I have a 5 month old Jack Russell Terrier who is the sweetest thing in the world; that is inside the house. I have taken her to a dog park and she gets along ok with dogs that share the same energy as her….but any dog that is submissive she will jump on and start humping. This even got so bad one day where she attacked a submissive Yorkie.

I have had her in Puppy training class, and she did so well that she is now in Intermediate dog training. Thing is, the other day we were doing down-stay training and as soon as I got 10 feet away she charged across the room and attacked a Yorkie in the class. Now she had been next to that dog all night but the last 10 min. of class she went crazy for the dog.

I know JRT’s are a bit nuts with smaller dogs, and I did my research on them before I got her. She does play with bigger dogs but she plays rough with them too. My question is….is this something normal or do I have a problem child on my hands?

I am the pack leader in my house…no question about it there. My dog does everything I tell her to in the house and walking on a leash. I am not sure what else to do with her so she does not attack small dogs. My last option is to take her to the class and in the middle of the class do the hold her down till she chills thing; which I will try next week.

I guess my main question here is….is my dog just being a puppy or is there a serious issue here? If there is an issue, how do I deal with it? BTW…brand new puppy owners here. I have had dogs in the past but never a puppy.

I appreciate any advise given,
Thanks,
Matt

Read this

http://www.leerburg.com/dogparks.htm

and this

http://www.leerburg.com/dominac2.htm

You are going to get an earfull for letting your dog attack another dog multiple times.

I have read everything and that is why I decided to post. Thanks for the information, but my original quiestion still stands.

OH, my dog did not attack the SAME dog multiple times. Was the same breed

 Quote:

is my dog just being a puppy or is there a serious issue here? If there is an issue, how do I deal with it?

When you yourself use a words like "attacked" and "went crazy" I think you have answered question #1.

I should have said: "attack multiple dogs".

I've never had to deal with a dog like that so I can't help on question #2. You will get plenty of replies tomorrow.

I look foward to the replies, as I am so stumpped here.

I am no expert, and can only speak from my personal experiance. I have only raised puppies to dogs that were aggresive. I have read and purchased dvd's and followed Ed's advice. I can only say that I believe it all takes continuous training and time to see results. I have never used a method of training on a hard puppie that worked right away. Training puppies is in my experiance is a road to the mature dog. Much like raising teens. You just have to hang in there and not give up.

I agree with Michael, but I have a lot of concern about a dog-aggressive dog who is actually allowed off-lead in a dog park. This is extremely unwise, even aside from the obvious (dog fights). This is reinforcing the dog's habit through repetition.

Number One with this dog is that he has to be on-lead outside your home. The dog is not under your control.

JMO. I don't allow dog-aggression, and I can't figure out how I would ever deal with it if the dog was not on a leash. With me on the other end.

Thanks for the replies. I will keep up with her training and hopefully she gets better with this.

When she was in the dog park running around off of her lease I had no idea she was dog-aggressive. Needless to say I have not taken her back there since and she is NEVER allowed off of her leash now. I try everything I can to train my dog not to be aggressive towards other dogs...but it is hard when she picks the ones she wants to be aggressive towards. When she does now on a leash she gets a squirt from a water bottle and that seems to work for now. Since she picks the ones she wants to go after, I was hoping she might grow out of it with training.

Even though she will pass her training class (she can do everything we teach her...it's just she does it when she wants in the class around other dogs), I am planning on sending her back through it again just for socialization. In the house I can get her to do what I want when I want...but when she is focused on other dogs it is difficult.

 Quote: matt wilson

... it is hard when she picks the ones she wants to be aggressive towards. When she does now on a leash she gets a squirt from a water bottle and that seems to work for now. Since she picks the ones she wants to go after... but when she is focused on other dogs it is difficult.

This is a clue.

With a dog like this, I would not let the posturing get as far as focus, "picking," etc.

I would keep right on walking. I also would not tense up on the leash or in any other way draw the dog's attention to another dog passing by. I also give an immediate leash correction to a dog-aggressive dog who even STARTS to give another dog the evil eye. Anything other than marching right on by is not OK with a dog-aggressive dog. JMO.

Personally, I would have the dog on a leash in the class, too, if that's a venue where she chooses and then goes after another dog. Socialization isn't beneficial when it offers an otherwise not-allowed opportunity to be dog-aggressive when it's not possible to correct instantly.

JMO. Maybe others will have different ideas. I'm not a puppy expert, and I see that the JRT is only five months old. In my mind, that's old enough to have dog-aggression tendencies nipped in the bud. But I hope puppy experts will post.