Help For Dog Being Bossy To Other Dogs

My Dad has a 2 year old rescue pitbull.

He has had her for about a year.

She is pretty docile around most people but when it comes to other dogs she becomes "dominant and argumentative," which were the exact words of her rescuers and occasional dog sitters.

My dad thinks she behaves this way around dogs because she hasn't been socialized well enough yet.

Maybe it has alot to do with her breed.

Any suggestions on what we could do to help her?

One thing that has often helped some of the rescue dogs I work with is to find a really calm/easygoing dog and take them on a walk together. I'm not sure if this could help your dad's dog, but just something to think about.

What I do is find a friend to help, and we walk the dogs side by side. We don't have them barge up and greet one another head on, but just walk with several feet between them at first so there is no pressure to interact. You can even walk one in front of the other so they can do a little butt sniffing. Then, perhaps after 10 mins or so (or longer) they could sniff each other a little and interact. Or, if they seem a little uncomfortable, then no reason to let them interact. Just stick with walking.

I've just found that this is a way to help some dogs socialize a bit in a safe, controlled way. Every dog is different. Some dogs get really comfortable with each other after doing this. Others need more time. Sometimes we're even able to let them play for a bit afterwards.

Oh yeah, I wish I would have thought of that. I remember seeing things like that on The Dog Whisperer.

Thanks for your suggestions.

My girl Sophie is about ten years old and has gotten dog aggressive to a point where she can't be around other dogs except our Callie. He is an AmBull about three years old. Fortunately he doesn't challenge her. He betters her in strength, but when she gets into her moods he drops his head and walks away.

Apparently this is common with some females of the bully breeds. Sophie is an American Staffordshire. Perhaps a trainer or behaviorist can help your dog. At two years they might still be open to learning new behaviors. I wish you the best.

Thanks, love.

I will also take this into consideration. I don't think my father has ever went to a trainer or behaviorist for any of his dogs before.

Are they costly?

I think that might be one reason he hasn't considered this.