Laurie4b Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 We have a 70 pound mutt, probably mostly Plott Hound, possibly some boxer (very long tongue), and some "other." I don't think this is indicative of a problem in her, but wanted to check. She is about 1 1/2 years old. She gets along fine with ds's GF's beagle, but that dog was fear-aggressive at first. It's just that ours is so much bigger. She does get on top of him/straddle him in their playing. I do think she tends to ignore "back-off" signals and keep playing but they have never had a fight. ETA: (to make this clearer.) Dh and I were out of town. We had made sure our sons knew they were not to neglect our dog. My 20 year old son was home with her. His brothers were at work. He was also pet sitting the next door neighbor's dog. (I did not know they had asked him.) That dog was traumatized when another dog followed him into his home and attacked him. He is now fear-aggressive and his owners are working with a very good trainer to desensitize him. That dog is thick , short, and heavy-set. I would guess that he weighs at least 60 pounds of sheer muscle. My son wanted both dogs to have attention, so he brought the other dog to our house and was rotating them inside and outside being careful to keep them away from each other. (He didn't understand that the other was at the phase of desensitization where the owner was having others walk their dogs in front of their home while he was outside and they kept him calm as they walked by. He had been introduced to one new dog only. What ds was doing was at teh dog's "cutting edge" limit for tolerance. ) Anyway, our dog was outside and standing at the porch door to come in. Son put other dog in sit-stay and opened back door to get our dog off the porch and into the yard (we have a gate.) Neighbor's dog broke the stay and stuck his head through the door, past ds's leg. Our dog went right up to him and sniffed his face which was sticking through the door (Oh a FRIEND!) and he snarled, snapped at her. At that point, she engaged and pushed by my son (who is quite large) and had the other dog pinned to the floor. She did not hurt him but it was a fight. Ds picked up neighbor's dog (HEAVY!) who was still engaging and our dog jumped up on ds to get at the other dog. Ds's GF pulled our dog off. Neither dog was hurt. Ds got scratched up by the dog he was holding. duh. No need to comment on ds's decisions. He knows they weren't the best at this point. We were horrified, but I knew a lot more about the dog's training than he knew about. My question is do I need to have our dog assessed for aggression or is her response pretty normal for a dog given the situation of having a strange dog in her house snarl/lunge at her? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 I'm no expert, but I'd say it was normal behavior for your dog. There was a "mean intruder" in her home. She was being defensive. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Assuming your dog didn't know the neighbor's dog well, then it wouldn't overly concern me. From her perspective -- Having an unfamiliar dog in her home and then finding herself shut outside -- that alone is very highly stressful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted June 10, 2015 Share Posted June 10, 2015 Your dog is fine, in my opinion. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted June 10, 2015 Author Share Posted June 10, 2015 Assuming your dog didn't know the neighbor's dog well, then it wouldn't overly concern me. From her perspective -- Having an unfamiliar dog in her home and then finding herself shut outside -- that alone is very highly stressful. No, because of his issues, which started before we got her, she hasn't had any contact with him at all other than I have walked her past his house as part of his desensitization and she has seen him running loose a time or two when he had gotten out of their fence (which is now fixed and we are pretty rural so no one gets bent out of shape about a pet occasionally getting out.) She barked at him then. We are just sad that he got a set-back in his training, but I did want to make sure that is not evidence of aggression in her. I thought it seemed normal, but I'm not an expert. Ds does understand his errors now. Thanks for your reply. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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