Dog Aggression

[shellbyville]

Hi, I have a 1 year old lab who has started showing some aggression towards other dogs. I bred him myself, his mum and litter sister have absolutely flawless natures, they love people and other dogs.

I must say he is not aggressive toward people at all, so that is not an issue. He absolutely loves people.

I show him and he has in the past put his hackles up at other dogs and I usually reprimand him, and distract him to watching me and calming down, so up until this weekend has not really shown any real aggression he has just been very wary of other dogs. However this weekend at a show, while waiting to go in the ring another exhibitor walked their male lab very close to my boy. My boy spun around and growled and snapped at the other dog, he didn't actually make physical contact as I was very quick to pull him back to me and into line, and apologised profusely to the other exhibitor, I felt so bad!

I am unsure what I should be doing to stop this behaviour before it becomes any worse. I have 7 dogs here and he is not aggressive to any at home. I show him on average once a month, so he doesn't get out that often. I did socialise him well as a puppy, took him to town walking, to show training when I could and as a young pup he did quite a bit of showing. His behaviour really took me by surprise this weekend and I noticed for the rest of the day that he does look at other dogs 'with attitude' holds his tail high etc, so I just made sure we kept a wide berth of other dogs.

Advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't want my beautiful, sweet boy to be nasty with other dogs.

Edited September 3, 2007 by shellbyville

[sidoney]

Where are you located? The best course of action in this kind of situation is to get yourself and dog to a reputable behaviourist or trainer experienced with this kind of behaviour. One can't advise on or fix this over the 'Net. If you tell us your location I'm sure someone can advise you on a good person to see.

[Ms James]

I'm with Sidoney It would really be necessary to see exactly how your dog is behaving in that situation in order to make a correct diagnosis, & a behaviourist will be able to map out a plan for you to work on based on that diagnosis ;) Your doggy might simply be reacting to the stress of the show ring & the peripheral activities, rather than acting out in a more calm & settled environment. In any case, you'll get better tools from a behaviourist that's met with your dog one on one.

And...if you're from Shelbyville, don't try to get one of those behaviourists from Springfield! :p

Sorry, pathetic Simspons joke there

[shellbyville]

Thanks for the replies. I am looking to find someone in my area to help me. I am in the Northern Rivers area of Northern NSW.

I am actually taking my boy to his first class of beginner obedience tonight, so I will ask there whether they know of someone to help. I also think going to a class regularly will help him. He is not 'uncontrollably' aggressive, more wary than anything. So I am hoping being around other dogs on a regular basis will also help.

Cute Simpsons joke! It wasn't really the inspiration to my name though!!! I very rarely watch the show, but occasionally I listen to it while cooking dinner(The kids have it on in another room) and always manage to laugh out loud!

Edited September 3, 2007 by shellbyville