Small Dog Aggression

[IggiePiggie]

On the weekend I took Borris to the dog beach.

he was off lead for some of the way and it was deserted.

As we were heading up the path away from the beach we came across a man and his yorkie(i think).

Anyway, Borris saw him and stared.

Then went into a crouch, kind of lay down.

Then sprang at him.

The Yorkie was crying and i rushed in to separate them.

And the man tried to kick off Borris (fair enough, exactly what I would have done)

There was no physical damage done.

Borris hadn't actually bitten, he had nipped.

I put him straight on the lead and apologised to him and his dog.

I am just so sad and disappointed.

Borris has done a fair bit of socialisation, but i have only just realised that it has almost all been with big dogs.

Realising that he can't interact with small dogs, and that I can't let him off lead till we sort this out is a real blow, as he had been doing quite well with socialisation lately.

I just wanted to know can dogs be taught to not be dog aggressive, I hear alot of people talk about their DA dogs and they always seem like that is just them and so now their lives are DA tolerant.

Also I am wondering if the fact that we had been throwing the ball along the beach may have raise his prey drive, because honestly, the way he crouched was v. "hunter".

It was all very disturbing.

[~*Shell*~]

Zero is proof that they can. He was terribly dog aggressive so I took him out to see Steve at k9force, implemented the right training routine and now he's fine.

Zero with Terranik's Jedi - who is now Zero's best friend:

And Zero with Terranik's Jedi and Ahsoka, and Wolfsong's Mistral (on this day he was also with Aquaticmalamute's Boh, Corvus's Kivi Tarro and Penny, Snofyre's Magnus, Sanji and Romeo and Wolfsong's Lestat as well as the people next to us's Samoyeds):

It can definitely be done!

[Diva]

As you mention it sounds like prey drive more than 'normal' dog to dog agression. I have high prey drive dogs, so I make sure they meet little dogs when they themselves are young. I find that once they realise a little dog is still a dog they don't switch on that prey stare.

I'm still very reluctant to run them off leash with little dogs because of the size and speed difference but it's no longer a prey thing.

Maybe you need to introduce him to some little dogs in controlled circumstances so he can figure out it's still just a dog, not a rabbit in drag.

[IggiePiggie]

Might have to do some serious work with him and small dogs.

Shell, what method did you use to neutralize zero?