My dog keeps getting ‘attacked’ by other dogs

[SillyMillie90]

Hi, I’m at my wits end and need some advice please.

We have a 18 month old Golden male who is still intact. (We were advised to wait until this time to get him done due to helping prevent future joint issues). I have a feeling this is one of the causes if not THE cause but would still like some input from experienced dog owners - he is our first.

For the last month I’d say, he has been attacked/gone for by random dogs in public with, seemingly, no provoking from him. To clarify, this isn’t greeting on a lead then it kicks off out of nowhere this is random dogs on or off lead coming to him with what seems like the sole intention of fighting.

e.g. On Saturday just walking through town he’s being a good boy at my side sniffing away at things as normal. A dog on a lead walking past on my side, lunges over me out of nowhere and snarls, snaps and goes for him. Of course he goes into submission mode! This was a Labrador not ‘one of those’ dogs. Owner had to hold him back under the belly!

Another time we were walking along the coast path and an off lead dog appeared out of nowhere and went straight up to him and went for him, pushing him on his back, the dog’s teeth on his belly. The owners were useless as always. This was a border collie. Again not a dog you’d suspect.

What is going on? This is happening a couple times a week now. I can tell he’s becoming fearful so I’ve started walking him early and away from other dogs. Also saying ‘no’ to the ‘can they meet?’ question from other dog owners as right now I can’t bear to put him through any more.

Is it his balls? Can they smell his testosterone? He’s not confrontational in anyway. Will getting him done asap help him?

Any advice would be welcome. I walked home with my hands shaking on Saturday!

Joining the thread as I have a three year old intact golden and have a similar issue! It’s exhausting and stressful 🥲

Intact dogs are always more likely to be attacked, I’m afraid. Unfortunately, that’s the down of waiting to get him snipped.

Yes you can get him done but if he’s showing fearful behaviour now there’s every chance having his nuts chopped off could make his fearfulness worse.

Bit of a no-win situation, if I am honest (sorry - probably not what you wanted to hear!)

It is, it’s horrible. Poor boy just out minding his own business. Having to be so hyper vigilant that I’m constantly assessing where dogs are and looking for escape routes up lanes can’t be good for my nervous system either!

Ive literally done a 180 and walked back the wrong way to avoid a dog.

That’s my worry, that his fear will turn into agression.

My ds has an intact golden and it's 50/50 whenever he goes out. It's the testosterone I guess and he's seen as a threat.

Joining the thread as I have a non-intact 3 year old lab who seems to have a target on his back for other dogs! It has made him quite reactive and fearful and like you I’m having to walk him early and away from others. He’s not at all interested in other dogs either, they just seem to want to come and goad him.

I don’t know the answer op but I am following with interest.

I could have written this!

Some entire males are targeted by others. I don't know why, but it is definitely 'a thing'. My dog trainer friend has just had her dog neutered as soon as she could, because he was being attacked on nearly every walk. Like your dog, hers is totally submissive and doesn't fight back. I know of two other people whose dogs were the same.
Ashamed to say my 'loves every dog he meets' dog even had a go at one young entire male once. I was mortified. The owner said it happened all the time to him.
If I was you, I would get him neutered as soon as possible to stop the attacks. I thought the belief that neutering fearful dogs made them worse had changed.

I’m a home boarder and this is one of the reasons I don’t board intact males. Neutered males often do react negatively to intact males. His fearfulness will be made worse by yours - he will have recognised your fear and distress. My advice is to neuter him as soon as possible and then attend some classes or fun activities with other dogs to build up his (and your) confidence - agility, scent work, it doesn’t really matter what the activity is, it’s about being in a safe social setting with other dogs.

Sorry to hear this, it’s heartbreaking really. I feel like he’s the kid at school being picked on. It’s worrying your boy is done and still getting grief - was he getting grief before? I’m wondering if like PP have said, he’s now a bit defensive (rightfully!)

Hoping you get a solution soon too 💖

This is great advice thank you.

We are keeping him away from dogs he doesn’t know until we can get him done and then gradually introduce him in the way you’ve mentioned.

Seems like it is a known issue.

Try chemical castration first, as that will give you the effect of castration without it being permanent.

It's recognised that castration isn't always the way forwards these days, so don't just blindly follow outdated advice with a permanent operation which may not have the desired effect (and can have negative personality consequences for your dog).

Our dog is intact and thankfully doesn't attract too much trouble (TBH, the owners with dogs who react to him recognise us and put their dogs on leads now).

Sorry, just seen this. Yes it seems he’s always been prone to having grief and no I’m afraid in his case, the neutering didn’t really make much of a difference 🥺. That’s not to say it won’t for you - I hope you too find things work out x

Poor doggo golden are the best dogs ever aswell!! My sisters dog who I watch half the week had the same issue before being dressed. It was female dogs. She was dressed at 11 months she was advised to allow a season first and soon as she went into season she was on the wait list for an appointment. Female dogs hated her and boy dogs would chase her.

Don’t worry work has been overwhelming recently so think I replied to this in my head.

He had another ‘attack’ today from a Spaniel and a bear miss from some Akita looking dog that clearly didn’t like him, I managed to see that one coming and did a 180!

Im guessing you don’t use doggy day care or anything like that. I can’t see us ever doing that with him which will make going away hard. I think we’re going to get him done asap but then slowly socialise him with trusted dogs and see how things go.

