May 10, 2011
I can't tell if my dog is fighting or just playing rough. So far, no one has gotten hurt. How should I scold him for fighting?
Full Question:
Hi Mr Frawley,I went through your website about some tips on my dog's behavior. My dog is 18 months old mix of Portuguese Mastiff, Estrela Mountain Dog and Portuguese Cattle Dog, according to the vet, as he was given to me as a Lab. He is not neutered.
He has always been social friendly with other dogs untill about 2-3 months ago, which he has become aggressive. In my opinion, the reason is the age. He used to be play, pushed by others and never answered back but was friendly play. Was attacked once but no damage came out of it and we broke it off quickly, that was about 8 months ago.
He is not aggressive to small dogs nor females. He tends to be dominant aggresive as far as I can tell. Firstly because there were male and female dogs around but he's had once with just a dog. I don't see the signs after all they come to each other all tail wiggling and licking each other. My assumption is that he might be too much of a brute when it comes to playing.
Fights have been easy to break without any injury so it questions me if they're just playing aggressive or actually fighting, but it bothers me since I've always liked the fact that I could walk with him and let him play with other dogs since all he wants is to play.
How should I actually scold him, I tend to make a stiff "NO," "stop" or "calm down" while I hold him. He doesn't jump straight to fighing after I let him go but I've seen what you mentioned with stare looks trying to impose his dominance of the other dog.
Thank you for your time,
Sincerely,
Erik
Cindy's Answer:
Most dogs will become dog aggressive to some extent after having a bad experience. The damage may not have been physical, but psychological.
I would limit his contact with strange dogs, it’s a human idea that dogs need to play with other dogs to be happy. Ed has written an article about dog parks. You didn’t specifically say you visited dog parks, but if you are taking your dog to places where there are strange dogs you should read this.
Besides limiting his contact to only dogs that are family members or friends he sees on a regular basis, if you would be approached by another dog I would ask your dog to focus on you, not allowing the stare down, posturing with other dogs. Interrupt him BEFORE he can even think about being aggressive. This is where you need to be vigilant and always paying attention to what’s going on in the environment.
Bottom line, I don’t allow my dogs to play with other dogs. Period. I can control my dogs just fine, but other owners don’t typically have the same level of control that I do and I will not put my dogs in a situation that they will need to do something aggressive.
I would read our article on training dogs with Markers. I would work on establishing a foundation of communication with your dog, that makes you more fun & interesting than the environment or other dogs. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have dogs so they can go play with other dogs. I want them to play with me and be more interested in me. Here’s a short video of one of my dogs at a class with me.
If this dog were to start staring at another dog during class or on a walk, I’d simply give him another cue (maybe to look at me) and if he didn’t comply, I would then correct him. I don’t want to correct him simply for other dogs being around, as he may start to associate the other dogs with stress/corrections/pain and it could backfire and actually make him worse (especially since he may be aggressive from a past bad experience).
For your dog’s best interest, you may need to simply change your mindset about letting him play with other dogs.
Cindy Rhodes
I would limit his contact with strange dogs, it’s a human idea that dogs need to play with other dogs to be happy. Ed has written an article about dog parks. You didn’t specifically say you visited dog parks, but if you are taking your dog to places where there are strange dogs you should read this.
Besides limiting his contact to only dogs that are family members or friends he sees on a regular basis, if you would be approached by another dog I would ask your dog to focus on you, not allowing the stare down, posturing with other dogs. Interrupt him BEFORE he can even think about being aggressive. This is where you need to be vigilant and always paying attention to what’s going on in the environment.
Bottom line, I don’t allow my dogs to play with other dogs. Period. I can control my dogs just fine, but other owners don’t typically have the same level of control that I do and I will not put my dogs in a situation that they will need to do something aggressive.
I would read our article on training dogs with Markers. I would work on establishing a foundation of communication with your dog, that makes you more fun & interesting than the environment or other dogs. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have dogs so they can go play with other dogs. I want them to play with me and be more interested in me. Here’s a short video of one of my dogs at a class with me.
If this dog were to start staring at another dog during class or on a walk, I’d simply give him another cue (maybe to look at me) and if he didn’t comply, I would then correct him. I don’t want to correct him simply for other dogs being around, as he may start to associate the other dogs with stress/corrections/pain and it could backfire and actually make him worse (especially since he may be aggressive from a past bad experience).
For your dog’s best interest, you may need to simply change your mindset about letting him play with other dogs.
Cindy Rhodes
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