Hi, first time dog owner here desperate for some advice please...
We adopted a lovely lab X about 2 months ago. She's 3 years old and adorable. She's settled in really well and we love her to bits.
Her only problem is when we walk her. The first few days she was great when out, meeting other dogs, having a sniff and moving on after. The rescue assured us she was great with other dogs and it seemed to be the case. I'm not sure what happened to change this, but recently she has been having a growl and a snap at some of the dogs we meet.
Sometimes it's not her fault - just now I walked her and a great big retriever type dog came bounding up to her, jumped on her (despite me warning the owner) and needless to say she reacted to it) but there have been too many other occasions I can't put down to the other dog's rudeness.
For example the other night we saw and elderly lab approaching...I called out to the owner that I was worried about her and he said it was ok as his dog was very gentle. As my dog was lying down wagging her tail at it (sometimes she does look fearful around dogs so we avoid them, but on this occasion she seemed relaxed) I decided that I would risk letting her have a sniff. All went well for a few seconds - my dog seemed to be relaxed, I took my eye off the ball, and next thing I knew she was snapping at the other dog.
I have tried the rescue we got her from, but the behaviourist is on holiday, so I'm looking for some short term advice. What would you do? I'm sure it's fear based as she really is such a gentle dog otherwise. However, what is confusing me is that often she appears to really want to meet the dogs.
I'm just concerned that I am somewhow exacerbating the situation. At the moment I am keeping her on lead, and to be honest just try to stay away from other dogs. however, it's not always possible so then I usually shout a warning to other owners. Sometimes they are really good and let her have a quick sniff and then I drag her away before anything starts, (when she does this I praise her like crazy.) Should I continue doing this or is the lead adding to the tension? Why does she appear keen to meet other dogs if she is scared of them? I feel like we must be doing something wrong as she was considered by the rescue to be the model of good behaviour around other dogs.
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Rescue dog aggression towards other dogs?
12 replies
Rotkehlchen · 03/07/2013 14:11
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