Positive PetzineHelp needed for my 11mth old staffie
HI There Everyone.
I am unsure if anyone can help me.
I have a very beautiful 11 month of 3/4 English 1/4 American red staffie. With humans she is fantastic could not ask for a better dog, my parents 6 yr old Lab who she has been brought up with most of her life she gets along well with and also with my sisters 11 yr old english staffie she also gets along well.
BUT as soon as I take her for a walk and she sees another dog close buy she starts making a funny noise and pulling hard on the lead to get to the other dog. When this first started happening I thought it was she wanted to play with the other dog so I would walk her to them, then as we would get closer the funny noise she was making would get louder and then she would have a go at the other dog. This has happened numerous times now and am at the point now that if another dog it walking on the same side of the st as us I have to cross the rd and walk on the other side so this does not happen again! She went though puppy pre school when she was 3 months and got along well with the other dogs, but now this has changed.
I live at the coast and would love nothing more than to let her off the lead at the beach so she can have a run and swim, but cant allow this due to the fact if she saw another dog she could harm them.
In the past 3 weeks we have moved house and the neighbour who has a 11 month old bull terrier broke some pailings off the fence and got into my backyard to play with my dog, they get along like a house on fire, like best friends that wont stop playing, running around, licking etc etc I could not believe this due to how she is when going for her daily walk.
CAN ANYONE HELP ME?????
Kindest Regards
Shawn
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Hi Shawn, it is not uncommon
Hi Shawn, it is not uncommon for a dog to show aggressive behaviours on-leash but be friendly and playful off-leash.
An experienced and knowledgeable trainer will be able to assess your dog to make sure that she truly is friendly with other dogs off-leash.
Letting a dog with a tendency towards 'fight' rather than 'flight' play with unknown dogs is a risky proposition, so I would be very careful going down to the beach to let her play with unknown dogs. In time you will probably learn to assess other dogs, and with training you will be able to control your dog.
Bad experiences can colour the way your dog sees other dogs, so a little care, patience, training and experience can insulate you from those bad experiences. In the meantime set up play dates with dogs that you know and trust to give your dog regular experiences with other dogs so that she learns how to read and display social signals appropriately. This sort of socialisation is beneficial.
Aggressive behaviours on-leash are best dealt with by teaching the dog to walk on a loose leash at all times, consistently. There are many ways to do this, the method is secondary to the level of consistency you maintain. Never let pup go anywhere on a tight leash unless someone's life is at stake. I will be posting a video here soon demonstrating how I teach this.
Where you may come unstuck is meeting other dogs on-leash too close, too soon. Try to find places to walk where you can give yourself some distance between you and the other dog. You can reduce this distance over time, make haste slowly and keep setting your dog up for success. Again, an experienced and knowledgeable trainer may be able to help you with this.
Regards,
Aidan http://www.positivepetzine.com
re: Hi Shawn, it is not uncommon
Loose Leash Walking video is here:
http://positivepetzine.com/loose_leash_youtube
the dog man
I read a book recently called The Dog Man. I am not entirely sure I fully agree with his theories, but it may be worth a try.
His theory is that if you let your dog mark outside the gate, they see that area as their territory. So, when another dog approaches them, they feel the need to defend their territory.
The dog man's answer was to not let a dog mark when on a lead. To get them heeling, listening to you, focused on you, and ignoring what is going on, including smells, other dogs, and trying to mark. Leave the marking to their own backyard, and they will mark all four corners and the fenceline, to say its theirs, which is fine.
I have not tried this myself, and so cannot say whether it will make any difference, or if there is any good theory behind it.
re: the dog man
There are many reasons for on-leash aggression, territorial aggression outside the home or car is fairly rare and whether marking is a contributing factor or not is not something that I know. It seems to make more sense to think of marking as communication more than a stake of claim.
Whilst marking may be a part of a stake of claim ("I woz ere") I don't think dogs assume ownership BECAUSE they marked. On the flip-side, my dogs never pee in my house, yet they still regard it as their territory.
BTW, I let my dogs pee as often as they need to on walks, but my dogs have no reason to mark excessively.
Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com
re: the dog man
thanks - I did wonder about it but thought I would put it out there anyway.
My dog has been attacked a number of times, for no reason I can tell, by other dogs. He has gotten away with only small bite marks that didnt pierce the skin, and being knocked flying. He is only a foot high, so maybe size has something to do with it? I guess its the opposite problem - he cops aggression for just walking along minding his own business. I have yet to figure out a reason for it.
re: re: the dog man
How old is he? What breed? Is his face obscured? Is his tail docked?
There can be a lot of reasons. Some dogs are just easy targets for the insecure "bullies" out there, the ones who should probably be on a leash but are too insecure to attack the dogs they are sure about so their owner doesn't recognise the problem.
My Goldie used to be a target when he was younger, now he is unassailable. He has excellent communication skills, and is very confident. When he was younger he was TOO submissive, too easy.