over his ball. We have been working on this and have removed his ball until we’re confident we have the possessiveness under control. The dog walker has now said that he’s gone for 2 different dogs, one a 4 month puppy. Once the incident is over he carries on as normal with the dogs. He also now barks at some dogs when we walk him on the leash. He was neutered just over 3 weeks ago. Im unsure how we train around this as it’s only a few dogs he seems to react to. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Offline phoenix

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Re: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2017, 10:59:14 PM »
He had an op two weeks ago?  Maybe he's a bit sore and protective of himself.  His hormones have started changing too, he may have lost a bit of confidence.  I do feel for you, fear aggression , especially if aimed at a puppy is difficult.
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Offline Pearly

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Re: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2017, 12:59:14 AM »
He had an op two weeks ago?  Maybe he's a bit sore and protective of himself.  His hormones have started changing too, he may have lost a bit of confidence.  I do feel for you, fear aggression , especially if aimed at a puppy is difficult.

Not necessarily fear reactive here - it could simply be that his hormones are all over the place and he's hitting the teenage phase of development.

There is no need IMO for a dog to socialise with other dogs once they get past the puppy stage - some dogs like their own space, others are happy to mix.  I would suggest asking the dog walker to not let him get close to other dogs and also establish the exact circumstances around the 4 month old pup, if your boy was on the lead and the pup was "in his face" then a telling off is appropriate - if the circumstances are different then it would be worthwhile seeking the advice of a behaviourist to help you all through the teenage phase 😉

Offline Gazrob

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Re: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2017, 08:39:24 AM »
I agree with pearly on this. I try not to let my dog socialise with other dogs. He's nearly two now. If we see other dogs he's generally fine he rarely barks at all. However occasionally when I have let him socialise with other dogs they sometimes bark at him and have attacked him for no reason. This then makes my dog react in a negative way. So to stop him picking up any bad habits we keep away from other dogs as much as possible.

Offline hoover

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Re: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2017, 09:12:49 AM »
It is still quite soon after neutering and his hormones may still be settling.  When leash walking him I have found the best thing to reduce this sort of behaviour is to try to be pretty authoritative when walking; short lead and to heel, pretty fast paced walking.  This reduces the time they have available to react to other dogs and gives a stronger impression that you are in control of the situation and that they don't need to act to ward off any perceived threats. Their focus should be on a good to-heel walk rather than any other dogs and the commands you give should reinforce that this is what their focus should be.

Like others are saying I wouldn't force socialising at the moment, he probably needs some time away from this and the last thing you want is behaviour to be reinforced through practice.  You know the triggers now so you know how to avoid them.  We redirect Ollie when we see pups and he is off lead(send him away in another direction) and now that he is a bit older he has the good sense to redirect himself or to look to us for instruction when he perceives situations that were previously triggers for him.  If he is anything like my dog he will probably get a lot better in the next few months, but it may be better not to try to force this process but just to give him a bit of a break from other dogs you think he might have issues with.

Offline bizzylizzy

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Re: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« Reply #5 on: October 16, 2017, 12:14:25 PM »
 I'm just reading a book called Feisty Fido by Patricia McConnell (loaded down to Kindle). Her books are generally very interesting, this one addresses reactive behaviour to other dogs and gives some useful trips, maybe worth looking at.
While I agree that forcing socialization, particularly at this moment for your dog, is probably not a good idea, I do think that, generally speaking, its a good idea to try and address the problem of adverse behaviour rather than just avoid other dogs altogether. Some dogs just don't like socializing but, from my own experience, I feel its better to at least give them a chance as in the long run, a sociable dog makes for an easier life.

Offline Gazrob

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Re: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« Reply #6 on: October 16, 2017, 12:58:10 PM »
Dogs are like people. Not all dogs are going to get along. I don't let my dog socialise too often as you never know how the other dog is going to react. He's been attacked a few times even when the owner said that their dog is very friendly. Better to be safe than sorry.

Offline hoover

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Re: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« Reply #7 on: October 16, 2017, 02:07:54 PM »
it's a tricky one because although ideally you want a social dog I also had a strong sense that I didn't want to expose other dogs to my dog's potentially bad behaviour - they are not training fodder for my dog's hopeful improvements.  They should not experience a set-back themselves that makes them more predisposed to reactive behaviour (Ollie has never bitten another dog but he certainly had some over the top displays when younger).

It was a judgement call all the time when walking him - I knew he would behave well with 2+ dogs, because although possibly nervous he would not act out and generally had good experiences sniffing each other.  Similarly with large, stable dogs he would behave well.  With young, bouncy dogs or puppies who don't know social etiquette yet there was more likelihood of problems and with dogs that have a more naturally aggressive look - upright tails and ears , confrontational body language, more likelihood of problems.  You want to let them have good socialising experiences and need to find out those occasions when you think they are possible, but if you think your dog might be a risk to others then you have a responsibility to avoid.

Offline Gazrob

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Re: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« Reply #8 on: October 16, 2017, 03:37:34 PM »
I tend to find its the smaller dogs who are more aggressive towards my dog. My dog is very friendly maybe too friendly he will run over to other dogs and get right into their faces and constantly trying to sniff their backsides. It's got him in trouble a couple of times. When he's on lead I don't want him socialising. I play with him and we do training together he doesn't need to run around with other dogs every time we go out.

