Chloe being agressive with a dog she's known most of her life

[SkyeSue]

Chloe and I often go walkies with a friend and his show type cocker, who is a few months younger than Chloe. She's always "tolerated" this dog..Brenna...and will occasionally play with her. However, the last few times we've been out together, Chloe has become quite stroppy with her, for reasons I know not what! She (Chloe) definitely guards her ball (though she doesn't do this with any other dog...usually she gives up her ball to any dog that wants it!) Today, we happened to bump into them on one of our usual forest walks, and Chloe jumped up Brennas owner. Now Chloe can be pretty bad at jumping up, but I have reached a point with her where she will mostly stop with my "off" command, but she didn't listen today, and jumped all over this guys (White!) trousers and he was not impressed! He literally held her down (like an alpha roll type thing) to stop her. To be honest, she looked terrified. Imeadiately after this, she had a real go at Brenna, who was sitting quietly behind her owner. She didn't bite, but I've never seen her behave so agressively before. She will always tell off boisterious dogs but this poor wee thing had done absolutely nothing. She hadn't even tried to get Chloe's ball, she was just cowering behind her owner!
Do you think that the way Brennas owner handled Chloe could be anything to do with the way Chloe behaved towards his dog? Im completely confuzzled with this one...Chloe has never reacted to a dog in this way before and I really want to try and work out what was going on.
Thanks for reading, and hope someone can shed some light on it!

[Crazy Cocker Gang]

Yes my guess would be the alpha roll had a lot to do with it.

If chloe was scared and hyped then saw this dog displaying fearful body language that could of caused her to react to it.

[SkyeSue]

Yes my guess would be the alpha roll had a lot to do with it.

If chloe was scared and hyped then saw this dog displaying fearful body language that could of caused her to react to it.

Thanks Jo, I'd thought that may be the case, so its good to have someone reinforce my thoughts! My "friend's" reaction was...."this is not right, Chloe is being possisive of me" (him)

[Karma]

Absolutely.

Redirected aggression onto a less threatening target than the person who had scared her... makes perfect sense to me.
Also, it may be relevant, but if I take a ball off Honey too close to another dog, she will tell that dog off... almost like she's redirecting her frustration to that dog as the cause of her losing her ball...

[spanielcrazy]

Absolutely.

Redirected aggression onto a less threatening target than the person who had scared her... makes perfect sense to me.
Also, it may be relevant, but if I take a ball off Honey too close to another dog, she will tell that dog off... almost like she's redirecting her frustration to that dog as the cause of her losing her ball...

Agree absolutely! The alpha roll had everything to do with what happened.

http://www.dogproblemsolutions.com/   (scroll down to redirected aggression)


I don't think you have a "problem" per se, just keep in mind that she is capable of using aggression on another dog as an outlet for her emotions. Do not punish, scold or react in any other way than to remove her from the situation and keep things as calm and low key as possible

(why would anyone walk dogs in white trousers??    )

[hanandhen]

(why would anyone walk dogs in white trousers??    )

That's just what I was thinking!

Honestly, you don't train a dog not to jump up by pinning them down anyway, what was he thinking?

[SkyeSue]

(why would anyone walk dogs in white trousers??    )

That's just what I was thinking!

Honestly, you don't train a dog not to jump up by pinning them down anyway, what was he thinking?

Well, he likes to wear white trousers and he's a CM fan .... and he may well be having a look at this thread...lol

If you're there Tim...come in and join the discussion!

[fifer]

Yes my guess would be the alpha roll had a lot to do with it.

I can thoroughly agree with that, having seen a fear aggressive dog reacting badly to someone who tried to "alpha roll" him, with the result the dog attacked him!!  In Chloe's case it is redirected aggression.

[Top Barks]

agree too

[dogsgalore]

I agree too, as the owner of a fearful, reactive dog.  If Millie gets too stressed by anything then her reaction is to have a grump at the nearest dog. 
Also agree that its best not to react but to stay calm and just remove her to a safe zone, otherwise she may think there is actually something to be worried about and learn to do it again.

White trousers and dogs??  Hmmmm! 

[Midas]

God, that's awful, pinning her down like that, I would never let him do that again, confusing and frightening for your dog. What happened after is his fault not your dogs.

[Midas]

White trousers and dogs??  Hmmmm! 

I know, interesting choice....

[Rats and Dogs]

Pinning a dog would be terrifying for them, imagine how it would feel, so I'm sure Chloe's reaction to Brenna was because of that. I hope you told the man to never ever do that to your dog again, he shouldn't even be telling her off in any way at all, never mind pinning her.

I was told by a man we passed in the woods that I should knee Dougie in the face when he jumps up, and he would never do it again! I told him, in no uncertain terms, that if he touched Dougie, I would knee him - and not in the face! 

[fifer]

I told him, in no uncertain terms, that if he touched Dougie, I would knee him - and not in the face! 

  I had to laugh at that sorry!!  The best way to avoid being jumped up on is to step back the dog "misses" target, cannot land on you and soon learns not to try.   

[Cockertime Blues]

Absolutely agree here re alpha roll carry on.  If something rattles Mollie, she will go pick on Alfie because she can, and not the thing/person that rattled her.  Good on Chloe for jumping up on the white trousers    Good way to get your own back huh?