Life with a dog agressive dog...

gettingready

Zara was never over keen on strange dogs appreaching her at full speed but it was managable as she was ok with most of them.

Since her operation though....

Yes, she was in a cage for 6 weeks then on very limited walks for another 6 but what she is doing I mean trying to do (as 90% of the time she is on a lead, 10% when there is NOBODY around and I have 360 degrees view she is off for a bit) drives me absolutely up the wall.

She absolutely hates EVERY dog. Small/large, white/black, short/long haired - ALL dogs are enemies.

She stands up on her back legs trying to pull towards ANY dog and looks like she is ready to kill them. Hair up, teeh out - the whole works.

Sigh....

In the park las week, she was on a lead (very short lead) , sitting next to my leg with no chance to move. I was standing and talking to some people I have not seen in ages. No idea where from a small spaniel run up to her front and if I was not as fast as I was - this would have finished really bad.

Today, again standing with some people I met and their dogs, one of the dogs came up to Zara wagging his tail, she was wagging her tail too and out of the blue went for the dog. Again nothing happened as I pulled her back before she got a chance to do any damage whatsoever.

That scared the.. out of me as she KNEW that dog for ages

As I said - she is on a lead 90% of the time and only off the lead when I am 120% sure there is no dogs around and have a clear 360 degree view around me - that is massive open space with no trees or bushes opposite to where I live. Anywhere else - on a lead.

What used to be a nice, leisurely walk in the park (woods really) is slowly becoming a anightmare as I can keep her on a lead but I can not stop other people's dog coming up to her

It is getting worse and worse. Her trying to go for a dog she knew completely shocked me.

Where do I go from here?

She has never shown any agression to people ever - anyone and everyone can stroke her and she is over the moon. Perhaps apart from after dark walks and drunk people - those she does not like.

But with dogs - this is just absolutely terrible and so stresful....

I had Zara since she was 16 weeks old, never ever encouraged this tupid behaviour. Where does it come from and how to stop it for good?

Thanks.. sorry for rambling

NewKittenHelp

Does your insurance cover a beahviourist? In the interim, do you muzzle her for walks?

Bromley86

We had trouble with Poppy until we did 3-4 big group walks (dog trainer present, but not paid for). Let them get on with it, put up with very sad bout of crying when she was challenged and then it was all plain sailing.

At least a part of Poppy's aggression was fear based because of her hips. Not saying that's the case here though.

gettingready

Zara was on group walks with sometimes 12 other dogs (3 dog walkers walking together) for years. She was always fine.

I will not have ger oon a lead by my leg AND muzzled. Nope. That would only make things worse. This has only came up last weekend - trying to go for dogs that she knows....

I have a horiible feeling that she is "protecting" me and jelaus of any dog possibly coming near ME....

Zara's insurance for this year has all been used up by her hip replacement,. So will the next year's one as she needs the other leg done.

gettingready

She does not "pick" on a group of dogs. She happily passes group of dogs even if they are barking at her, she just calmly walks on.

Single dogs - that is a problem.

Wellyboots6

A muzzle could help, only in as much as you can relax a bit as you know she won't be able to do any damage if she did get hold of another dog.
If this has happened a couple of times now then you will be starting to tense when you meet other dogs.

I can't find my threads where I discussed this when Tyson was going through this phase so I am not sure what advice was given there.

His seemed to be related to fear, and also got worse when his legs were bothering him.

I just had to muzzle him and let him throw his tantrum knowing he couldn't hurt anyone. Also took him walking regularly with a couple of his friends, and he eventually started to relax as he grew confident that they would deal with any dogs that were up to no good. That then spread to him being confident when out on his own.

I think some of it was him being protective over me too. When out with his friends we used to swap dogs quite a bit, so we would walk each others dogs for a while. That got him used to seeing me with other dogs. One of my friends also used to hold him while i stroked new dogs so he could see I wasn't a wuss!

I think it was a combination of me relaxing and him becoming more confident, and getting pain relief for his hips that eventually worked.

I still wouldn't trust him with a collie or a black lab though!!

gettingready

Katy - thanks for that.

I think her other leg got worse now so perhaps this is part of the reason.

Yes, of course I tense up when I see a dog near by so again yes, I may be feeding her fear or whatever that is.

Sghe used to be like that with big black hairy dogs so I knew to watch out for those but last and this weekend it was something else.

She seems to be limping on the leg that she had operation on. AShe should not. She had her final check up/xray few weeks ago and all was fine.

I asked the dog walker to keep her on a lead only walks this week and no ball /running.

She is absolutely crazy possesive about her ball. Any ball.

Wellyboots6

would she still bark and lunge if she was carrying her ball?

just wondered as if she were to bark it would mean she would drop her ball.

although it could also make things worse if she felt she had to protect her ball and you!

gettingready

she did not but recently she does - drop her ball and tries to get at any dog passing

Wellyboots6

well that ruins that idea then!

was she like it once she was allowed back out again after cage rest, or has she been worse since she started limping a bit?

gettingready

she only started limping yesterday - another thing to worry about