My American Bulldog, Cajun, gets along very well with other dogs in various settings; he is a very stable and confident dog.

He is also dominant with other dogs, but non aggressive. He is easily controlled and called away, but as is normal when new dogs meet, a hierarchy is established. My only reason for calling him away is if the owner of the other dog becomes worried, or the other dog becomes overly aggressive.

His ears are usually relaxed, neither forward or pulled back, his tail high with a slight wag, legs stiff, fronts on tip toes with the hind end lowered. Sniffing, some face licking, circling, then he puts his head over the other dog's back. A very clear attempt at dominance, that depending on the other dog is either met with aggression or submision.

Just for those curious, I don't let him run loose with any ole dog and this is always supervised and first-second-third encounters are leashed ones.

He has been bitten by several dogs, causing minor flesh and puncture wounds, once by a golden retreiver that rushed out of her yard while I was walking him at 9 months, and twice by my stepbrother's lab mix who was allowed for unknown reasons to roam free. He has been met with aggression by some dogs, with very loud vocalizations (barking, growling, snarling) and nipped/bit and had never once growled, bitten, or snarled back. He simply knocks them down, stands over them, and then sits on their head.

His only fight was when my stepbrother's lovely dog attacked ME, leaving several large puncture wounds in my foot as I was walking out to get the mail and did not realize my stepbrother had dropped his little monster off on our property *again.* It was short lived, Cajun took one bite, completely taking the dog's shoulder blade into his mouth, with a small ripping gash on the chest and a puncture at the top of the shoulder, pinned him down, and held him.

Even after that he still showed no "aggression" towards other dogs, intact males or not.

He is the only dog I've had that doesn't "fight" back when another dog shows aggression towards him, no vocalization, no teeth baring, just avoidance of teeth and back to his head-over-the-back possition. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, and when I notice the other dog becoming agressive the dogs are kept apart for safety purposes as I don't want my dog bitten.

He was all-out attacked this past weekend on a camping trip. He was walking with me when another, uninvited guest showed up at my camp site and let their dog out, a 120# Labrador/Bullmastiff mix, 5 yo neutered male. Cajun was walking with me, not facing the other dog, Harley, when Harley charged him, knocked him down and bit him. He has a 1/2" deep, 2" long gash on the side of his neck that is being cared for.

The other people hadn't noticed what was going on, I had a leash in my hand, called Cajun to me, and held his collar while I shouted for them to get their dog and swung the clip side of the leash at Harley. I knew the dog, said his name and a firm, rather mad "No!" and clocked him in the head with the clip-part of the leash. You may all say that was stupid but I'd rather me get bit than my dog! Cajun is only around 87# but my money would not have been on Harley had Cajun chosen to fight. I did all I could think of at that moment to keep Harley away, and the one knock to the head worked, and his owner promptly got him.

After that, Cajun became vocally aggressive towards dogs he already knows and is already dominant over. He has not tried to bite, but has growled and snarled, which he never did before. He was vocally reprimanded the first time, and put on a trailing leash thereafter, where he got a firm jerk, a stern "No!" and made to sit and down-stay for 5 minutes until he was allowed to move.

Both times he did this, the other dog, an old spayed female rottweiler, came to be to be petted, standing by me with her head up, not nudging me, or barking or "demanding attention" just coming up to say hi, and Cajun shoved her with his shoulder and growled the first time, just growled a little the second time.

Is he being protective over me, or defensive of his possition with the other dogs? I didn't see anything she did as being threatening to his possition, she was 4 feet away from him, but I could have missed something being on top of everything looking down at her. He has had no problem since then, either with other dogs being near me, being petted by me, or by other dogs in general.

BUT he has not met any strange dogs since then and I am concerned that I may have a bit of work ahead of me and don't know how to approach it other than how I have done in the past, with supervision, and the knowledge of what could happen.

Is there anything I could do that I didn't? Should I expect his future encounters to be different than the past and prepare accordingly?

Or am I overreacting since it has been 5 days and he has been back to his old self?

Any suggestions would be great as I don't want any problems with him after he has proven to be so even tempered.

Thanks!

Hi Jennifer,

I don't want to take away from your post....lots of peole more experienced than I am will have good advice for you...but I do want to compliment you on your photography. Really beautiful photos!

Thank you!! I really appreciate your feedback, I'm posting more dog photos soon

If this dog is mine, I would carry a walking stick or pepper spray to protect from loose dogs. I'm sorry to say I don't care whose dog it belong to; therefore, it should be leashed or trained to heel beside the owner while off leashed. It will be my duty to protect my dog, not himself. Also I will not accept any dog aggresion on the walk. I will work with him and teach him to ignore other dogs. When he acts aggressive to other dogs, I will hang him with a dominant collar.

It is owner's responsiblity to look after their dogs. If the owner doesn't want to deal with their dogs, then I will deal with them in my own way. Whether the owner doesn't like it or not. :S

A useful link

http://leerburg.com/746.htm

My dog isn't dog aggressive and had been taught to ignore aggressive dogs, such as dogs we encounter on walks, and any dog he encounters with me. All situations possible are controlled, it was the other dog who was a known dog aggressive animal that was let loose and attacked him. From that point he showed some signs of aggression but it was taken care of with my corrections, first strictly verbal since he was in our yard and thus unleashed, the second on a lead with a prong collar. He has been fine, I guess I expect the worst for a week or two. I have kept an eagle eye on him and he had been back to his normal happy self.

I did take him for a long walk last night after I posted this and we encountered other people with aggressive dogs, he looked once and then continued on without any reaction, requiring no corrections. Perhaps the attack "ruffled his feathers" so to speak. Thank you for the insight and I have considered carrying a tire thumper some nights to ward off loose dogs, but it's heavy and I like to jog.

I have never used a dominant dog collar and don't believe he needs it, at least not yet. The other dog, Harley, could use one, that's for sure!

Ah, forgot a word.

My dog isn't "usually" dog aggressive.

Are you sure you want to carry the tire thumper? Maybe you can find something ligther to carry and spray over if you have to. Just for your safety.

Hehe I haven't put much thought into carying weapons when walking because I have my dog, but instead of him protecting me now I'm protecting him and I'm at a loss lol

Of course, we love when our dogs protect us!

But.. It's better if we protect them and us.

True, for all his training I think I would probably be the one to attack an attacker first