Occasionally aggressive male patterdale terrier.

WolfSong2000

From what you've said, OP, it sounds as if your dog is exhibiting fear agression - he's being dominant toward the other dog to try and ensure that they don't hurt him. As others have said, getting in a (reputable!) trainer would really help in this situation...I know one poster had said they'd used a muzzle on their dog...*personally* I wouldn't recommend this as it can make certain dogs more anxious as they're aware that if they were attacked again, they'd have trouble defending themselves.

The other option is that your dog is playfighting...without seeing the dog in action it's hard to tell. Terriers can seem a little more full-on when playfighting, and do "growl", but this isn't aggression. It's just terriers. Same thing as wagging tails - people assume that a wagging tail = friendly dog, but depending on how the tail is being wagged it can also signal a warning that the dog is about to attack. If I saw a strange dog wagging the tip of its tail with the tail held unusually high, for example, I'd be looking at backing away, sharpish. The trouble is putting everything into the context of overall body language as some dogs do an "aggressive" tail (as I've just explained) during playfighting, so although the tail itself may be a sign of aggression, when you look at the overall bodylanguage of the dog, the dog isn't being aggressive - just playful. Same applies to things like growling, and even baring teeth. Some dogs "smile" by showing their teeth - it can look like they're snarling, but realistically they're just showing how happy they are.

But yeah, you need a decent, qualified behaviourist to be able to tell you what you're dealing with, and work with you to find solutions. It may not be cheap, but it'll be money well spent!

UKTigerlily

cannyscot wrote: »

We've a staffy the same -he is on the lead unless we are in afield at a time no-one else is about. How much has this cost ??? surely every week for 2 years is a fotune -is it really worth it?

We haven't had the trainer for 2 years but if i'd not had him she'd never have gone off as I wouldn't have known if she'd run to any dogs in the distance or not & you never know when someone will come with a dog, on our field dogs are even walked after dark. It's most definitely worth it to see her walking with other dogs & having fun & to get her as good as she may get, of course it will only work so far, she'll never be 100% & then we'll stop but right now each week we see improvement. The plan is to get her back into her agility class with other dogs as she adores agility


Edited to add, just read my post back & I see it looks like it's taken 2 years with the trainer! Up until recently i've worked on her alone but had got her as far as I could without other dogs being used & a trainer to make sure it was safe for them all when interacting, so now a trainer has been called in to do the final part! She was so much better than when I got her but not able to go offlead, she's now just starting to go off with others!