New rescue occasional dog aggressive/reactive... (update @ post 10)

Hi there,

I'm glad I found your forum! It seems pretty active around here, so I hope I get some replies.

We have a 3 year old female boxer, which we've had since she was a puppy. We recently adopted a 1 year old male boxer, from a local home based rescue program. He was living with several other dogs, and had been in two foster homes with other dogs previously. He came over and met our dog, along with another dog we were looking at in rescue. He got along with our dog immediately, running and playing. We also got along well with the other rescue dog at our house (she was a female - submissive and young).

He has been to daycare, passed his interview, and did good for all 8 hours there with no signs of aggression. He has been to the local dog park a few times - which is where some of our issues seem to occur. He does well with dogs that aren't particularly interested in playing. However, when dogs are hyper and very playful, he seems to be getting overly stimulated and gets aggressive.

Our issue today was when an intact male german shepherd showed up to the park, and attempted to mount our female. Our new guy got upset by this, and growing/lounging started by both of them. Owner of intact dog quickly removed his dog, and we subsequently left as we were on our way out, anyway. A submissive female boxer was also at the park, and he did get a bit reactive with her when we fist came in. However as soon as she rolled onto her back (became submissive), they were friends and played together fine.

In our home, it seems as though our older girl is the more dominant dog. Is this behavior related to his need to dominant another dog? He has yet to challenge or become aggressive at all with our girl at home. With his age, I'm sure he will at some point. He is also much larger than our 3 year old, and probably already has 10-15 lbs on her.

Part of our issue is that he gets so dang excited, which gets other dogs excited, which ends up in growling until someone decides to submit. Then everyone is friends. However, as with the intact dog today, if a dominant dog decides to assert his dominance over our new guy - I do think a fight could easily break out.

I'm obviously not going to go to the dog park any more (especially with the regular today and his intact male dog!). Is there anything I can work on at home? We're in training and I'll speak to my trainer tonight. Meeting dogs on leash, in a controlled environment, perhaps? My parents have a large male Rottie he is going to need to meet at some point, and I am getting very nervous about it!

Thanks in advance! Sorry this got so long! I'm finding myself second guessing our decision to adopt rather than raise a puppy again....

Firstly, welcome to Dogsey!

OK, my first response would be that your new boy hasn't yet had time to settle into his new environment with your existing dogs... it can take weeks, or sometimes months, for a dog to settle into an existing family of dogs and humans....

Owning 2 Boxers, I have noticed that they play rougher than most types of dogs, and can sometimes be a bit rubbish at dialling it back in...

I suspect that he is not being dominant as such when playing generally, it's just that he is so hyped up he flicks from playing to being over-zealous very quickly - it's not 'true' aggression, just mis-directed and naughty behaviour.

Despite his unsure position in the family (as the new boy) he obviously see's your existing dogs as his - hence his behaviour with the GSD. I don't think it's all about dominance - he is just being possessive of what he sees as his.

Personally, I'd suggest lots of 'nice' on-lead meetings, in neutral areas - just walking with other well-behaved dogs on lead would do. Also, if you can find a good, non-reactive adult dog for him to be around off-lead, so he can learn more about 'good' and 'suitable' behaviour from a dog.

My experience of Boxers and other dogs is that they can be quite bully like in their play tactics. The few friendly ones that we meet are typically kept on leads by their owners because their enthusiasm (if you can put it like that!) doesn't often go down well with other dogs.

Obviously without seeing your dog interact, no one can say for sure why he behaves in the way he does. I wouldn't say he was "dominant" though as what you describe just sounds like his personality.

Not all dogs are candidates for dog parks and yours definitely isn't, which is ok. Plenty of dogs can't cope with the excitement of dog parks or similar environments and to be honest, I don't think they are ideal environments full stop. The action of chucking a bunch of dogs together in a small space and letting them do as they please can easily be a recipe for disaster.

I would stop thinking of dom and submissive and think about what is good and polite

One thing is you sound good at reading when things are getting too hyper - so I would work lots on instant whiplash turn recals/positive interruptor (check out kikopups youtube channel for that - its great) something you train that he instantly turns back to you

Then you can let him greet dogs and before it gets too much get him back to you to be rewarded for being good and give him a chance to calm down

It may be a good idea to let him greet onlead just now so you can control if he dosent respond and come back, get him in the habit of greeting politly then turning back to you for a reward for his calm greeting

imo if his behaviour has caused another dog who was doing nothing wrong to flip on her back then he was being rude
another dog trying to mount your bitch was rude - I can see why both your dogs were not happy with that
If possible I would call both your dogs away - behind you if needs be and tell the other owner to get hold of their dog - your dog growling wasnt bad - he was just telling you he wasnt happy with the situation - so its up to you to sort out the situation

Sounds like in the main he is doing pretty well, just needs a bit of work on his excitment and manners

Thanks for the quick replies! Our girl gets pretty excited when meeting new dogs, however she has better manners than the new guy. This wasn't always the case with her, she did tend to irritate other dogs a lot when she was younger (more so annoy than anything).

