I have a new foster dog,a Dogo Argentino. She is bad health now, but we are working in that. She has mastitis, high heartworm positive, underweight, skin issues (allergies??), upper respiratory infection as well.

Issue is, she was labeled extremely dog aggressive at the shelter, but this shelter labels a lot of dogs that way.

Before I agreed to take her, the rescue sent people to evaluate her, below is what they said:



Well, I met up with Jeri a little while ago @ MDAS to eval Christmas, the female Dogo. Jeri had her in an outdoor, fenced in play area, and I brought my male Malinois to test her, and I walked him up near the fence and at first she barked @ him and let out this noise that was one of her being very anxious. Mind you, she has not been taken out of her kennel for a week, and had a lot of pent up energy and anxiety. I turned my Mal around, so that she could sniff his butt and she did well with that. I kept him outside the fence while she was inside the fenced area for a good 15 minutes and she calmed down, would come up to my boys face and she would bark and howl at him but was wagging her tail at the same time. Also, there were two little terriers in the same area and one of them was a little male that was barking, and even standing up on his little hind legs and just carrying on. Christmas saw him and did not bark or show any form of aggression whatsoever. In my opinion, if she is challenged by a larger dog, she will most likely not back down, however, if she is with a large dog that is submissve and let's her be the one who runs the show, then they will get along. My Malinois is very submissve and while she was barking in his face initially, he just continued panting and looked away to avoid her and had no intention of challenging her, which is why she eventually relaxed and warmed up to him. Christmas is great with people, she was an absolute angel. I do hope that the foster who was going to take her, still takes her, because she's a great dog!

Since having her here, I've kept her away from my dogs accept for the arrival. It was late and 2 of my dogs were outside. She jumped from the car and lunged forward, I had a hold of the leash and she went up on her hind legs, snarling growling and snapping the air. I was able to pull her back and she calmed down quickly. Dogs were put up and she came in and checked the yard from top to bottom.



My question is, do you think this is something to work on? I mean she has been kenneled for 2 weeks. Isn't up to par in the health department. She calms down quickly, doesn't stay agitated.

I just don't know whether to put a lot effort into getting her to like at least some of my dogs (or any dog) or just keep her separated completely and hope we can find a home as an only dog for her. But that is hard. If she could be safely placed with a mellow male dog it would make it a bit easier.

She does need to learn how to behave in public (like the vets office which will be going frequently) when seeing other dogs. She seems to very reactive. If the other dog is calm, she is fine, if they bark or whine, she gets worked up and pulls toward them.

We've only had her a 2 days so she is still settling in. Her health is top priority, but if she can't behave well enough to be handled around other dogs, her chances of adoption are not great.

Right now she is pretty much crated most of the time, with some time spent outside by herself, and then time inside with us when the other dogs are outside.

She hasn't shown any aggression towards people. Can be handled, examined, etc. No food aggression either.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi Tiffany,

I'm by no means an expert in the dog field but I do have experience as well as a suggestion to share.

When I got my girl, Stevie, from the SPCA she was quite literally on deaths door. When she was at her worst she would growl at any animal that came near her. She went after my friends brussels griffon and also I've been told that she attacked a few puppies at the shelter. After her surgeries, antibiotics etc.. she was completely different. Although we did try to correct her aggression I believe that what really made the difference was her change in health. When she felt better, she wasn't as aggressive. She is now the sweetest girl you will meet. I think any animal that is in pain might show some aggression to keep others at bay. This is only my personal experience. As this dogs history is unknown she may very well have had aggression issues before falling ill.

So that being said you could wait it out for a bit until her health improves a bit but in all honesty a nice quiet home where she will not have the stress of interactions with other dogs may be the best place for her to heal.

In addition to this wise response, I'd like to suggest that if she is exercise-restricted at the moment (and I'm sure she is), that too is a big crimp in any latent ability to be calm(er) and less reactive.

I agree a hundred percent about this not being the time for interactions or even introductions.

Thanks. That is sort of what I was thinking. We had French Bulldog that came from the shelter and was extremely aggressive at first. He attacked every dog he saw. But after he fully recovered from his issues. He turned into a different dog. Gets along great with everyone. We were going to place him as an only dog, but he can be around any dog now w/o issues. My Mother ended up adopting him and he loves her Chihuahua.

I'm hoping it is the same with her. She is really itchy with her skin, snotty nosed, chest congestions, and had brown discharge from her nipples. Not to mentions a heart full of worms. I would be a real b*tch if I had that wrong with me! Hopefully the meds will kick in and get some of her issues cleared up. Then we can start the heartworm treatment. Last step will be getting her spayed.

Here is her shelter pic which doesn't do her justice, she is a gorgeous dog.

Neva is doing much better. She is getting healthier. She is now play bowing at the fence and wanting to play with the other dogs instead of "eat" them. I think once she is healthy, she will be a different dog. She will go next week for her heartworm eval and then start treatment. She will have to be calm, so we will continue short interactions thru the fence and crate and maybe by the time she is healthy, she will be used to the other dogs.

She is such a sweet girl and a big mush with people!

I introduced Angel my other foster dog to Neva.