Aww poor girl, didn’t realise dogs got so jealous and ‘mean girl/boy’ the positive I’ve taken from this thread is that it’s not just him.

I had this with my intact male Golden and after the first attack from a GSD he then proceeded to attack any that approached him, he seemed to go on the offensive immediately. Castrating him stopped all of this immediately and he went back to how he was before he was first attacked.

My lovely lab suffered these sort of attacks until he was neutered, aged 3. We left him as long as we felt we could , then tried chemical castration to see whether he was likely to be fear reactive without the testosterone. He was fine.

I really wish I had not castrated him as he suffered health issues which may have been exacerbated by this; but we live in an area with a large dog population, and between the attacks on him, and the risk of him chasing after bitches, castration was the sensible option.

I would chat to you vet , potentially leave him intact as long as possible.

I have 2 intact bernese boys and this has never happened to either of them but it did happen to my previous dog. Dogs were crossing the road to attack him. Puppies were barking aggressively. It was a nightmare. He had just been very ill (from a grooming incident of all things - he was allergic to the shampoo and nearly died) and it was as if the other dogs picked up that he was incapacitated and wanted to finish him off.

We were told by the vet that he could wear a collar which would give off puppy vibes and the other dogs would back off. This works with young adult males too, until they get more established. Often other dogs are annoyed that there is acyoung, fit male around, but they are more tolerant of puppies. So you could ask the vet about this.

Alternatively, has he been ill? My dog recovered from the allergy incident and we had no more problems.

Definitely the balls
My dog used to get aggression from others before we had him done at 18 months (also large breed and waited for joint reasons) now I am afraid to say he is the perpetrator. He is super friendly with females, neutered males and puppies but any unneutered male, especially large breeds he will stare, posture, bark etc. I don’t think he would actually attack. I think it’s mainly warning them off but there are dogs that I know I just have to avoid or he will make a scene and all are unneutered. I would not let him go up to another dog aggressively but there is very little I can do about him lunging and barking on the lead apart from try to avoid the trigger but he knows before I do usually. I understand he health benefits to the individual dog of them staying intact but I think if that’s the decision you make as an owner then aggression from neutered males is a risk you run. It seems so instinctive that I don’t know how I could try to train him out of it.

Kennels and doggy day care and most settings with other dogs won’t take intact males over a year so that was another reason we got him done (plus fear of him running after bitches which he was pretty keen to do as well)

This is a fairly common problem unfortunately.
My GS became reactive at about 14 months and would lunge and bark at other dogs. This was not acceptable so I trained him to ignore other dogs by hand feeding all his daily food allowance throughout the day for obeying commands etc. On walks I would distract him with kibble. Some trainers don’t advise distraction but it worked. What it did was create a greater bond and my dog has ultimate trust in me. If I’m ok he has no need to lunge etc.
He actually loves other dogs and is very passive, he has been attacked but runs away.
I do have to put him on a lead when I see other dogs because he is likely to run and say hello but that isn’t always welcome. Work in progress. I will say that each time he was attacked he was on lead or close to heel when the dogs ran at him.
My point is that other dog owners should train their dogs but that any activity you can do to build your bond with your dog will increase his confidence IF you can not show anxiety or tension when you see other dogs.
I can walk my dog calmly by snapping, snarling dogs and he is fine, no reaction.

@SillyMillie90 Sorry this is happening to you, it's horrible and actually quite confusing about what to do as there is so much conflicting advice and all dogs / owners are different.

I also have an intact golden. He is now 6yo and there is the odd dog that has a go at him but when he was a young dog it happened more often. Not sure why, maybe the other dogs were reacting to some sort of testosterone surge, maybe they were putting a 'teenager' back in his place. Who knows - opinion seems to change the whole time. But it did stop happening as often and a friend said the same thing happened to her dog as he matured.

I've kept him intact based on current advice and because it makes sense to me for health reasons, they need their hormones. I may need to consider neutering in the future as I understand there is a risk of testicular cancer in older dogs.
What I found works is fairly basic stuff that you're probably doing: avoid dogs I don't know, walk to the other side of the park etc, not let him approach on-lead dogs if he's off-lead and I cross over the road if both dogs are on-lead on the pavement. Also if my dog is on-lead and we come across off-lead dogs then I let him off lead so he has an escape route (ideally avoiding getting near the other dogs). It's a bit difficult when the dogs come out of nowhere though! I also choose when and where I walk quite carefully. Most of the time my dog gets on well with both neutered and intact dogs.

As others have said, my dog picks up if I'm stressed or nervous so I do the above to make sure I'm confident walking him.

Maybe see if there is an improvement as he gets older, then you could try the chemical implant (that can have its ups and downs at the beginning) before considering castration.

I’ve got 4 year old intact male and this has never happened to us but he is a bolshy type with some strong body language. He’s also grown up with other intact dogs within the family.

We had our golden neutered at 18 months for this reason. We knew there was a trade off between his health long term, and his immediate health - the stress of dogs coming out of nowhere to attack and having to look round every corner wasn't good for anyone. We don't live somewhere where he can frolic off-lead without encountering a lot of other dogs regularly so it would have been a long period of on-lead walks and crossing every road and turning back on narrow pavements to avoid others in the hope that the attacks would naturally subside.

Talking it over with the vet, we decided that for us, 18 months was the right compromise between the two considerations. We haven't had an incident in the 6 months since he's been neutered and he's so much happier and more confident with other dogs, having had only positive experiences since then.