We've decided to head to training tonight instead of later this week. We have had private lessons for a few weeks now, with our trainers dogs present intermittently. We're going to work them into the lessons more as the weeks go on. Her dogs are very well trained, and I feel more confident in his interactions with them.

Dog parks can be such a good experience or such a bad one I've learned. This particular dog park is completely open to the public, no requirements posted. I suppose we were just trying too much too soon with the poor fella.

We will stick to on leash work for now. We have a humane society that rents their dog park by the hour, for private use. I will take them there instead to run around and train off leash.

We are going to try to go to a baseball game that has a "Pup Night" October 2nd. We're trying to have two well behaved dogs to take, so we will be working pretty hard!

I now completely agree with ya here. We have tried to go during the week during the day, when there are less dogs and more regular dog park attendees (rather than just drop by folks and first time visit folks). We've only been on days where there has been 2-3 other dogs there, but I think it is just too much too soon with him. The dog park is quite large (about 3 acres total), which in itself is a bit of a problem because the dogs end up at the opposite end you're at very quickly.

Agree with the above,

Boxers can be so over the top it can switch in a second from noisey play to something a bit more serious.

Its a bit like watching two kids playing, you are sitting on the side lines and thinkings, "someone`s going to end up crying in a min", and someone usually does... its the same with Boxers, they LOVE rough , the rougher the better, and this is where it gets them into trouble, 1) other dogs may not like it, 2) if a escalates to trouble, some will get off on it and once they learn to fight they become good at it.

Your boy seems in general to be of good temperament, albeit to exuberant, I guess he has not bee taught any self control or manner, but the plus side is , you seem to have picked this up , and are acting on it.

We don`t have dog parks here in the UK, (thankfully) and from what I see and hear, they are a place that invites trouble due to the amount of off lead dogs in small places.

I think you are doing the right thing, stay away from them , and find a more relaxing environment for him to play,

Training is good, it will help him with self control.

Implement it at home also when he is playing with your girl, I used to use the word "enough" with my two, I would allow rough play, but as with the kids scenario, when I saw it getting out of control, I would stop it, one word from mum, and it was over, and they would sulk off not happy.

I would not keep him away from other dogs though, find nice even tempered dogs for him to play with and control the play, he has to be able to continue to meet and greet other dogs, if the other dogs likes rough and tumble allow it to a degree, but call a stop , sooner than later, it will all help him learn where his off switch is.

It's not the size of the body but the mind!

This is the best analogy I've heard! I love it!

We have not been back to the dog park. We'll be sticking to on leash dog visits. I'm still pretty nervous about visiting my parents Rottweiler next weekend - but we'll see how it goes and play it by ear!

So, we've been training a great deal since my last post. Last night at our trainers was the first night that new dogs were there (it is private lessons, and there just happened to be other dogs coming early for their next lesson). One of the dogs came over to meet my guy (after asking appropriately), and my dog got quite aggressive very fast. No warning growl, nothing. Just very out of control, lunging, barking, teeth showing. They were separated and never touched each other. I stayed throughout the rest of their class, just sitting and practicing some attention commands ("watch" - to watch me and give me attention). We left and he was much calmer and was able to give me full attention with the other dogs. We practiced sitting, downs, and heels with the other dogs (3 of them) in the room too). He was kind of in a corner when meeting the other dog, on leash, and the other dog was walking towards him. I had my leash tight - apparently it should have been loose, per my trainers.

So, that brings us to today. We have to go to my parents house this weekend, and we need to take the dogs. Our older girl gets along great with their dog (a large male neutered Rottie), however new guy has never met him.

We're meeting on neutral territory (the neighbors house), as well as having all dogs leashed. Our guy seems to get defensive with the leash on, however, so we're thinking of using a long leash or retractable leash (that way it is almost like he is off lead however he'll be able to be pulled away if need be).

My parents dog isn't all that well socialized. He has met and got along with smaller dogs (other family members dogs), but he hasn't exactly been taken places and socialized with larger dogs (or male dogs). All the dogs he knows he's known since he was a puppy, so this will be the first meeting of another larger dog in his adulthood. Combine that with our aggressive tendencies, and I'm a little on edge. I've never seen their dog be aggressive with other dogs, but he is very large and definitely has potential.

My OH will be in charge of our boy for the first meeting, as he says I get quite nervous and therefore make the dog edgy too. We're taking our crates, and are prepared to keep them separated if they do not get along.

Anybody else have any thoughts or tips? After they first meet, if all goes well, we'll go on a short walk to my parents and stay outside for a while. We'll go inside when everyone is comfortable. I'm hoping our older girl will help give him some confidence, and show him that there is nothing to be afraid about.

Thanks again guys!