Agressive towards other dogs?

[*LabLoverKEB*]

My Lab pup, Rita, is very agressive towards other dogs. She lunges, snaps, barks, and growls at almost every dog we pass on our walks. It is really starting to frusturate me, because I was *planning* on showing her, or doing flyball with her. And if she shows agressiveness to other dogs, I will not be doing anything like that with her.

Does anyone have any ideas/tips on how to break her of this?? It would be greatly appreciated.

[wolf_Q]

I hope you are able to get some good advice for Rita, does she get along well with Sadie?

Not trying to butt in, but I'd also like some help sort of in the same way with Nebo. He does not lunge, growl, bark, etc. at other dogs while we're on a walk. In fact most times he either ignores them or wags his tail and whines like he wants to play with them. He can be in a crowd of hundreds of dogs and be just fine with them all around him...but when they get in his personal space he gets pissy. Not with all dogs, but a lot of them. Yesterday I was walking him and a guy came up with his lab to let them sniff (they had been looking at eachother wagging tails like they wanted to play) I warned the guy that Nebo isn't always nice but he did it anyway. They sniffed for a bit and were real close together, and Nebo (possibly the other dog too) got rather stiff then Nebo growled/sort of snapped at the other dog. He didn't actually bite the other dog, he's never really injured another dog, but it looks bad. Help?

[*LabLoverKEB*]

I hope you are able to get some good advice for Rita, does she get along well with Sadie?

Not trying to butt in, but I'd also like some help sort of in the same way with Nebo. He does not lunge, growl, bark, etc. at other dogs while we're on a walk. In fact most times he either ignores them or wags his tail and whines like he wants to play with them. He can be in a crowd of hundreds of dogs and be just fine with them all around him...but when they get in his personal space he gets pissy. Not with all dogs, but a lot of them. Yesterday I was walking him and a guy came up with his lab to let them sniff (they had been looking at eachother wagging tails like they wanted to play) I warned the guy that Nebo isn't always nice but he did it anyway. They sniffed for a bit and were real close together, and Nebo (possibly the other dog too) got rather stiff then Nebo growled/sort of snapped at the other dog. He didn't actually bite the other dog, he's never really injured another dog, but it looks bad. Help?

You are not butting in. It's better that making a whole new thread on the same subject.

Yes, Sadie and Rita are great together, but they do play rough a lot. Could that be the problem??

[MajesticCollies]

Rita just needs to be continually socialized. It is obviously going to take longer than you expect but you just need to hang in there and keep up the hard work.

I can only tell you to get professional help if this persists. I'm sure she will come through for you.

[BC_MoM]

Hey Sarah....Molly's having the same problem. Except once she gets up to the dogs, she's fine and happy again...she's fine offleash... But being far away, onleash by other dogs drives her nuts unless she can go up to them. It's very embarassing and everyone thinks she's vicious now.

[k9krazee]

Jack was very much the same way...

The thing that helped us TREMENDOUSLY was going to obedience classes. We've been through 1 obedience class and 3 agility classes and I can see the difference. Set up play dates with dogs you know are friendly and constantly expose her to different people and dogs. I know how frustrating it can be...good luck!

[BC_MoM]

What's weird about Molly though, is that she is totally fine at the dog park with every single dog.

I took her on a walk alone tonight, after I took the M&M's on a walk together, and she didn't act up as much when she saw other dogs than she does when Mickey is with us?

[Savage Destiny]

My friend has a horribly dog aggressive dog (BC/Aussie Cattle Dog X).

We've been working with Nanaboo to try to combat his aggression, and its working well so far.

We take him to a place where dogs have to be leashed (Petco, etc), and have a Gentle Leader on him. My friend has a pocket full of treats (I'm mostly just along to run interference should someone's dog get loose or something). We walk Nani around the store, letting him see other dogs and such. When he starts getting aggressive when he sees a dog, she pulls his head around (hence the GL) and holds out a treat. She makes him sit, lie down, do a trick, anything- As long as he's focusing on HER.

Its working well so far. Nani is learning to focus on her exclusively, and not pay attention to the other dogs.

