My husband and I adopted a rescue dog last year. He seems to think he owns the neighborhood and is trying to assert his dominance over all other dogs. Why doesn't he do it to all dogs?

Hello,

I've read your information on aggressive dogs, but I didn't find anything that quite matched my situation, so I thought I'd see if you could give me some advice.

My husband and I adopted a rescue dog last year. The dog is neutered, about two years old now and weighs 40 pounds. Over the past year, our dog (a mix, the vet thinks he could possibly be a shepherd/beagle) has taken an obedience class and had to stay at a kennel for a weekend when we were out of town, and in both cases he loved playing with other dogs and was never aggressive. Also, we live in a condo in a neighborhood with lots of dogs, and our dog goes on four walks a day. During each walk he usually meets at least one or two other dogs, most of whom he has met before and are his friends in the neighborhood. He even plays with dogs regularly at the park. However, in the past two days, when out on a walk, our dog has seen another dog (one of the two he sees on a regular basis) and tried to bite it in the face. The first time, it was a dog he usually sees, and they usually sniff each other. My dog was doing the same thing as usual, when suddenly he went to sniff the other dog, and instead growled and lunged at its face. I was able to pull my dog back in time, and he only startled the other dog. Today, however, my dog and another dog met on the sidewalk. I walked to the side of the sidewalk, in the grass, but my dog looked happy to greet the other dog, and the other dog was friendly as well. I thought perhaps the day before had been an isolated incident (perhaps the dog had a strange smell on it, etc., and also my dog had seen several other dogs in the meantime, and had been happy to play with them) but once again, my dog appeared friendly, but when he got close enough to sniff the dog, he bit it in the face, and it happened too fast for me to pull him back.

I don't know what could suddenly be causing him to act this way - the two times it has happened, he has been in his normal environment and he hasn't been scared (or at least hasn't appeared scared). The only thing I can think of is perhaps he thinks he owns the neighborhood, and is trying to assert his dominance over all other dogs? However, if this is the case, why doesn't he do it to all dogs? Since this behavior is new, I'd like to stop it, but I don't know what's causing it, so I'm unsure what to do, other than to keep him away from all other dogs when we go on walks.

Thank you for your help.

Best,
Leah