Any advice on what to do with our lab who - over perhaps the last 6 months - has started to become aggressive towards smaller dogs and puppies?
No actual biting but she will run after them barking and snapping horribly, rolling them over. It starts off innocently enough, they have a good sniff of each other, then she seems to flip. It's also happened a couple of times when she is on lead, so we tend to keep her on an extremely short lead when around them, and try to keep our distance but it doesn't always work in crowded places like pavements etc.
She seems to be worse in particular places, so I tend to avoid these now. When walking her off lead and approaching other dogs I'll call her to heel and it works with a treat in hand! I just find it quite stressful taking her for walks now because I'm expecting the worst! She's a brilliant girl in every other way. I just want to be able to relax and for her to go running off freely without me calling her back every time we approach a small dog (London-based, so we come across lots of them!).
I can't recall any specific circumstance that might have spooked her about little dogs. I wonder whether it is just her way of showing them who's boss? No issue with dogs or same size or bigger! She's 3, if age makes a difference.
Any advice from experts out there?? Thank you!