[Jadapit]

Ebony was a lot like that when she was little. I walked her every day around as many dogs as I could. Sometimes I would make her sit if the dog was in a fence then I would give her a treat when she calmed down. We can walk by any dog now and she does fine. Sometimes I think they have to get used to being out and about around other dogs.

[luvofallhorses]

I think obdience classes will help socialize her more.

[Tollers-n-Dobes]

Hey Sarah....Molly's having the same problem. Except once she gets up to the dogs, she's fine and happy again...she's fine offleash... But being far away, onleash by other dogs drives her nuts unless she can go up to them. It's very embarassing and everyone thinks she's vicious now.

That's exactly how Tango was too.

Obedience classes helped tremendously because I had/have a great trainer. Tango and I are on our third set of group classes to help with her behaviour and I am also able to go in on weekends to get one on one help. Now, I can take Tango for a walk and while she reacts a bit, she calms down almost instantly. I'd definitely recommend anyone with this sort of problem to look into finding a great trainer and go to obedience classes if it is possible. I can't really explain how I control her through just typing it down, it's something I'd have to demonstrate to you...which is obviously not possible. I wish I could be of more help, but like I said, obedience classes should really help.

[Crikit]

The thing about dogs on leash and showing aggresion is that the dog has no where to go and therefore does the only thing they can do to defend themselves. Dogs tend to go through four stages when faced with things that might upset them, there's the Flee stage when the dog tries to escape what is bothering them, the Freeze where the dog stops and refuses to move hoping that that can get them out of the situation, the Fight stage where the dog feels that they have no other choice but to strike out at the situation and finally the frenzy where the dog totally losses their mind, that of course can be shown with barking, jumping, whinning...really it's when your dog is so high that nothing seems to get through to them.

A lot of the time what you see when a dog is on leash is a totally passing over of the first two stages and they go straight to one of the final stages. That of course happens because they can't flee when they're on leash and freezing won't help when the thing they have issue with continues to advance.

Also a lot of dogs consider the area that they can reach when on leash their "protection zone", think of it like when your dog is in your yard or your house and a stranger approaches of course the dog would send up the alarm and try to protect their turf. It's the same when the dog is on leash they're trying to protect you and their area.

Because of the "4 F's" and the protection zone it can sometimes be a better idea to let two dogs meet for the first time in a controlled environment where they can be off leash and both have an opportunity to get of the situation if need be.

Some things that might help with this is to work on something called an emergency u-turn. So when you and your dog are coming up to a situation that you think the dog might not be able to handle (that can be anything from a small animal, another person, or another dog) make a sound or something to get the dogs attention even a turn command or something and turn and head in the other direction. In other words if you don't think that your dog can handle it try not to put your dog in to the situation. Or if you see another dog approaching get your dog in to a sit and have them focus on you until the other dog is past. Whatever you do though do not yank back on the leash as aggression breeds aggression, you yanking back on the leash might make the dog think that there is something that they need to be worried and defensive about and in the long run it could make things worse.

Hope that helps some what.

[*LabLoverKEB*]

I had a very unplleasent expierence with the little brat today.
I was walking Rita & Sadie, (both on leashes). And we come to a corner of our neighborhood block. We all see a chocolate Lab, Tanner is his name. Very stupid on my part, I suggest she bring Tanner over to meet Rita and Sadie. Well, I ended up bawling histaricaly (sp?) on the way home.
Rita jumps, lunges very forcefully, and barks this very scary bark at this dog. Starts to fight with him, pretty much attacks him, & bites at him. She then backs out of her collar, again goes and attacks this poor dog, I grab her, pick her up, and grab her snout and tell her "NO!" in a very angry voice. And then it all repeats again. I apologized about a hundred times to this lady, she didn't seem to be upset at all. But she did suggest that I use a pinch collar when I walk her, that way I'd have more control over her.

But, I was VERY pleased with Sadie while this was happening. She didn't try to attack this dog at all, actually seemed to like him. I was very happy with her.

I am going to look into some kind of professional help for this.

[*LabLoverKEB*]

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[*LabLoverKEB*]

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