if i have indie on a lead she can be aggressive towards other dogs. However offlead she has no problems whatsoever and if another dog starts, she quickly submits. my theory being that on a lead she can pick up on my tension easier and also she is trapped, so the fight or flight situation turns into fight. I feel alot of owners can unintentionally cause aggression in their dogs for example by pulling them back or being nervous about another dog because their dog will pick up on this and think that there really IS something to worry about.

If i have indie on a loose lead and allow her to approach the other dog, she is fine. If i have her on a tight lead, she will growl and lunge for them. But also because alot of people have misconceptions about indie they in turn pull their dog back which sends mixed signals to the dogs and can cause problems.

eek dont know if that made sense, but i know wot i mean

I wonder about dog-aggression, and one thing that worries me is what Satch picks up off myself, and other people. Some people who have the common sense to give us a wide berth also react with horror that there's a rottweiler even present - surely Satch picks up on this, which you'd think would therefore make him nervy around other dogs?

It's not always small-breed owners that react weirdly. When Satch was 10 months old we were out walking, Satch on-lead, when we met an elderly couple with an extremely nervous and shy 6 month old rottie bitch. The chap practically dragged his puppy over to Satch and asked if he was friendly. I said yes, he then shoved his puppy towards us. Satch was all tail-wagging, and then, the juvenile gobs***e that he is, proceeded to try to hump this terrified bitch. Then owner reacted in pure horror, as if Satch had just tried to rip his bitch's throat out!

Despite still being great with other dogs, if not a bit show-offy and trying to dominate, I'm always concerned Satch's gonna eventually pick up on other people's fears and become nervous around other dogs.

So, I don't think dog-aggression is always down to the owners lack of socialisation. I know quite a few dog-aggressive dogs who became this way following, sometimes, a single bad incident with another dog.

Becs

HI Jess

in answer to your question - and dont worry no its not nasty. I think thats part of the problem - until you have a dog aggressive dog you dont realise how hard it is.

My dog is dog aggressive probably for a number of reasons,
1 - he is a staffie and regardless of what anyone says many arent great with other dogs ( although many are)

2 - he had had 3 owners by the time he was 1 1/2 yrs old - so how insecure was he - no idea what training or socialisation he had before us - probably very little

3 - yes we did get a behaviourist out - who I have to say wasnt very good - he initially said that bruno was aggressive due to his diet !! - made me change to raw feeding which Bruno hated - and did not change his attitude at all.
he then said he felt that Bruno had an injury and was probably more aggressive due to this

he also made me walk him on a halti and collar ( which if any staffie owner might appreciate - we went through 4 halti's b4 the behavioruist agreed that probabl;y it wasnt right for him - he used to stick his tongue out - pull the halti in to his mouth - chew it until it broke and then he was free - the only reason i had any control as he was still attached because I had attached halti to his collar.

we then went down the road of introducing him to his VERY well behaved collie - but on Bruno's territory ( in the local park) as at the time we didnt have a garden - needless to say this didnt settle him either -

He also had me letting bruno knw that he was doing something wrong by growling at him - which to be honest Bruno just didnt get !!! he would just look at me and carry on regardless.

Bruno is good in the house - will follow all commands - take him outside though and he is a different dog - pays no attention to me whastever. when he sees another dog he starts barking and pulling - and no matter what you say or do it doesnt stop.

That was a year ago - since then we have moved house and we now have a garden. i started to walk Bruno with my friends dog ( she has a 8 yr old bitch Heinz 57 ) We eased into it - basically I started walking behind my friend so that bruno could see josie and see she was no threat to him - we gradually caught up with her and were walkign side by side - bruno was wanting to sniff nothing more -

we did this over a period of weeks - and now we let the dogs off together up in the hills - Josie cant stand Bruno and growls and snaps at him and he follows her around like a lost puppy ( think he has fallen for her ) he never growls or anything else at her

However this is the only dog so far we can do this with - so in answer to your question Jess - I guess for us it just takes a lot of time - I wont accept that my dog will always be aggressive - I hope eventually that the more i do the above the more relaxed he will become as I feel with Bruno - his reasoning his insecurity, defensive and he just has little socialisation.

Its hard though once you have a dog aggressive dog - to be able to socialise them - you see its kinda a vicious circle !!!

hope that gives you an insight into my world !!!
dani

yeh, i really do think alot of the dog aggressive encounters are due to the way the owners r reacting, or how they have reacted in the past to thier dog meeting other dogs.

as i said, indie is great with dogs when shes offlead, but on lead she is receiving mixed signals from me. She will play happily with this particular dog when shes offlead, but the minute shes onlead she wants to kill him. This has happened on several occassions

brundog, i think with perserverance and gentle socialising bruno will gradually get better with other dogs. its a shame u didnt have him from the beginning because u cant tell what experiences he had when he was a pup.

my rottie is dog aggresive too
not though any thought of our own

we got harley a year ago,he got on straight away with our 3 bitches
but any dog outside he hates

i tried dog classes but hated the way they treated him,so took him out
we are now on a waiting list for him to go the RAF base and be helped there

i hope we can over come this with harley as he is hard work when i,m out walking him

i agree with becs it is not always down to the owners lack of socialisation

thanks jenny

Thats exactly it - I know that he was left indoors for long periods of time in previous home - so he probably spent most of the day looking out of the window at everything going past - cos he is the same with birds, squirrels, rabbits etc etc !!! At least he treats everything the same !!

he is better off the lead too - but I cant trust him enough to be off the lead as even although he gets on with josie now - he reacts differently with every other dog so dont know which way he will go !!!

I have tried muzzling him so that he can be off the lead with other dogs but think this makes him worse as he feels more resrticted - and also he has managed to get every muzzle we have tried off his face in about 2 mins flat !!!

ive found that when indie has a bad experience with a dog, she can be aggressive to any dog that looked like the one who attacked her for a good month. I kno its hard, but try and keep all his encounters positive. have u thought about taking him to a socialisation class. Maybe not let him join in, but let him watch so he knows that other dogs arent a threat?

If I had a dog aggressive dog I would never let it off the lead I just don't think it's worth the risk IMO. I've never owned one as yet but the one's I've walked I've always kept on lead for my own peace of mind really. I think I'd also have them muzzled on and off lead, I know some people think this is cruel but I think with the right introduction a muzzle can be well accepted, again just for peace of mind.
This is something that really annoys me too, some people have there dogs on a constantly taught lead and they wonder why their dogs react the way they do to other dogs. I know if I had someone tugging on my neck everytime I met someone I'd feel uneasy to say the least!

This is something that really annoys me too, some people have there dogs on a constantly taught lead and they wonder why their dogs react the way they do to other dogs. I know if I had someone tugging on my neck everytime I met someone I'd feel uneasy to say the least![/quote]

I take your point - and its very true - however my point is that if other owners had a little bit more respect and had their dogs on leads ( or under control and not galloping towards mine ) when in clear view of my dog harnessed and on a lead ! Then perhaps I wouldnt have to resort to hanging on to my four stone hunk of muscle to prevent him from lunging and biting their dog when its sniffing his bum ???!!

That is kinda my point. I woudl love to be able to walk my dogs off lead in areas where this is an option, however even if Bruno was an angel - I would still have him on a lead in areas where there are other dogs ( unless I already knew that he was ok with said dogs, and they with him and their opwners were happy too)

You wouldnt run up to a complete stranger in the street and start talking to them or getting in their face - so why should your dog ???

Anyway as you can tell as an owner of a difficult dog its a touchy subject for me - and I think on gauging the reaction to this post a lot of people feel the same way.