Dog Aggression

Hi All
Just wanted to ask a question about dog aggression. My Staffie is a bit hit and miss when this is concerned and have always thought it may be her protecting me or being dominant over me.

When I walk her, sometimes she will go up to dogs and be fine and then sometimes, depending what kind of mood she is in, normally 9 times out of 10 she is fine, then she just flies at the other dog, for no reason really. She used to get on really well with my sisters border collie but now we cannot get together with the dogs, last christmas we arrived at their house, Stella ran from the front door right to the back door, straight into Baileys bed and attacked her!!!! When they are out on a walk they are fine

When my husband walks her she is absolutely fine and he will not tolerate any 'funny business'

I would really like to get this sorted as it can be a bit embarrassing and people cannot understand the difference , they always say if she does that to a dog what would she do to a child??????? bit drastic because she would never do anything to child other than lick them to death or just be great with them. they don't get the staffie persona sadly.

I very much doubt she is protecting you - unless the dog concerned is attacking you. And no, she`s not being dominant - please read this..

http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proce...8203&O=Generic

She is probably unsure about the other dog. The reason she doesn`t do it to all dogs is that dogs can tell gender etc from afar because they have keener senses. So she knows immediately far more about an approaching dog that you do. You may find she gets most worried by young ill-mannered dogs, or unspayed bitches etc.
I would socialise her more but don`t force her. Stay at the distance she is happy with. If your recall needs to be improved, keep a lead or line on her until it is better.
It is not the staffy nature to be aggressive or timid. It`s a matter of upbringing mostly. So take her to a good training class, improve your recall and socialise her with nice dogs so she learns manners and gets more relaxed. And perhaps she should be muzzled until then?

would really like to get this sorted as it can be a bit embarrassing and people cannot understand the difference , they always say if she does that to a dog what would she do to a child??????? bit drastic because she would never do anything to child other than lick them to death or just be great with them. they don't get the staffie persona sadly.

1 There is no legislation for ***holes unfortunately and you cannot stop people making a link that does not exist (between dog/child centred behaviour)
2 What you CAN do is stop expecting others to have a crystal ball and know what your dog "means" when you don't know and
3 Ensure that your dog does not rehearse this behaviour which obviously gives them cause for concern and allows them to come to their own conclusions.

I am not sure what sort of socialisation you have done with this dog but it sounds like she has not had sufficient exposure to socially competent dogs so that she adapts her approach, with that in mind, consideration must be given to the fact that as a breed they are not famous for being a "hail fellow well met" type of dog, so caution must be exercised.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I was very specific when I had her as a puppy to go to all the classes with her etc, she is an shining student in agility but has even shown a little of this behaviour at classes there. I just think sometimes when she is outside waiting to come in whilst we are erecting the course she is just so afraid of what she might be missing she creates!!!!!

I am very careful also, she always goes off her lead and has been great as said with most dogs. On reading your comments earlier about young dogs and in season bitches you are probably right because she does prefer dogs so that would explain lots of things. She also does not like dogs sniffing her bottom, but that is part of the meeting process.

I never underestimate the power these dogs have or dogs in general, I know they have thought about it before it even enters our minds and know their sense of everything is extremely strong.

thanks again, I will be working on meeting lots of my friends with their dogs and getting over this little problem, I am sure she will be ok

baz

That link was great. I'm starting to understand a little more about my GSD. Here's me thinking he was dominant, but if I read between the lines, he's mostly anxious when he acts in that manner.

Hi all
Still working with Stella to help her feel more comfortable around other dogs and took her out yesterday afternoon. the first encounter we had was she was slightly low down having a pee and a very excited young spaniel ran down the hill to her and basically really startled her and Stella pinned it down!!!! I told the dog to go away and we carried on our walk. We met a lady with three young labroadors and Stella was great with them, wagging tails and lots of sniffing, we then met a very very small jack russell and again she almost ignored the dog but walked happily past without making any jestures at all. Near the end of the walk we met a very bouncy boy Cocker spaniel and they had a lovely time running around for about 10 minutes, she really enjoyed herself and showed no signs of being aggressive or anything. I just think I need to concentrate on doing a bit more meeting up with other dogs regularly. Will keep you all posted on her progress