great people-dog, awful dog-dog - help!!

[StataLover]

We privately adopted a 6 year old box-lab x in jan last year. He's a fantastic dog with people. Super friendly, great with kids, hasn't shown an aggressive/territorial/jealous bone in his body. He's also pretty obedient in the house, doesn't jump up, does what he's told and knows all his basic commands. Absolute dream dog.

The onyl trouble is he doesn't get on with other dogs. He wasn't castrated when we got him so we did that but it hasn't helped. He's not aggressive in the sense that he's not straining at the lead, growling and trying to get at other dogs. If you walk him down the street, he's perfectly fine passing other dogs. The problems start when he socializes. He'll go up to other dogs and, especially with males, he'll do this sniff sniff, circle, circle thing and then WHAM BAM he goes for the other dog. He hasn't hurt another dog yet - it's all teeth and spittle but it's horrible and scary (for us and other dog) and one day he'll pick on the wrong dog.

What do you think is wrong with him???? I've stopped taking him to the park because it's so stressful unless I can take him when there won't be other dogs but he really does need the off-lead exercise.

We're a bit short of money to spend on a private trainer as the dog has some health issues we need to take care of and insurance won't cover as he had them when we adopted him so hope we might be able to deal with this ourselves.

Thanks!!!!

Firstly don't let him off the lead unless you're on land that you own, if he scares/injures a dog or person and they peruse it through court then he could be put down it isn't worth the risk even if he is innocent I know people it has happened to.

Secondly my collie was the same loved people hated other dogs so rather than let him off lead we got a heavy duty extendable lead which allowed us the control and no worry of a dog surprising us. We then took him to group training classes which allowed him to socialise in a controlled enviroment and those that run them will show you techniques to help him and you have a stress free walkies. Plus they are cheaper than private trainer .

OK, just been googling. There's a special training session for rehomed dogs at our local RSPCA centre (open to all rehomed dogs - not just theirs). Think I'll take him along tomorrow morning :) and then bend trainer's ear about what to do with him

What's his body language like when he greets and sniffs? Is he quite stiff legged?

There's a great little book by Turid Rugaas which will help you understand 'polite' greetings and recognise what your dog is doing.

I think you do need to get help with this. ou need to do a lot of desensitising of our dog around other dogs.

Usually the recommended type of training would be to work out the distance that you dog is happy with the other dog. This distance is when he is not reacting is calm and is still able to listen to you. If you do get the Turid Rugaas book above she will describe calming signals and if your dog is offering these you need to go back a stage.

At the distance the dog is happy click and treat so the association changes in the dog. This can take a long time and can be a very difficult road you have to have loads of patience and be very calm yourself. You may never get to a situation where you can trust you dog with all dogs but you can hopefully get to a manageable situation.

As it does take time and can be a bit of a rollercoaster it is so much easier if you do have a trainer, etc who can encourage you on the bad days and also set up meetings with stooge dogs.

If you do go to a trainer who tells you to punish the dog,put the dog in a down, use a squirty water bottler or pet corrector run away as fast as you can to another trainer who will show you the correct reward based methods to help you with this.

If you do use the punish the dog methods etc you will end up with a dog that reacts to humans and dogs and the situation will be 100 times worse.

Good luck I have see many dogs turned around with this problem from the hard work and time given by their owners.

Sorry "y" does not seem to be working very well

y y fit as applicable to the above!!!

Thanks all. Got the wrong day for training - it's next week

But had a long chat with the lovely RSPCA people there. First off, they told me to just get him a muzzle so we can let him off lead without worrying about him causing damage. Then it's all about training and trying to increasingly socialize him with confident dogs.

He IS a very obedient dog in the house and is a foody (that's the lab in him) so i've been told that he should be trainable and food treats should work well as a reward. We've improved his recall a lot this way but it's hard with the fights because when it happens, it just kicks off.

He does seem stiff legged and tail is up and not wagging. But he's not growling or showing any obvious aggression. He eyes up and circles the other dog. But not small or female dogs. The problem is with large males.

Perhaps he was attacked by another dog in the past? Our old dog went to classes and had some obedience training one to one too, he was very happy and relaxed with other dogs until one day a German Shepherd just set about him with no warning at all, just bounded up to him and started to bite. Poor Marston had a very painful time recoering as he was covered in bites and after that he was very barky and aggressive with other dogs, when he got very old he became more mellow, but the experience affected him for over 5 years.

I'm not sure letting him off the lead with a muzzle is a good idea. They can still do damage with a muzzle on, and he's still potentially going to frighten someone else's dog!