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Original poster

My dog keeps getting ‘attacked’ by other dogs

29 replies

SillyMillie90 · 02/06/2025 08:52

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!

OP posts:
Bupster · 06/06/2025 11:44

My intact 13-month-old is an absolute nobhead with other entire males - weirdly he's pretty much fine at daycare, but not in areas we walk regularly. It started when other dogs had a go at him, but I'm fairly sure he would have been a nobhead anyway to be honest. It's all handbags; the couple of times I've not been able to get him away in time it's been noise and fury and nothing else, but I've changed the way I walk with him completely now to avoid all other dogs, and I have to have eyes on the back of my head all the time. He's a working gundog breed, so on top of having four times the amount of testosterone as an adult, he's also bred to be highly aroused.

Like many of you, I'm not keen on early neutering, and there are risks to it - a loss of confidence (research shows that many neutered dogs with fear do get worse) and health issues. I'd like to hang on to two years old if I can, when he will have reached physical adulthood and hopefully some social maturity. Then I can see what he's actually like. But he is a confident little hooligan. If yours is getting fearful, OP, you might want to just try to avoid other dogs as much as possible except in structured environments like dog sports to build his confidence first? And give him lots of good socialisation with friendly dogs too?

drivinmecrazy · 06/06/2025 14:21

Bupster · 06/06/2025 11:44

My intact 13-month-old is an absolute nobhead with other entire males - weirdly he's pretty much fine at daycare, but not in areas we walk regularly. It started when other dogs had a go at him, but I'm fairly sure he would have been a nobhead anyway to be honest. It's all handbags; the couple of times I've not been able to get him away in time it's been noise and fury and nothing else, but I've changed the way I walk with him completely now to avoid all other dogs, and I have to have eyes on the back of my head all the time. He's a working gundog breed, so on top of having four times the amount of testosterone as an adult, he's also bred to be highly aroused.

Like many of you, I'm not keen on early neutering, and there are risks to it - a loss of confidence (research shows that many neutered dogs with fear do get worse) and health issues. I'd like to hang on to two years old if I can, when he will have reached physical adulthood and hopefully some social maturity. Then I can see what he's actually like. But he is a confident little hooligan. If yours is getting fearful, OP, you might want to just try to avoid other dogs as much as possible except in structured environments like dog sports to build his confidence first? And give him lots of good socialisation with friendly dogs too?

Oh how I can relate to having to have eyes in the back of my head!!
have a 2 1/2 year old intact Weimaraner who is at his peak as far as testosterone goes.
completely compliant and obedient, until he spots another dog 20,000 miles away, then all bets are off!
I only let him off if we’re on completely flat ground so I can see the distractions coming.
he went through a spell of being fair game for all dogs until he turned that around.

We constantly have the talk of to neuter or not, but have decided that at the moment we’ll be holding off.
our vet thinks we’re absolutely doing the right thing.

CrownPointSouth · 06/06/2025 22:37

.

ListenLinda · 06/06/2025 22:55

Following with interest.
A doberman escaped out of a garden and ran across a busy main road to attack my unneutered dog on Wednesday.
it’s the only reason I can think of that it happened as we were at the other side of the road & minding our own business, didn’t see it coming until it was 2 feet away.

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