What's he doing? Aggression but not...(snaps, growls at other dogs, doesn't fight)

I have to say although I can guess at what Ed's trying to tell me, I can't read him

He's such a lovely dog, adores Takara and will ignore most other dogs but there are a couple of dogs he knows and growls at and if he sees a dog he doesn't know it's more common that he has a go than he ignores it.

The thing is, Ed carries his tail straight up all the time. So I can't read him by that but don't know if he gives other dogs the wrong impression.

I watch him and the other dog doesn't seem to offer any aggression and Ed runs up wagging his tail and then just lunges at the dog's back and snaps. He never bites, he just snaps, growls and walks off again.
If I keep him on a lead (obviously don't want to frighten other dog owners!) he's much worse and just stands growling and occasionally snaps and snarls while wagging his tail.

I've put it down to a few things.
Possibly because he feels he has to protect Takara - but Takara is the most dominant of the two and Ed is castrated.
He's worse when his movement is more restricted (ie. when his legs hurt)
I don't know how much socialisation he's actually had
He's 11 and a half years old.

It's upsetting me a bit because he is such a sweet natured dog in every other way and people don't see that side of him. I feel that if I could read him better and understand why he was doing it I'd know what to do.

Sometimes I can distract him with food and talk to him instead of his lead on but sometimes I can't.

What do I do when he goes at another dog?

At the moment I call him to me and while ever he's quiet I praise him but then ignore him again when he starts growling. This has worked for a couple of dogs but sometimes he just takes no notice of me!

I think in cases like this, it's time to look at the reasons why he could exhibit this behaviour, and then rule out the obvious wrong ones, before finally narrowing it down to the real cause. So why could he lunge or sit growing at other dogs?

1. The other dog is poorly socialised and so is giving off the wrong signals, making your dog believe that its intent is aggression towards you or it.

2. The other dog is actually giving off the right signals and it really does mean aggression. Remember, a dog doesn't have to sit physically barking and growling to indicate aggression to another dog. Certain eye contact can be an indicator. Though usually, the dog is so well under control from its owner, it can't do any more than that.

3. Most often the case, the dog feels responsible for your protection, which it shouldn't at all.

How is the dog when walking? Does it lead you, do you lead it, or is it every man and dog for itself? What about when other family Members walk him, does he still do it? If you leave from one room to another, what does the dog do?

I ask because usually it's down to case three; the dog feeling overly responsible for your well-being, which is the complete reverse of what a dog's life should actually be about. In an ideal situation, the only concern the dog should have in life is where shall I lie down and relax today.

Thanks GSDLover -

To be honest, I can't see it being 1 or 2 because our other dog gets on well with the dogs that Eddy snaps at.

I have wondered if it's because he's giving off the wrong signals due to his tail being held up and so the other dog gives off aggressive signals back.

As for case 3, Eddy is a rescue dog and we haven't had him long so I wouldn't have thought he feels responsible for us. He's the submissive one of our two dogs and although he does pull a little on the lead, when we walk around the park off lead he generally walks next to me or behind me.

He is 11 and a half and I don't know what socialisation he has had throughout his life or what may have happened previously or whether he's just grumpy because he's old.

We're going to get him to the vets because he hasn't had a vet check since he came to live with us so we're going to see if that may be the cause but I'm a bit stuck on how to read him!

The tail alone shouldn't be enough to give a sign of agression. If you look at any dog in a stressful state, it gives off various signals all at once, the tail being only one of them. It then has to take into account the mouth, the stance, the ears, the position, the eyes and so forth. For example, a tail in the air can just as equally be and an indicator that the dog is just relaxed and ,confident in what he's doing. You have to factor all the other things as well.

I notice you stated originally that he lunges for the dog's back. Is the upper neck end of the back, or the lower bottom end of the back? Reaching for the upper neck end of the back, and trying to put its head over the other dog's back is a show of dominance, especially if accompanied with a paw over the back too. You'll usually see this enacted by a dominant dog over a submissive dog.

