Dog bit another dogs ear second incident

[Efoci]

Two year old female dog labrador crossed with a staffie.

Recently in park and she was on a lead. We never let her off lead. Another dog that was off lead came close unsolicited and uninvited and she bit its ear and wouldnt let go. No blood and we separated them and that was that but it left us shaken.

We had a similar incident a year ago, same issue our dog on a lead and approached by an off lead dog. We usually are very vigilant and keep plenty of space from other dogs but once or twice a year you'll get a dog just wondering round and owner not nearby.

We've now bought her a muzzle as we don't want any more issues. We also use a very short leash that I'd easy to keep close.

We did a session with a dog behaviourist who gave us some tips about how to walk her and distract her etc. She complimented us on such a lovely dog and said she was very obedient

I feel sad as aside from these couple of incidents she is the loveliest dog and very calm. She even goes to daycare and a kennel a few times a year where there are loads of other dogs and the owner has never had an issue. So are me and DH the problem? Is she being super protective?

I feel we must have done something wrong. We didn't socialise her lots with other dogs early on, although she's been to kennels without issue. It's just when she walks with us or sees a dog outside the window there's an issue.

Any advice?

Keep the muzzle on I am afraid.

I don’t know what else to suggest really. How old is the dog?

Two years old. My DH sometimes rough plays with her and I've told him to stop now as I'm worried it's taught her bad habits

It's probably the lead. She can't escape so is afraid. It's the owners of the other dogs who are at fault here. I would say that it's fairly common when you have one dog on a lead and another off. You could try getting in front of your dog when another approaches, ask the other owner to put their dog on a lead. Clicker training might work, rewarding your dog when you see another dog, before there's any reaction. Look on YouTube for demos. I think that you need to keep the muzzle on for the time being at least.

Make sure to muzzle train her properly before expecting her to wear it on walks - it can take a good few weeks.

I would also say don't be afraid to advocate for your dog - shout out to other owners not to let their off-lead dogs approach and be prepared to body block or intervene if necessary before it gets to the stage where your dog feels the need to defend herself.

My own dog is fear receive (he's never shown any aggression) and I have no issue with shouting to people to come and get their bloody dogs, lol.

Yes we need to speak up more to some of these owners that just let their dogs come up to her. So irresponsible

We muzzled her for annual vaccination at the vet today and it's really upset me. Receptionist who met her when we first got her as a puppy, looked at her differently and we had to get the other dog waiting for its appointment to stay outside as waiting room is small. Hate all these measures, feel like a failure as an owner

Definitely worth muzzle training and perhaps a yellow jacket/lead sleeve with a warning on ( I used to go out in a florescent waistcoat with "My Dog Needs Space" plastered front and back of it)
Reactive Dogs Uk has some fantastic force free training advice for you to follow for counter conditiong her reactivity.
In the meantime look up The Yellow Dog Project for some preventative measures.

Unfortunately there will always be idiotic members of the "My Dog is Friendly" club who believe that just because their offlead and out of control dog wants to be pals, your dog must also want the same thing, irrespective of all the signs that suggest otherwise.
With people like that there's not much you can do but avoid as best you can and if worst comes to it I've found shouting over that my dog is contagious at close range quite often gets them calling theirs back sharpish.

My dog became reactive at 2, it can happen as they mature. But I did the things that I outlined and she's fine now. Only took a couple of days. Doesn't like other dogs, but is happy to ignore them. Apart from her doggy friends that is. She loves people and is great with children. Don't get disheartened.

OP don’t beat yourself up, the issue is with on lead dogs that if you’ve got a ride off lead dog that won’t read “I don’t want to play” signs I’d your dog has nowhere to go and resorts to violence quicker than they otherwise might.

You may find people are less blasé about letting their dogs run up to muzzled dogs so it may help with that anyway. A friend of mine has a VERY reactive dog and he’s muzzled and people are very wary of him now he is, he’s not a breed people would associate with reactivity so she’s struggle to stop people trying to say hello/let their dogs just run up and was walking him at 11pm. Muzzle training him actually means people are wary of him and keep a wide berth and it’s opened up his world a bit as he can go out in the day a bit more with a bit of peace of mind for his owner