New (Rescue) Dog Issue

[Oxfordblue]

We have a rescue ex-breeding girl (very docile) & have just adopted a rescue dog from our local shelter.
He’s a 4 yr old boy, recently castrated. We had about 4 meet & greets with our family & dog & all fine. He’s settling in well & getting on fine with our girl dog.

However, DH walked him this am & noticed he gave another dog some strange looks which made that owner pick their dog up & take way, he jumped up at a random man on the way home & had a hissy bark at another dog.

We’ve just been for a walk this evening & the first dog we see (female owner) he’s snarling, lunging & barking. I apologise to the owner & explain we’ve just got him.

Go around the corner, see another dog - DH walks & says sorry, we’ve got a barking dog here, can we get a wide berth. Dog is male.

Then we see another large dog & same again, until our dog sniffs & it turns out this is a girl dog & he’s ok.

On his write-up he’s described as a lovely, happy dog & good with all dogs.

Dh & I are a bit as we never anticipated dog aggression as a possible issue. I will of course contact the rescue when they open tomorrow, but wondered if anyone has any suggestions please?

[fivedogstofeed]

If he's recently neutered he may well be a bit anxious around entire males unfortunately.

[CheekyFuckersDontGetPastMe]

How long has he been living in a family home with you?

[Oxfordblue]

Fivedogstofeed this is what I’m thinking & hoping that once his hormones settles, he’ll lose that aggression?

Cheeky, he’s been with us since Saturday. He’s met & walked with our neighbour’s female dog without any hint of anything.

[Oxfordblue]

Thinking about it, all the dogs have been bigger than him that he’s had a pop at. Apart from the westie at the park, but he didn’t bark then but his owner did pick the dog up & walk away.

[fivedogstofeed]

For the moment I would give him plenty of distance from any strange dogs. If you can entertain him at home with games and training and even avoid walking for a couple if days and let him focus on bonding with you.
He's had a lot of upheaval, poor doggie and he needs to know he can absolutely trust you before you go out where there are things which may frighten him.

[florentina1]

We had this with our rescue and had 2 very valuable bits of advice. The first was to get a perfect fit harness. This gives you more control on a lurching dog. The D. Ring on the chest stops it going forward. The other was a pouch with kibble or a treat. We trained ours with a clicker at first, so that clicker meant treat. Then after a while she would just look to us on a word command.

She was a dog that lurched at everything. We had to take her our early morning and late a night to avoid meeting anything. Now she can walk past traffic, people, passing butterflies (yep really). She learnt that a dog coming towards her meant a treat. Sometimes from the hand and sometimes on the floor to keep her looking at me and not the dog,
.

[mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork]

I agree with florentina, every time my dog meets and greets another dog and remains friendly, she gets lots of praise and a treat as we walk away. It has made things much easier. She was a rescue too and did take some months to settle down, relax and feel secure. She was much friendlier with dogs once she had done so.

[florentina1]

Just to clarify,We did not give the reward for good behaviour. It was more to create awareness that dog in the eye-line means treat. Now when she see a dog she looks up for the treat. There is an occasional lunge and I don’t let her get too close just in case. I will cross a road or, if she is off lead in the park, and a dog is approaching I put her on the lead and treat. Fortunately she loves food.

[Oxfordblue]

I spoke to the rescue earlier & they suggested that sometimes it’s best not to walk the dog, just let it in the garden until he’s bonded. Well he’s clearly lived in a home as toilet trained, sleeps alone downstairs (my other dog sleeps on my dd’s Bed), he comes to our whistle & tone of voice. He’s very affectionate.
I understand about some anxiety but my previous rescue wasn’t dog aggressive at all.
DH isn’t happy at all as he’s on edge walking him.
I went out with a friend earlier, with DDog1 & she didn’t want to walk without him (I carried her down the road)

[Delatron]

I think you should take the advice to avoid walking him for now and do some playing and training in the garden. Otherwise you are reinforcing the barking.

Then when he’s more settled could you go somewhere where he can sit and watch dogs in the distance (on a lead) and give him treats for calm behaviour and build it up from there?

It’s called ‘setting them up to fail’ if we know they are stressed about something and we keep putting them in that situation. Give all dogs a wide berth for now and then do some distance training. Or are there any empty fields you could go to?

[florentina1]

We were given the same advice regarding not putting her into stressful situations until she was settled. My DH was a nervous wreck taking her out so he went out very early in the morning. She was much calmer walking in the dark. She hated crossing the main road to get to the park so we were told to avoid the park for a few months and choose another walk.

It was a bit like taking a baby out in the car when it just won’t settle. As we got her in January, it was quite easy to walk her in the dark round and round the same streets. Early morning and large at. Ignite but Even this at first, would spook her occasionally. A leaf or the wind rustling a bush but slowly her confidence grew. It took 5 months for her to settle and DH still won’t let her off lead or walk down the main road. For me she is fine, I believe she picks up on Dh’s anxiety and feeds off that.

She is a different dog now, Crosses the main road and has very good recall. I won’t let her near strange dogs as I just don’t know her well enough. However my son brings his Cocker puppy over and she plays with him and walks in the park with him.

[Oxfordblue]

I’ve just been out with him now, without my girl dog & we’ve met 2 different dogs, 1 male who was across the road & 1 female, waking towards us & he was fine with both.
My neighbour came with me & we think he’s guarding or protecting my girl dog. I’m going to walk him alone again tomorrow am, to our normal pack & see how he is then. I’ll report back.
Thanks for your replies.
I’m going to measure him for a perfect fit harness as he’s quite strong.