Offline bizzylizzy

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Re: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« Reply #9 on: October 16, 2017, 04:50:31 PM »
I tend to find its the smaller dogs who are more aggressive towards my dog. My dog is very friendly maybe too friendly he will run over to other dogs and get right into their faces and constantly trying to sniff their backsides. It's got him in trouble a couple of times. When he's on lead I don't want him socialising. I play with him and we do training together he doesn't need to run around with other dogs every time we go out.

Please don't misunderstand me, I can quite see your point Gazrob  but what I was trying to say was, that if your dog goes running up to other dogs and gets into their faces, then its inevitable that some smaller dogs might  react aggressively. What we interpret as friendly behaviour isn't always the way the dogs see it, a head on approach for example is considered very rude in canine language and will lead to a defensive reaction. I totally agree that dogs don't need to run around with every other dog when they're out, mine doesn't either but trying to train some sort of social competence early on can come in useful in an unexpected situation when the dog is not on the lead.
My first dog was a GSD which I adopted when he was about 10 months old to save him from having to be put in kennels.I was totally inexperienced and out of sheer fear of him hurting another dog, I never ever let him socialize and whipped the lead on every time we saw a dog. Looking back, I feel very guilty that I never gave him the opportunity to learn how to play and that as he got older, it became harder to hold him when another dog approached, although he was a big softie really.
It is indeed a hard one, we, the dogs and the circumstances are all different and there's no one size fits all solution and some problems aren't resolvable but sometimes its worth putting in a bit of effort to teach good behaviour instead of having to always avoid the situation, although I do concede it isn't always possible.

Offline Gazrob

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Re: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« Reply #10 on: October 16, 2017, 07:02:06 PM »
Hi bizzylizzy I do let him play with other dogs I just don't all the time. He's not always in your face just sometimes he wants to play that's all. He has never attacked other dogs it's always the other dog attacking him. He was bitten in the face a few months ago off a little dog it drew blood and he now has a one inch scar under his left eye. He's my first dog and I don't want him to get hurt. I live in an urban area lots of people have dogs round here it is impossible to avoid them completely. He has a couple of buddies who he does play with sometimes but other than that if I don't know the dog or the owner I try to keep him out of a potential problem.

Offline Gazrob

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Re: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« Reply #11 on: October 16, 2017, 07:04:12 PM »
He's a boisterous little b***** he could get himself into serious trouble sometimes.

Offline Sarahcam

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Re: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« Reply #12 on: October 23, 2017, 08:54:57 PM »
Thanks for all your responses, things seem to have improved slightly. We’ve been doing lots of on lead training, walking passed dogs with no issues. I’m still apprehensive about letting him off the lead though. Will keep on with the training and build up both our confidence!

Offline Gazrob

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Re: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« Reply #13 on: October 24, 2017, 02:04:24 PM »
That's great. It might just be certain dogs he doesn't like. But id definitely keep him on the lead around strange dogs just to be safe. He doesn't need to socialise with every dog he sees.

Offline PennyB

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Re: Why is my dog suddenly showing aggression towards other dogs?
« Reply #14 on: November 15, 2017, 01:15:02 AM »
I tend to find its the smaller dogs who are more aggressive towards my dog. My dog is very friendly maybe too friendly he will run over to other dogs and get right into their faces and constantly trying to sniff their backsides. It's got him in trouble a couple of times. When he's on lead I don't want him socialising. I play with him and we do training together he doesn't need to run around with other dogs every time we go out.

Please don't misunderstand me, I can quite see your point Gazrob  but what I was trying to say was, that if your dog goes running up to other dogs and gets into their faces, then its inevitable that some smaller dogs might  react aggressively. What we interpret as friendly behaviour isn't always the way the dogs see it, a head on approach for example is considered very rude in canine language and will lead to a defensive reaction. I totally agree that dogs don't need to run around with every other dog when they're out, mine doesn't either but trying to train some sort of social competence early on can come in useful in an unexpected situation when the dog is not on the lead.
My first dog was a GSD which I adopted when he was about 10 months old to save him from having to be put in kennels.I was totally inexperienced and out of sheer fear of him hurting another dog, I never ever let him socialize and whipped the lead on every time we saw a dog. Looking back, I feel very guilty that I never gave him the opportunity to learn how to play and that as he got older, it became harder to hold him when another dog approached, although he was a big softie really.
It is indeed a hard one, we, the dogs and the circumstances are all different and there's no one size fits all solution and some problems aren't resolvable but sometimes its worth putting in a bit of effort to teach good behaviour instead of having to always avoid the situation, although I do concede it isn't always possible.

Mine hate dogs running up to them that they don't know - to many dogs its considered 'rude' behaviour and can be confrontational and many good dog trainers have written on the subject - 'he only wants to say hi' - I usually tell dog owners its the same as if you're out in the city on a busy weekend night and a 'friendly' drunken stranger comes bounding up to you and let's face it often you don't like it and initially you don't even know if they're friend or foe either

The best way I find is to socialise with dogs by walking/approaching them in a parallel fashion (anything but head on) as its far less confrontational - one of my dogs can be quite reactive if a dog charges up to him but if he met the dog while walking alongside he's fine with them
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