Kinda confused on Bear's behaviour

[king2005]

When I take her to PetSmart shes fine meeting other dogs, even the hyper barking ones. Shes very gentle with the scared ones aswell.

When shes on a walk, she'll bark once, I'll tell her no & she ignores the dog.

Now heres the problem.. If shes in the house & I have the big door open & the screen door closed, she gets MAD real MAD at other dogs. If the dog barks back, her fur goes up & her bark gets super nasty :eek: I can go up to her & get her to stop with no issues, shes not out of control. If we're in the yard, she'll do the same, except she'll do that pounce forwards as she has room to do it.. that scares me!! The second I try to go near her she'll run away from me & will run to the front door, like nothing happened :confused:


I would love to take her to a dog park, but I don't know if she likes other dogs or not... I do plan of buying her a muzzle for the dog park just incase, cause she loves dogs at PetSmart.

I'm hoping shes just being over protective of HER home... She'll woof at strangers, but nothing like she does for dogs outside. Its more like she saying, hey I see you, I'm watching you.. ya you keep going...

There is a black GSD a few doors down. I want to talk to the lady, as its silly we cannot put our dogs outside to potty at the same time & neither of us like the 2 being agressive like they are between eachother... SO I want to make a walking date, where the dogs are muzzled & forced to walk near eachother, just to learn that the other isn't bad & there is no need to want to eat the other... The lady is really nice & so is her hubby. The dog is so so, but shes also not out of control. Now the pitty a few more doors down the way is a problem... poor thing is NOT freindly at all... Its a drug dealers house, so ya sad...

I know I can work on Bear's might be dog agression, but I need to understand it first, so I know how to correct it...

Rocky's aggression was brought on by the other dog barking at him & him not understanding that other dogs were not bad lol... so it was super easy to correct him.. He use to be known as a dog killer, but then became a wiggle butt when he saw other dogs in hopes of getting to play fetch, tug & swimming with them lol

Bear is VERY smart & wanting to please, so I know she'll learn quickly.

[Queen of Poop]

She might just be protecting her home.

My Sasha sounds like she'll go thru the window when a dog goes by. But once outside its all smiles and sniffs.

[king2005]

I was worried that she might start turning on other dogs... I hope its just protecting. I still don't like it though

[Queen of Poop]

It can be irritating to have all that barking going on. But it is truly appreciated when 2 creeps show up on your doorstep on a Saturday afternoon. By the time I got to the door they weren't on the step anymore, they were several feet away from the step and door. All that racket by my sweet girl, who wouldn't hurt a fly sent them scurrying.

[critter crazy]

Sounds like she is simply being protective, if she was dog aggressive she wouldnt do well at petsmart at all! I would just take her to the dog park, and see how she reacts(without a muzzle) muzzles can sometimes make their reactions worse.

My Rotti was the same way, if he was tied up, or inside, he would go nuts if a person or dog came near the house, but out on a leash he loved other dogs!

[Canis-Lupess]

Yeah, on their own patch, dogs can be more aggressive. They run to the fence when a dog walker goes by and they bark at the dog and the dog goes away. Obviously, because the dog walker is only passing the house and not coming to enter it but your dog doesn't know that. She thinks they went because she successfuly drove them away so she continues to do so. Thats why dogs often have a thing for the regular quick visitors like postmen etc...They come to the house, the dog goes crazy and they leave. The dog doesn't know they are only there to drop something off and leave anyway, the dog thinks they leave because they drove them away.
I know of lots of dogs round our end that go mad at passers by when they are in the garden but are fine when out on neutral territory.

Out in public, she probably won't be a problem. Correction isn't a great idea to stop aggression either. It tends to have the opposite effect in convincing the dog that the other dog really is bad news. They think they are being told off or whatever because of the other dog, not because of their behaviour, after all, it only seems to happen when another dog is around so it further convinces them to hate other dogs.
Feeding her some of her daily food rations in the form of treats each time you pass another dog in public is a good way to teach her that other dogs are good news, not bad, even if she's just had a go at the other dog. Yes, you might fear that this is rewarding her aggression but it isn't. If she was one of those types that went whappy whenever another dog passed out in public, if you started giving her a treat after passing every dog, she'd soon be too busy looking at you waiting for the treat when she saw another dog to be throwing herself aggressively at it.

[king2005]

Shes not a barker. Its only when I let her sit at the door. otherwise you would never know we had a dog. We let her bark all she wants when someone knocks at the door. But she must sit & hush so we can open it to see who it is... She'll sit quiet & will just stare at the person.. If I let them in, then Bear gets all wiggly butt, but if they leave, she goes back to her bed.

She was there for me when a creep came up the walkway when I just happened to open the door. I called her name & she rushed over & stared him down. We spoke & he left... bear was awesome!!

I've never brought her to a dog park before so I don't know how it will go. I plan to brink the retractible leash, so she can play with a dog while on a leash & if shes good after a several visits, I'll let her off... She wont stray far from me & shes good at come, so that should be good... Just not sure how she'll be with me touching & playing with other dogs. Wont know till I try I guess... I'll make sure to take things slow, so its not over welming for her


I'm just so excited that winter is gone, so I can take her to a dog park :D I really hope it goes well. Her having doggy friends to chase & get excersize would be awesome!

[king2005]

Good news, Bear doesn't hate dogs! Maybe that nasty dog, but not all :D

Just read the post on Buddy, the new rescue.

We gatted Bear in the kitchen & brought Buddy in. We let them say hi & they kissed & got wiggly.. so we leashed bear, then set them both free in the house.. both were thrilled & really like each other :D

So I know I can deffently try taking Bear to a dog park!!!

[Chilli]

I bet Bear will like going to the dog park, it sounds like she does get along with dogs fine. =]

It definately just sounds like she's a bit protective over her own territory. Thats how our dogs are. If there is a strange dog in our yard our dogs will bark and bark and growl... Though we've taken both out into public places and they're perfectly fine. Total sweethearts! :D

Good luck with taking Bear to the dog park, and let us hear how it goes! I bet she'll make plenty of friends. =]