Hi!
I have 2 dogs:
3.5 yr old neutered shepherd/lab mix (105 lbs)
1.5 yr old spayed lab/boxer mix (60 lbs)
I have 4 kids and we got both dogs as pups around 7 weeks old and the dogs are wonderful with kids and people of all kinds. I did Basic Obedience with both dogs, socialized both of them with familiar dogs when they were growing up. I've made a number of mistakes with both of them, which has lead to the problems I'm having now.
The older male was attacked as a 3 month old. I didn't know much about dogs then and didn't do my part to protect him from a dog I didn't know.
He had been exposed to other dogs at my in-laws house,in the neighborhood, and on trails without incident long after the time that he was attacked. I would walk him on and off the leash.
When he was around a year old I was running with him (unleashed), and we bumped into a large male golden on a leash who growled at him. This started a 3 or 4 second fight and then it was over. The owner flipped out on me (rightly so), and since then I have never let him off the leash when I know other dogs are around. In fact, if he sees another dog in the distance he stops and I leash him, no big deal, although I've always been very uptight about it when I do see a dog, and I'm sure he senses my panic.
We have a large yard and use an invisible fence for containment. When he was not quite 2 years old he was being walked by my older daughter(10 yrs old at the time) with my 5 yr old walking behind them.
The neighbors had a rescued spitz/chow mix who we knew wasn't friendly but was kept in the house most of the time.
As they were walking past the house their dog came bounding out of nowhere and attacked my 5 yr old. (Bite to the face!) My dog broke off the leash and attacked their dog saving my daughters face and maybe her life. (the dog was put down)
A month later my older daughter again was walking our dog up the street and came across a male 1yr old dog. They were about 10 feet apart and my dog broke away from my daughter and attacked that dog. Again, the fight was short, but he did cut the other dog's face. After that happened, I stopped letting any of the kids walk the dog--and I became even more careful to keep him away from dogs he didn't know.
When he was 2 we got the second dog as a pup, and after a couple days of showing his teeth to her occasionally, he accepted her totally. Teaching her how to play, wrestling for hours etc., They are great friends and he is 100% top dog.
They are both trained to the invisible fence, and are walked for an hour a day in a large woody,wetlands area directly out our backdoor (I'm thinking they equate this as part of their territory since we are there so much and we are almost always there alone).
They are friendly to dogs they are familiar with, but are BOTH now aggressive to strange dogs if they have the opportunity to come in contact with them.
I usually go out of my way to MAKE SURE I don't cross paths with other dogs, but just yesterday I was walking across an area just beyond our property as I was just getting our walk started and we bumped into a dog (female)with it's owner a bit of a distance behind it. He was coming up a hill and I couldn't see either of them. My dogs attacked this dog. It was short,no blood, and they stopped with both owners yelling and kicking, each of my dogs tried to have a second go at the dog before we had ultimate control of the situation.
It turns out that I knew the owner. He was very kind to me as I apologized for not having had them in control. I was surprised at how aggressive my younger dog was to this other dog upon meeting them. Is this something she learned from my older dog, is it just a pack thing? We ended up standing and talking for a few minutes and the dogs were very calm, so I think my dogs really aren't aggressive to the point of wanting to kill another dog, since they were satisfied to stop. I'm assuming it's a protection/turf issue <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> . I leashed my big dog and ended up walking along with the dog and it's owner while the females were off leash. They didn't get near each other, but they didn't fight either. My big dog who was leashed was keeping his eyes on the other dog, and I could tell if that dog got too close to either my female or to me, he would think of starting up again. We were hoping that if the females were okay together, the older male wouldn't feel the need to protect the female, and that this might make it so that they wouldn't feel the need to fight if we ever bumped into each other again, which would be seldom but possible. Maybe that was a silly thought :rolleyes: . I use a shock collar as back up to contain him on our walks because he is so big. He is very responsive to it, and I ordered one for my second dog yesterday after this happened.
Containment has worked for the most part, but is obviously not the total answer. I amazed at the number of people who when I yell to them that my dogs are not friendly, STILL don't leash their dog. That puts me in a bad postion, as I don't want to be attached to my dogs during a dog fight (I run and use a leash around my waist to keep my hands free).
I know I MUST work on the obedience --but I'm wondering if there is any point in trying to get my dogs to the point of "being friendly" to all dogs we come across. Ideally, that's what I'd like, but is it really possible given the way they are this late into their lives? They will attack strange dogs who wander into our yard, and will bark like freaks if they are in the car with me and they see another dog, but happily welcome their "friends" into the yard and the house.
Sorry for the long ramble--I know I've made the situation worse but want to do what it takes to improve this situation if it's at all possible.
I live in Pittsburgh if anyone knows of a trainer I could work with on the aggression issue.
Thanks in advance-
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