Dominance? Aggression?

[Chuki]

Chuki is 12 months and lately he has been having a hard time playing with other dogs.

A little background - He's our only dog so he's not around a lot of other dogs. Also, we live in Ecuador so the dog culture is rather different. Most people have small dogs and most people don't train their dogs. Chuki can obey commands (sit, lie down, stay, etc). He's never been too good at reading other dogs (ie. if another dog snarls at him he might go over and check it out).

What we've noticed lately is that when he meets a dog on a walk or in the park he sits and wants to stare at the other dog. We try to get him to focus his attention on us, which works for about 5 seconds and then he's back looking at the other dog. When we meet a new dog, Chuki's hair on his back stands up. We know this is a bad sign but the unusual thing is (at least to us) is that even if his hair stands up, his tail wags like crazy. So this is the first question... why does that happen?

The second problem is, sometimes after all of this has happened Chuki puts a paw on the other dogs back. To me this is clearly a sign of dominance, but I want to double check. Sometimes the two dogs will run and play, sometimes there will be a fight. The fights are happening more frequently now and, as everyone knows, they're really stressful.

I don't know what to do or how to help Chuki understand that he can't put a paw on another dog without the other dog getting mad. We want to take him to a behaviorist but that's just not possible here in Ecuador. So the third question is, what's the best strategy with Chuki until we get back to the States and can see a behaviorist?

 

[Caney Creek]

Hair raising along the back (raised hackles) is not necessarily a bad thing. It's comparable to a human getting goosebumps; it's more due to excitement than anything else, which of course does not necessarily signal aggression. It just means he's anxiously anticipating the meeting that's about to happen. It could be that he's anticipating a fight, or it could be that he's anticipating play-time. You wouldn't be able to tell though just by looking at the hair on his back what he's thinking exactly.

A paw on the back is not dominance, in this case it sounds like completely normal boxer play. Boxers have a style of play that is unlike most other dogs in that they use their front paws to "box." I'm sure you've seen this before. But, because not all dogs play this way some of them can take offense to being pawed in the face or on the back... which is probably how fights get started. So even though your guy did not mean any harm by doing this, it can start fights if done to the wrong dog, as you've seen. If the other dog is not familiar with the boxer style of play, or just not 100% comfortable with other dogs that paw can really throw them off and cause a defensive reaction.

I would personally avoid prolonged greetings with other dogs unless you are sure that the other dog is friendly and would play with Chuki. Before you approach, ask the other dog owner if their dog is friendly or enjoys playing with boxers. If the response is unsure, just keep on walking. What you don't want to do is keep exposing Chuki to situations that end in fights, because that will put him on the defensive more and more with each bad experience, and pretty soon he will come to EXPECT fights when he meets new dogs, meaning he could be sending negative signals or even be the one to start the fights in the future.

Could you try setting up play-dates with the dogs that he does get along with? Maybe by asking the other owner when they usually go for walks, and planning to walk Chuki at the same time? More positive experiences would REALLY help him.

 

[Chuki]

Thank you so much Zoe! I really appreciate your answer. We're new on here and so we didn't know if anyone would answer.

Our trouble is we don't know anyone else that owns a dog. So we'll keep looking for other boxers to play with but we'll try to limit his bad interactions.

I feel so relieved about the paw and the hair raising. I was certain that we had an aggressive dog on our hands but now I'm thinking maybe he just hasn't found the right play mates.

Thanks again!
Taylor

 

[jackoman]

our 10 month old male is the same way. He is very unpredictable when it comes to how he will react around other dogs. At first i thought it was also aggression, but i have found that if the other dog is not an "up play" dog (doesn't play on their hind legs) then fights begin. Boxers have lots of energy and being around dogs at a lower energy level will also have a better chance at causing the growling/ fighting situations. Before i let Jacko play with any other dogs, i let the other dog owners know that he is "learning his manners" and that he does not realize he has so much energy and cannot channel his energy for lower energy dogs. That way i am more confident about Jacko's play habits and can anticipate if this is going to be a good experience for him or not.

 

[Chuki]

I'm so glad it's not only our dog! So thank you for that! Funny thing, I got an email this morning from a woman we had met a while back asking to get the dogs together to play. She's also an American and owns a boxer, which is really rare here in Quito, and probably even more rare that we met on the street! Anyways, I'll explain to her the situation and watch very, very closely. Maybe we'll only walk together first, is that better for the dogs or worse?

Thanks again!

 

[Caney Creek]

Maybe we'll only walk together first, is that better for the dogs or worse?

That would be VERY good for the dogs It allows them to kind of "hang out" together for a while instead of greeting each other face-to-face right when they see on another, which is when the tension is still high.