Are some dogs just unfriendly by nature?

[JKramer]

Are some dogs just unfriendly or they are not socialised enough at a young age?
I have a couple of dogs and they love running around in the park off lead.
There are plenty of friendly dogs that they play with, and I dont generally worry about them.
They play with any dogs, large and small.

Every now and then, you get some that would growl, and attack other dogs that approach them.
Is this mostly down to the owners fault for not socialising their pets or poor training at home?
Is this unfriendliness a learnt thing from the owners?
Arent dogs meant to be social animals?

[tabulahrasa]

"But you do get some dogs that are aggressive and looking to bully/intimidate other dogs even if yours are not that near.... it's those kind of dogs I'm referring to."

That kind of dog is mine.

He was very well socialised as a puppy, but, he has an elbow problem and a spinal problem and he's been attacked a few times.

So what he's learnt about other dogs is that they either hurt his elbow or his back or attack him...not being a timid dog, he'll try and get them before they can get him.

So if a dog is within about 10 meters of him he'll try to attack it. It's something I'm putting a lot of time, effort and money into resolving, but at the moment it's a case of keeping him on lead and muzzled and hoping that other people keep their dogs away so that I can work on it - mostly they don't bother to, so progress is very slow indeed.

[withextradinosaurs]

A small Yorkie insists in running up and licking my dog's knob. My dog is not very keen on this. The Yorkie's human is usually the far side of the field. i'm never sure of the best course of action here!

[nuttymutty1]

Dogs are pretty social BUT they generally only want to meet polite, mannered dogs. There are an awful lot of ill mannered dogs around - so there are also a lot more reactive dogs around.

Reactive dogs can have their emotional response altered but this takes time (A soap box of mine is that you can not "Train" emotional responses but you can alter them with behaviour modification programme - hence you need a qualified behaviourist not a dog trainer)

Life would be much better for all dogs if a polite general dog ettiquette was adopted.

1. Keep your dog away from dogs on leads
   

1. Do not let your dog interact with ANY dog unless you have asked the owner first
   

1. Do not assume all dogs want to play, have their bums sniffed or be bundled over by your friendly dog
   

1. Friendly dogs cause more problems than reactive dogs on a daily basis.
   

Generally reactive dogs are restrained but the friendly be only wants to play dog can cause many dogs on one walk to become reactive.

So if you have a friendly only want to play dog train him to prefer to be with you, give your dog all he needs so that he does not need to mug poor unsuspecting dogs.

Reactive dog owners keep up the good work - Reactive dog owners put in hours and hours or training - it is often not the owners fault, it can be down to poor breeding, meeting too many only want to play dogs and hundreds of other reasons why they are reactive.

[scarfaceace]

needastrongone - sorry for the delay in my reply (I've been at work).

Yes, the behaviourist was a member of APDT and very well regarded.

You could be right about being reactive on a lead, and I'd love to try letting her off and attempting counter conditioning, but I think one of the problems is that she is pretty large and it's a big risk to let her off if she might attack any other dog that she comes across. She's over 9 stone.

I tried walking her across the fields on a long lead with other dogs on long leads (lovely other dog owners who understood and tried to help and whose dogs she knew) and it was a nightmare, she couldn't relax, kept lunging and growling, and seemed to see all the other dogs as threats even though she used to play with them.

[hennipenni]

I ha