Hi, I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to help a dog overcome personal space issues with other dogs. My dog has a one to two foot area around her where if another dog is outside the area, she ignores it, it comes within that area and she bites it or tries to.

I realize that some breeds have boundary issues and I'm wondering what I can do about it - if anything at all. She is a 4 year old Belgian Terv.

Thanks in advance,

M.

Respect the dog's desire not to be that close to other dogs?

What would be the purpose of conditioning your dog to allow another dog within two feet of it?

You can work on the dog-on-dog aggression the same way as if it was a 20-feet space issue, but ultimately, if the dog is that easy going with other dogs, that she just doesn't want to be close enough to smell what the dog licked this morning...
my personal call would be to respect that.

My concern would be that you might end up having a counterproductive effect of making the dog MORE sensitive about other dogs (and reactive at further distances) if you try to change this part of the dog's personality.

Good OB should mean that in the event a dog invades her space and you are present, you can tell the dog "heel" or "watch me" and she can't bite, because she's looking at you.

I agree with Alyssa; if she is accepting of a dog 1 to 2 feet away what is the problem? Of course, if they get closer and she goes on the defensive I'd work on obedience to better control such a situation and use my body to block the approach of the other dog so she doesn't have too. Nothing wrong with doing an about face either to bring her back to a comfortable distance.

Thank you for your replies. I do agree with you about what you are both saying. To answer your question, "What is the problem?" I'll give you an example.

Yesterday, I met with a friend and we were going to walk our dogs (on leash). My dog had never met his dog before and so we did a controlled meet where I let my dog sniff his dog's butt and vice versa. All was okay and calm and then my friend's dog calmly walked over to my dog (my friend was locking his car, I was standing near by with my dog) and she latched on to his dog's nose and it cost me $170 in vet bills.

No growl, no warning just BAM! I can keep her away from other dogs, especially strange dogs ... however, I'd like to be able to take her on outings with friends who have dogs, maybe go hiking etc. without having to worry about more vet bills.

M.

 Quote: marisa broughton

"What is the problem?" I'll give you an example.

Yesterday, I met with a friend and we were going to walk our dogs (on leash). My dog had never met his dog before and so we did a controlled meet where I let my dog sniff his dog's butt and vice versa. All was okay and calm and then my friend's dog calmly walked over to my dog (my friend was locking his car, I was standing near by with my dog) and she latched on to his dog's nose and it cost me $170 in vet bills.

No growl, no warning just BAM! I can keep her away from other dogs, especially strange dogs ... however, I'd like to be able to take her on outings with friends who have dogs, maybe go hiking etc. without having to worry about more vet bills.

M.

Unfortunately with some dogs you can't go on hikes or have a lot of dog interaction. My 11 year old bitch is one such dog. You can walk at a show site and she is fine as long as the dogs respect her personal space. The minute a dog gets in her space she will nail them. No warning, no barking, just latches onto them. I call it her "hungry hungry hippo" manuever. With other dogs, she will do fine when introduced and than decides to nail them. I got her when she was 2 and she was not socialized appropriately as a puppy and I attribute most of her issues to that.

She is so sweet looking and loving with humans that I have to really stress her issue when I leave her at the vet for treatment etc because no one believes that she will nail another dog. Well, my one male is missing half his ear due to her crankiness With that said, that incident was a fluke and she gets along fine with my other dogs. I can bring in puppies and she does fine but adult dogs are another scenario altogether.

Your dog sounds similar to my Tessa. I don't know what to tell you other than you might very well have to be vigilent with your dog whenever around other dogs. Some dogs just don't deal well with other dogs and the sooner I realized that Tessa was one of them. The better off I was. Good luck!

I wanted the same thing with my boy--take him with me and walk calmly around other dogs. I did finally, with a lot of help, get him to the point he can walk 3 feet away from a dog. He is as far as he can go with strange dogs. I did adopt another dog, and with a lot of work, he has accepted her--she is calm, submissive, and possesses "dog etiquette".

I agree that having your dog look to you instead of attacking is a goal--an attainable goal. I get it sometimes from him ( still a work in progress), and other times I stand between him and what is triggering him. He can be "silent". Then,the only clue is he is on his toes and his mouth is tight and forward.

You can walk your dog and go places but you must be vigilant and work diligently at getting your dog to look to you and not the other dog AND also learn the cues and signals and triggers. ( I still learn.)

And, as far as hiking with your friends, they should know about your dogs and help you...keep their dogs away from yours, teach theirs about space, and who knows? You may still have a good time.


Edited by Jo Harker (03/16/2009 05:27 PM)
Edit reason: Added last paragraph

It's sure nice to read about someone else experiencing similar situations! My dog acts exactly the same way as yours. It's nice to read about what others noticed with their dogs and what they've done about it.

I have a call into a dog behaviorist and hopefully he'll be able to assess my dog and see if there is anything that I'm doing that can be improved upon. Maybe I'm doing something to make the situation worse or maybe I'm doing the right thing. In this case, it's hard to tell.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

M.

Hi Jo,

It's good to hear that it's an attainable goal. Now to figure out how to do it. C'mon doggie shrink .... call me back! In the mean time, what did you do that worked for you?

M.

Would this be considered a form of "territorial aggression"?

I agree with Ingrid and Jo's comments. I rescued a GSD with a somewhat similar personality (disorder?) I attributed the problem to whatever happened in the first 18 mos before I got her. She's become (with a lot of work) very social with 95% of dogs, but I don't push it. As Jo and Ingrid indicated, the key is vigilance and being able to read your dog, the other dog(s) and their interaction.

Some will be totally o.k., others may be for 30-sec or a minute or maybe longer, then there's an explosion (as you learned with your friend's dog.) I keep my focus on the dogs and not get distracted by pleasantries and conversations with owners. You need to work at reading your dog's reactions and signals and those of the other dogs as well and be able to react before someone gets bit.

The problem I see with trying to favor the dogs of friends vs. the dogs of strangers is that this tends to minimize the influence/control of the owner, i.e., a "friend" may have less control of or less ability to read their dog than some strangers you encounter. So when dealing friends or strangers, just be prepared to compensate for the clueless owner. You'll have to step up your vigilance and effort to maintain an amicable greeting or outing.

Mike