You say that the dog shouldn't feel responsible for you, but as you're the one who provides for its needs, you can bet your bottom dollar that it does. The question is how much so?

I can use my own dog, Blondi, as a perfect example of a dog who took on too much responsibility. When we first got her a couple of months ago as a rescue dog, she would quite literally follow me everywhere. If I got up from the sofa to go to another room, she would follow. She would barge through doors before me, as though she needed to check the room out first before me, to ensure that all was clear. More similarly to yours, she would lunge at other dogs when walking.

This puts an awful lot of pressure on any dog, as it not only has to move about for its own needs, but also for yours too. Blondi came from a family where both she and the female owner were victims of violence. She could have gone one of two ways; overly fearful of people in response to her own violence, or overly protective in response to the violence placed upon her female owner. We received Blondi only weeks after the violence and so it had quickly manifsted itself in her.

Only by releasing this pressure from her, bit by bit (something which, despite her incredible progress still continues) could she return to not having to worry about my safety or my partner's. I can now happily move about the house without her following me, or barging through doors before me. When we are walking, only one time out of ten will she make an attempt to bark at other dogs, or lunge at them. In fact, the other day, she completely ignored a cat sat right next to her when walking past it. Whenever we encounter another dog, I walk confidently past it, showing her that there no issue to be even thought about. It's just another dog. If I'm not anxious, you don't need to be anxious for me.

It would be helpful to get a more complete description of your dog's day to day behaviour patterns. Though, as you state, you should go to the vet to rule out any possible medical condition such as failing eye-sight and other ailments which affects a dog in older years.

Thanks GSDLover

Our younger bitch has been dominant over us (though she is much better now) but I haven't noticed the same sort of behaviour with Eddy, however it is quite possible that what you say is right.

Eddy's routine is quite simple. We go out in a morning for a walk, then come home and eat (although trying to get them to eat before walks to minimise stealing of food!)
Then Ed has a sleep and later plays with Takara,
I take Takara out on her own in the middle of the day because Ed can't go as far as her but sometimes if he's feeling spritely he comes too,
He generally sleeps or plays with Takara, he won't play with toys but I do give him training and play with him when he feels like it in small bursts throughout the day, as I do with Takara.

He refuses to go through any door until I've gone through it (whereas Takara pushes her way through before me) and although he does get up on beds and the sofa, he doesn't get up until he's asked and I say it's ok (again, Takara's quite happy to do as she likes!)

When he lunges for other dogs, I'm not sure if it's the back of the neck (I thought this at first) or not because he did make a nice big wet patch on one dogs side, just about her ribcage.

I know that my reaction isn't helping because I don't know what to do - keep him on a lead and know that he'll be worse or let him off lead and risk him snapping and other dog owners getting upset.

I'm sure he can tell that I'm wary when other dogs approach but I always try my best to show him that I'm not worried about them.

We're going to a class next Tuesday (I went last night and spoke to the trainer) where he can get socialisation and she particularly focuses on getting dogs to walk around with their attention on their owner, not on other dogs so hopefully that will help!

I should first state that I'm not a qualified dog behaviourist but rather someone who has an intense interest in dog behaviour, and studying why they do what they do, as well as being a lifelong dog owner. (Two dogs of which have had exceptionally strong wills.) Just thought I should clarify that point before writing anything further.

There really is only one answer to this question. Aside from the legal obligation that by law you must have your dog under full control when outside, if you are not 100% confident that you can control your dog when out, then it absolutely must be on a leash until such time that you can be. This is the fairest for all concerned; you, the dog, other dogs, and other dog walkers.

This will help more than you might think, as if the dog is on the leash, you will have more confidence and control when potentially aggressive situations arise.

Dogs are great (in fact the best there is) at making issues of non-issues and you are 100% correct that your dog will detect your anxiety when approaching other dogs and therefore react to that anxiety. That is not to say that you are the cause however. It's a little of both from what I can determine.

