aggresive to other dogs

[moira]

help. We have rescued a 2 year old white boxer who is by the way fully hearing. She is a lovely dog in all respects except when we have her out she goes all aggressive whebn another dog is about whether it is in the distance or close by. We have a four year old brindle boxer called Kramer and I feel our lovely walks we had together are being ruined by Holly. I now take them out separately. She also pulls a lot on the lead. I love her to bits and would be grateful for any help to my problem.:(

 

[Mommy2Cool]

Hello and Welcome to the best site!:D

Congrats on your new baby, Holly!

I really have no experience on your aggresion problem, maybe one of the other members has advice. Are Holly and Kramer getting along otherwise?

However, I can tell you that the Gentle Leader we got for Nash has helped tremendously, it's like walking a whole new dog! It fits around her face, kinda like a muzzle, but she can still bark, and drink, and lick!

The Gentle Leader may also help with your other problem, as it allows you to keep her focused on you.

I am not sure if this helps, but Good Luck! I am sure someone else will have a better solution

Keep us posted on how things are going!

 

[tingoddess]

I would suggest picking up the book The Culture Clash by Jean Donoldson. If she will wear the gentle leader it may help with pulling but I don't think it's going to have any help with her getting all wacky when she see's another dog. Being she is a rescue, I don't know how much of her history is available to you. Dogs on a leash can sometimes feel insecure or trapped and threatened by seeing another dog even if at a distance. It really speaks to their early socialization and what kind of experiences they had. You may be able to comletely reverse this and at the very least you may be able to control it. The book I mentioned is wonderful and goes into detail about this kind of stuff. For now try walking them separately like you have been. Take along treats. When you see a dog and she starts to tense up or starts to growl or bark put her into a sit and have her focus on you. This should momentarliy stop the unwanted behavior and you have her doing something that is desirable instead. Reward this with lots of praise and a treat. Get the book! Many people hear have read it and recommend it highly. I loved it.

 

[Billysmum]

First of all - welcome to the board - nice to see someone else from the UK. (Incidentally, my husband is from Ayrshire).

Anyway - I agree with Mommy2cool about the gentle leader. We use one on our Rottweiler and it's like walking a different dog. Such an improvement.

As for the aggression I don't know what to suggest. As Holly is a rescue, you just don't know what she has been through. Having said that, Billy our Boxer who we have had since 8 wks old (he's nearly 5 yrs now) is aggressive to other dogs. when we go for a walk, we have to get him back on the lead when we see another dog coming. He particularly hates golden retrievers! I don't know why. He will never pick a fight with smaller dogs though, always those that are the same size or bigger. We have tried no end of scolding or treats if he does good it has made no difference - we just keep him away from other dogs.

 

[Marcy]

We are proud parents of two boxers. One is 2yrs so laid back and gentle and has never been agressive to other dogs. Our second dog just turned 1 and he's very aggressive to other dogs except those dogs that are in our immediate family. I was curious to know if does sense that these other dogs are "family members" or if it's just because they are little dogs??

Our Sarge tried to take on a massive Rotty once and taking him anywhere there will be other dogs is out of the question!!! We went to get our pictures taken with Santa and that was crazy!!

It seems like when we are walking them outside and there is another dog that's walking with it's owner or another dog that happens to be in it's own backyard, Sarge will go nuts. We scold him and tell him no bark, bad dog and then he will turn and take his aggression out on Gunner and pick a fight with him.

Any suggestions as to how to stop this behavior? We got him when he was 5 wks old and tried to socialize him with as many dogs as we could and I tried to take him to puppy school but he was aggressive there too and at such a young age I discontinued the classes because I didn't want him to hurt someone else's dog. He's also not very fond of kids, my friend and her 5 year old was staying with us for a few weeks and Sarge got his nose all out of joint and started peeing on things and was very mean to Dalton barking at him and trying to jump up and bite him, knocking him down. He "Sarge" hasn't been around kids very much how do I fix his aggression towards children? I can handle with keeping him away from other dogs if need be, but some day we'd like to have kids but I feel I need to wait until Sarge matures a bit.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Marcy & Ryan
Altoona, IA

 

[Angel]

There is hope

Moria, if it makes you feel better. I saved my Boxer Milly almost a year ago. I wondered why the lady I got her from gave me a choke collar. Once we got home I discovered that she will chase, growled, and pulled towards everything. People, cats, cars, etc.
My advice to you is to be consistant with praise and discipline. Taking small treats with you is a must. There are a lot of ways to correct a dog from pulling. You may want to see about a basic obidience class for Holly. A class can do wonders. As for when you see another dog. The worst thing you can do is look hard at the other dog and tence up. What I found that has worked for me is to totally ignore the other dog. Don't even look it's way. Hum if you have to. While Holly is barking, pulling, etc say let's go and look straight ahead of you and keep walking. When you find that Holly is listening to you and eyes are off the dog, while the other dog is still in sight, give her treats tell her good girl and keep walking. Also you may want to work on Holly giving you eye contact. You can do that by calling her name. When she looks at you give her a treat. You first start with no distractions then work your way up adding distractions a little at a time. When it gets to the piont where you can call her name in the middle of one of her little episodes with another dog. Tell her be nice and let's go. Don't give up hope. Holly is new to all this and isn't feeling to secure yet. Milly is now interacting pretty nicely with other dogs and has stopped barking her head off to people. She will let people pet her now and has completely stopped going after cars. Holly needs your guidance and reassurence. I also recommend The Culture Clash. It will be a major profit for you and Holly. I wish you the best and I am sure that things will get better in time. Be patient.

 

[moira]

hollys troubles

Thanks everyone for all your advice. It feels good to know that I am not the only one that has had this kind of problem. I will give all the advice a good try and will get back to you to let you all know how things are going. Thanks again. Glad I found this site. its great. Merry Christmas when it comes. Moira

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

Also you might want to investigate a video called "Calming Signals: What Your Dog Tells You" by Turid Rugaas, and the companion book "On Talking Terms with Dogs"

These are excellent sources for helping with the problem you describe.

Good luck.