My dog is always attacked by my friend's dog whenever we go over there. Is there anything we can do to solve this problem?

Question

Dear Ed,

    I don't know what to do. I have a male Cavalier King Charles spaniel who is 3 years old and neutered. He is the friendliest, most unaggressive dog one could ever meet and he has never had a problem with another dog until now.

    We have made friends with another couple who have a 3 year old female cocker spaniel who is also neutered. Whether we go round to their house or if they come to ours, the cocker attacks our dog out of the blue. It gets very nasty and clumps of our dog's hair flies all over the place.

    My husband has tried to separate them and finds it nearly impossible because of the force that the cocker uses on our dog. Our dog doesn't fight back at all and we are frightened for his health and sanity.

    The thing they both have in common is their appetite for food, and we thought that perhaps this might be the reason the cocker is aggressive - she feels her access to food is threatened by our dog. But, Alfalfa (our dog), has never pursued any food in her presence and is totally unthreatening.

    This couple has another dog, a Shitzu, who is female and un-neutered. She is very docile and has no part in these fights. But our dog is now petrified of the cocker (she is the same size as Alfalfa) and he hides in the corner. He is not normally so diminutive, and is usually a lively, happy dog with many friends. So, it's very strange to see him behaving in this way, when he doesn't appear to us to have provoked the cocker in anyway.

    It is becoming embarrassing with our friends, since they insist on us bringing him round to theirs. They even want to take care of him when we go away for a week next month. The idea of this fills us with dread, since we don't think Alfalfa would survive it.

    Is there any way we can try to solve this problem? I also thought of paying the cocker a lot of attention and ignoring my poor dog who is being victimized, just so that she wouldn't attack him. Perhaps there is something we can do to remedy the situation?

    Thanks,
Claire.

Accepted Answer

You are dramatically failing your poor dog. Your dog expects you to act as a pack leader. As such it is your responsibility to protect your family pack. You are not doing this and don't think this is wasted on your dog. It now looks at the world as if it has no one because you and your husband dropped the ball on one of the most important responsibilities to your dog.

Your friends are idiots. Flat idiots. This has nothing to do with food. It has everything to do with dominant temperament. If you allow your poor dog to go near this dog again it will be a travesty. I don't mean when you go away - take the dog to a boarding kennel. I am talking about even allowing this dog near your dog.

You need an education on dog behavior and training. Here is some reading material:

I recommend that you go to my web site and read the article I wrote on my philosophy of dog training. I think you will get some good ideas there.

Read the article I wrote titled DEALING WITH THE DOMINANT DOG. Also the Q&A sections and the Q&A on Overly Aggressive dogs.

If you choose to go in the same direction I suggest that you read the article I wrote titled how to break up a dog fight without getting hurt.

Bottom line is these other owners should be kicking their dog's ass for this. EVERY incident of unwarranted aggression (towards dogs or humans) requires quick firm and hard corrections. To ignore this, to make excuses for this behavior is un-responsible.

You never should have gone back to that house after the first fight. Do not think for one minute that these traumatic incidents will not have a life long effect on your dog. Most of the time something like this results in a dog that is dog aggressive forever. Dogs take the attitude that a good offense is the best defense.