Agression towards other dogs

[jobe]

I am in need of some help with my cocker Sally ,She is 18 months old and is very unpredictable when out walking i don't know how she is going to react towards other dogs.With some she is fine but if any of our family stroke another dog she gets agressive towards it,or if another dog runs up to her to play she gets frightened and snarls and attacks the dog,i just don't know from one dog to the next how she will react .
Another problem i have is my sister has just got a beagle puppy and she was eager for our dogs to get to know each other so i took sally round to their house (as she doesn't like any dogs in our house) but as i thought she took an instant dislike to him and scared him half to death.Any ideas on how to tackle this issue would be grateful.                    

[Jane S]

Hi Jobe

It sounds like you & Sally might need some one-to-one training with someone experienced with dealing with dog-agressive dogs - it's not something that can be sorted out easily or quickly I'm afraid. Was Sally well-socialised with other dogs when she was a puppy? Dogs that miss out on meeting lots of other dogs when they are young can react aggressively towards them when they are older. Anyway, have a look at www.apdt.co.uk to see if you can find a trainer near you.


Jane                    

[Jan/Billy]

Jobe,


There is a young woman at our training classes who has almost the identical problem, although she has a different breed, mongrel, think it is a lab cross. Every time another dog went near him he went mad snapping and snarling etc, I had to keep my billy well away as he has a habbit of running and jumping on anything trying to play! It was quite frightening there was no way this dog was allowed off the lead during class. He had to be kept under control and away from the younger ones

The trainer gave her loads of advice and worked hard with her,i think mainly socialising him and getting him used to other dogs. if i am honest i watched the dog and thought "that is gonna take some fixing, they will never do it". Anyway its now about 12 weeks since the dog first came to class and how wrong was I !!!!  :oops:  :oops:  :oops:  :oops:

He is much much better. It really is amasing to see the difference, the dog and its owner look much better and much more relaxed. Although he is still  not allowed off the lead during class he is much much better than he was    

All i am trying to say is it may seam like a huge task but it probably can be sorted

Good luck                      

[PennyB]

Just like to add that this is all good advice as none of us here will know how your dog reacts and its best to do something face to face (my dog trainer has some of his own dogs so he uses those to recreate a situation or some will walk in the park with you and see for themselves what the problem is).