Aggressive towards other dogs
The other four days of the work week, I have a pet "nanny" come into our home and spend 30 to 45 minutes walking and playing with her during the day while my husband and I are at work. The pet "nanny" often brings her black lab for Lola and him to have play dates. Lola loves this black lab and there has never been an issue with him being at our house (inside or out). However, Lola has become increasingly aggressive towards all dogs (other than this particular black lab) whether she is playing at doggie daycare, in our yard, in the park, or at another dog's house. I have used many excuses - resource guarding, herding instinct, the weather was too hot, she was tired, etc., etc. Mainly because I just can't believe my sweet little sheepie could be mean to another dog. When I say "mean", I mean it seems as if she would rip the dog apart given the chance. She bares her teeth and snarls and growls and acts as if she wants to kill the dog. It is extremely scary to me and my husband as our last two dogs (not sheepies) were very docile dogs. Lola has even actually nipped two dogs lately. Leaving one with some torn skin on the ear. Both dogs were smaller than her. One female, the other male. One was older than her, the other was just a puppy. I told my husband after the latest incidence that perhaps we should not try to socialize her with other dogs anymore. This makes us very sad. We would love to have "play dates" for her, but at this point, we are worried that she will hurt another dog. We have been through (and graduated) beginner, intermediate and advanced classes. She even earned her CGC badge. She's great with humans - but other animals - particularly dogs - she becomes aggressive with. Has anyone had similar experiences? Any advice on what we can do? I'm very concerned that this behavior will grow worse as time goes on! I really need some help! |
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| Obsessive aggression. You need to work with a trainer......training you and your husband how to recognize the early signs and correct them before she becomes out of control. It's tough love for Lola for awhile ....her uprights need to take control of this, quite making excuses and realize she is a potential law suit if she injurs another dog or a person trying to break up a dog fight. She needs maximum exercise. As a sheepdog that prey drive can really kick in......her's is excessive and you need to trim it back. First get her really tired before she encounters other dogs. The dog park is not exercise for her. Then when she's nearly all done in she can go to the park, remain on leash and you watch her. The moment she becomes fixated, you correct it with action and a disapproving sound. No talking! They don't speak the language. She needs to know her action is wrong. Eventually she'll let dogs be around her, even the evil black lab but you are in charge, not Lola. Then she is let out on a longer leash, longer still until it can be clipped. Any bad move she is removed from the park immediately and taken home. Our guys can be bullies, but the uprights need to be stronger willed to stop the action. |
| Thank you for the reply. Lola loves the black lab... as well, there are many other dogs she "loves" and loves to play with, so it's not "all dogs" that she does not like. But we can't make sense of "why" she doesn't like certain dogs. The dogs that she seems to have a problem with are submissive, so it is not as if they try to over-dominate her. I wish there were "warning" signs to watch for. Unfortunately, the times she has became "vicious" with her snarling and in "attack" mode has occurred out of the blue and without warning.. like she is fine one second and totally out of control the next. There has been no time for us to correct any behavior before it got out of control. Lola is exercised at least one to two hours per day - she is walked twice a day and has a large fenced yard that we run and play in for hours each night and all day / evening on weekends. When it is raining outside, we play inside and do training / tricks to keep her mind active while getting out some of her energy. We do not take her to "doggie parks" due to a bad experience at a dog park when she was a puppy. We walk through our neighborhood park, and if there is a puppy (who we personally know and have a relationship with) we will walk to the local park and let them play for a few minutes. Or we will call and arrange a play date in one of the fenced in yards (again, she has been fine so far with this too). But she has been a bully at puppy daycare where there is a large group of dogs of all sizes / ages / breeds and she has gotten snippy with a few of them when they are pestering her and she doesn't want to play or when she is playing with something and another dog tries to take it away. I am not there to personally witness how this escalates, so I cannot comment on that. But I can tell you that the two most recent episodes that we have experienced have both been with dogs that belong to my husband's family and both have occurred out of the blue without any warnings. Once was at our house and the other was as at my in-laws house. I know she is very territorial of our yard and house (she chases all birds and bunnies from our yard),and from what I have read on other postings, that seems to be common for sheepies. But she is also seems to be territorial of other people's home / properties. It's almost like wherever she is (physically) she sees that as her property. Lola and I are starting a "manners" class in a few weeks, and I have some other classes that I plan to enroll her in this fall (treiball, loose leash walking, doga) to keep her active (physically and mentally). I was hoping someone else out there would have had a similar experience that would be able to tell me what they did to get their dog to be less aggressive towards other dogs. I think I'm on the right track with taking additional classes / training to continue to build our bond / relationship - which is great for her and I. But can I "train" Lola to be less dominant with other dogs? Can you train a dog to become more submissive without doing something cruel to them? I do not believe in treating a dog with cruelty (the mentality of beating a dog into submission) - that is just treating aggression with aggression... |
| It may be something that the other dog is doing that is the trigger. Bella is usually very even tempered but there was one dog in our agility class that would make her go nuts. I started watching the two and noticed that this dog was starring right at Bella and held his tail high in the air. I think Bella took this as aggressive and she responded in kind. Whenever I see this dog or any dog that stares at other dogs we go in the opposite direction. |
| thank you for the reply! My husband keeps telling me that I am psychoanalyzing her behavior. Other people tell me that she is a dog and this is what dogs do when they don't like another dog. I guess I see this point. As humans, if we don't like another person we have the ability to walk away / remove ourselves from their presence and make the conscious decision not to speak with them. Dogs aren't always able to do that. I see this as Lola's way of saying "I don't like you and I don't want to be around you". Regardless, I love all dogs - not just mine - and I would be devastated if she would hurt another dog. I am going to seek out a behaviorist to work with! I will keep you posted on our progress! |
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