Breed specific aggression

[cali]

yup its actually pretty common. Happy hates Schnauzers, Pionters, and Shiba Inu's. she is fear aggressive of starnge dogs in genral but with those 3 breeds she show real dominance type aggression. similarly she is no problem at all with Goldens or Labs, not even fear agression with them lol

Misty does not have a breed aggression so much a a colour one. she is aggressive towards large red dogs. for example a black and tan Dobie she has no problem with but a red Dobie will set her off. same with Pitties she has met, she is fine with any colour but red. for her is is only rich dark red, NOT orange like a golden or Toller or "fox red" lab.

[ton70out]

I adopted him a year ago.
He's a rescue, so no papers, but he's about 2.5 - 3 best guess.
He wasn't neutered until about a month before I got him.
I first encountered the behavior when someone with two Airdales (1 adult & 1 juvenile) brought his to the field where we were. His younger dog stood still and stared at my dog. He stared back for a minute, and then went nuts. Fortunately, there was a fence between them.
He saw that same dog a couple more times, and immediately got aggressive, and now any Airdale he sees causes a reaction.

[Tollers-n-Dobes]

He may just associate all Airedales as being just like the dog he had a problem with. That's what I'd guess anyway, since he did have a not-so-good encounter with the breed. I'm not sure what you can do about it though, sorry.

Breed specific aggression seems to be pretty common. Tango hates all brindle coloured dogs, Boxers, Schnauzers, Pointers. I don't know why, as she's never had a bad experience with any of these breeds. She tends only to get along very well with sporting breeds (except pointers) and herding breeds. She likes other breeds too (except for the few mentioned above), but prefers the sporting and herding.

[ton70out]

Hmmm. I walk him a few blocks to a large (15 acre) dog park, with usually no less than 25 dogs running around off leash. He absolutely LOVES the place, since he can run and wrestle with abandon. I love it because he gets himself good and tired, and I can leave him home for the day with good conscious. I'd hate to give the place up for the POSSIBILITY that an Airdale MIGHT show up, but it would be much worse for him to maul someone's dog.

He's very responsive to commands usually, but not when an Airdale shows up...

Any other thoughts?

[k9friend]

Luckily, Airdales aren't all that common, so your chances of coming across one while with your dog are slim.

[Taz_Zoee]

This is what I am trying with Zoee at the park...she goes crazy when she see's any dog (although, not aggressively)...I ask the owner if their dog is okay with other dogs and ask if they can meet. Once Zoee meets them she is fine and happy.
I'm not sure if you'd be able to do this with your dog, if he is showing aggressiveness toward them. Sorry, that's all I could think of.

[Giselle]

Desensitization is usually the way to go with these types of fear aggression. Find a friendly Airedale and a cooperative owner and gradually desensitize your dog. I highly recommend The Cautious Canine by Patricia McConnell because it gives you clear step-by-step instructions with full detail and explanations. It also gives you some troubleshooting tips, but I'll try to sum it up. Basically, the whole jist of it is that you want your dog to associate Airedales with positive things, a.k.a. positive reinforcement.

Stand about 15 feet away or as close as you can be without getting a reaction from your dog. Then give her a command like "Sit" and treat her, praise her, etc. If she's responding well, walk closer to the Airedale moving at about 1-2 ft increments. Always check out her comfort level. If she starts to show the least bit of aggression or anxiety (quick panting, drooling, hair raising, anxious jerks on the lead, not responding, etc.), move back. The worst thing you can do now is to rush her. You may never get to a 5 ft distance from the Airedale until weeks from now, but that's okay. Then, again, you might make it in one session. Move at her pace. I know this sounds incredibly time consuming, but it's completely worth it. In aggression cases, it's *always* better to be safe than sorry. Good luck