My advice would be

Always walk on a leash until you have full confidence that you don't need to.

When approaching other dogs don't let your anxiety filter through to the dog. Keep a loose leash and a calm and relaxed voice. Don't over-command the dog in panic. There is a woman who walks her dog near to us, and I can tell when she's panicked, as she starts issuing a hundred different commands to her dog, as though it might luckily pick one to do instead of chasing the other dog she's approaching. The dog, as you can imagine, completely ignores her and then she starts shouting at it with terms such as, and I quote, "Kyle, don't you even think about it" -- Interestingly, I've never seen that command work yet!

If practical and you feel more comfortable, cross over the road whenever another dog is approaching. Again, do so in a very calm manner. What you really want to portray to your dog is that the other dog is completely insignificant and just not worth bothering with.

If it's not practical, then simply keep walking past the other dog in a very confident manner (I prefer to place myself between the two dogs), regardless of what your dog does. Most likely he will pull towards the dog, but if you continue walking, he will have no choice but to follow.) You won't need to pull him or anything else, the momentum of you walking will suffice.

Take a pocket full of treats with you. Immediately after you've passed the dog, reward him. This will help him to build a positive against meeting, and more importantly, passing other dogs.

Another school of thought is that you can sort of lead the dogs nose approaching the meeting, by placing a treat in your hand while you approach the other dog, and then placing your hadn in front of the dog's nose. The theory being that he will be more interested in what you have in your hand than the other dog. I personally have two issues with this. Firstly, it's unlikely that your dog would see a pocket size treat as a greater reward than being able to play/fight with another dog. Secondly, it's rewarding the approach, not the successful passing, in my eyes. The reverse of what we actually want here.

Other things you might also consider, as it's hard to see any exact cirumstance:

Doing a complete turnaround when another dog approaches, and leading him away from the situation.

Placing a muzzle on the dog. I stress here with utmost clarity, I detest muzzles on dogs, and it was the first thing I reversed about Blondi when I received her. She came with the muzzle that the past owner told us she needed when walking, I (some might say stupidly) binned it, and it's never been seen since. I firmly believe that if a dog "needs" a muzzle then it's not ready to be walked in areas where other dogs walk anyway, and more training is needed. However, (aside from legal requirements for some dogs) I do see that, for some, it can be a way of having confidence that should a fight ensue, the damage your dog causes will be greatly reduced.

The keywords for you absolutely have to be calm and confidence. I don't know of any two better qualities for an owner to have when dealing with 'spirited' canines.

There isn't going to be any overnight solution, though I have to add, that I have found Mikki Dog Walking Harness (Around £8.00) from most pet stores, an absolutely invaluable aid in cases such as this. Some are against them as they feel it teaches the dog to walk well on a harness, not just to walk well. I say they are a great way to start getting your dog used to walking where it should be when your dog is strong and has natural pulling tendencies. The harness prevents them from pulling by the dog's own balance mechanisms, though in no way hampers the dog's walking ability. It should be seen as temproary aid to a solution, not as a solution in itself. It just helps to make walk training much easier on spirited canines.

Thanks for that GSDLover,

I have read a lot of what you have said already as I too am interested in animal behaviour and training but there are some things I hadn't thought of.

Ed is usually walked off a lead in a park where we very rarely see new dogs but whenever I see a dog he doesn't know/doesn't like I call him to me before he gets chance to see the other dog. He's also fine from a distance it's just as we get closer so I call him to me and depending on the day, I put him on a lead or just distract him with a treat and talking to him.

I will take your advice and I will try and get him out on his own without Takara while I have the summer off and meet up with friends with dogs to help him get used to walking past them.

As I said, the training club we're joining focuses very much on getting dogs to ignore other dogs and look to the owner for guidance rather than running up to play/attack so that too should help.

Thankyou for your suggestions!

I'm sure the training classes will be of great benefit, if for no other reason than to give him access to more dogs!

Good luck!