Do you think what my dog is doing is a sign of aggression or toy aggression?

Question

I had a question regarding a dog with small acts of aggression. She has had two incidents where she has shown acts of aggression on another dog. She is a Pitbull mix adopted from a rescue. 

The first incident, her normal trainer said she was correcting the other dog because it was biting the other dogs in the dog park. She did not hurt the other dog, she just would not let go. 

The second incident was the most concerning. She was at the dog park playing like normal until another owner with a golden retriever brought out a tug of war toy for them to play with. She was playing fine until another dog joined in and took the toy from her. She then tried to join in again and ended up biting the neck of the golden retriever. The problem was that she would not let go of the neck of the golden retriever. She was shaking her head like she normally does when she plays with her toys. 

I am concerned if she tries to do this to another dog or person. Do you think this is a sign of aggression or toy aggression?

Accepted Answer

I hate to say this but you don't have a small aggression problem. You have a huge aggression problem and don’t seem to know it yet. You need to change the way your living with this dog or you are going to find yourself in a situation where you will be forced to get rid of the dog or you will face a serious law suit. To begin to understand part of your problem I suggest you read the article I wrote on DOG PARKS - WHY THEY ARE A TERRIBLE IDEA. I hate to have to say this but dogs like yours are the reason I wrote this article. In regard to the incident with the golden retriever – there are three things going on:

Your dog should not have been in a dog park.
With an untrained dog, a TOY is often a trigger for a dog fight.
You are very lucky that your dog did not kill this Golden. Do some research on YOUTUBE and you will see how Pitt Bulls kill other dogs when they grab them by the throat and don’t release.

While you may feel that your dog is trained, the fact is that it is not trained. You can't call the dog back away from a strong distraction, therefore it is not trained. I am sure you don’t agree with this statement but it happens to be the fact. Your dog should ALWAYS be on leash if it is ever around other dogs. You don’t have control off leash, so you need to back things up and keep it ON LEASH. On another point, I suggest that you walk away from this person you call a trainer. Your comment of “her normal trainer said she was correcting the other dog because it was biting the other dogs in the dog park” is not only foolish but it demonstrates this person's lack of experience with dog aggression. This falls into the category of "Everyone has an opinion on how to train your dog but few have the experience to offer sound advice." If we had this dog, we would run it through our pack structure program. Then follow it up with some serious obedience training. No one likes to get bad news and told they have been doing things incorrectly. But then I have a feeling you already know that or you would not have written. I hope this helps. Regards, Ed Frawley