Adult Female Dog Gets Anxious And Aggressive With Other Dogs?

[AussieDogLover]

Hey everyone,

I would love any advice or guidance you might have for me.

I've got two 7 year old desexed Australian Shepherds, both from the same litter from the same breeder.

The backstory:

Aslan, the male, I've had since he was 8 weeks old and goes everywhere with me. He has the most incredible temperament of any dog i've ever had, he's just the most beautiful soul.

We decided earlier in the year to get a second dog so Aslan had a friend and contacted the breeder (we wanted an adult dog not a puppy) and discovered that Star, Aslan's full sister from the same litter, had come home to them after finishing her show and breeding career and was looking for a loving family home to grow old in. We met, the dogs got along well and we took Star on.

She was sold by the breeder also as an 8 week old puppy, to a show home in NSW. Unfortunately while she was there they had her de-barked (so sad that its legal there!!) and then when she was unsuccessful in the show ring, sent her back to the breeder as an 18 month old, now with no voice. The breeder had one litter with her before placing her in a home in Queensland with a friend of theirs who wanted to breed a litter from her - she has a super sweet nature with people too. After having a litter and living almost 3 years up in QLD, she again came back to the breeders home here in Victoria because she really didn't like being a mum very much. Thats where we came in and adopted Star earlier this year.

We were told by the breeder when we purchased her that she is a 'dominant bitch' and will happily stand her ground (Aslan has a bit of a history of being a total pushover and sometimes gets picked on at the park by other dogs), and Star is great with Aslan, the only time she gets a bit rough is when we throw the ball and she becomes overstimulated. But with other dogs she is a bit scary. We can't trust her even to touch noses with another dog or she flips out and tries to attack them. This is a bit tricky because we now can't take them to run at the park, because just the sight of other dogs she stops being the sweet little girl we have at home and turns into a real feral. She looks genuinely anxious - flat low ears, darting wide eyes and general high anxiety expressions etc, then when other dogs come close enough, it goes from anxiety to aggression.

Having done quite a bit of agility and obedience with Aslan over the years, I know the basics but I'm certainly no expert and this is out of my level of experience! Would love to do anything I can to help her adjust and learn to get along with other dogs. We saw her with other dogs at the breeder and she was not like this at all, though perhaps that is because they were dogs she knew, as she took a while to warm to Aslan as well.

Thanks in advance, any help or suggestions are much appreciated!!

Attaching a cute photo of the two babies playing in our yard...Aslan is the blue merle and Star is the black tri.

Nicole :-) xx

[Dame Aussie]

I have an Aussie girl of the same age and she can be a bitch to our other dog sometimes. She is quite dominant but not actually aggressive and interestingly is not really into other dogs in general. Again not aggressive, but just not interested, she's very human focused. She's also quite highly strung and can become anxious in some situations.

This sounds fairly serious though and I'd contact a trainer/behavourist if I were you as it sounds like a situation that could end badly and you don't want her getting hurt or hurting another dog.

Have you spoken to the breeder about the behaviour?

[dragonwoman]

Hey everyone,

I would love any advice or guidance you might have for me.

I've got two 7 year old desexed Australian Shepherds, both from the same litter from the same breeder.

The backstory:

Aslan, the male, I've had since he was 8 weeks old and goes everywhere with me. He has the most incredible temperament of any dog i've ever had, he's just the most beautiful soul.

We decided earlier in the year to get a second dog so Aslan had a friend and contacted the breeder (we wanted an adult dog not a puppy) and discovered that Star, Aslan's full sister from the same litter, had come home to them after finishing her show and breeding career and was looking for a loving family home to grow old in. We met, the dogs got along well and we took Star on.

She was sold by the breeder also as an 8 week old puppy, to a show home in NSW. Unfortunately while she was there they had her de-barked (so sad that its legal there!!) and then when she was unsuccessful in the show ring, sent her back to the breeder as an 18 month old, now with no voice. The breeder had one litter with her before placing her in a home in Queensland with a friend of theirs who wanted to breed a litter from her - she has a super sweet nature with people too. After having a litter and living almost 3 years up in QLD, she again came back to the breeders home here in Victoria because she really didn't like being a mum very much. Thats where we came in and adopted Star earlier this year.

We were told by the breeder when we purchased her that she is a 'dominant bitch' and will happily stand her ground (Aslan has a bit of a history of being a total pushover and sometimes gets picked on at the park by other dogs), and Star is great with Aslan, the only time she gets a bit rough is when we throw the ball and she becomes overstimulated. But with other dogs she is a bit scary. We can't trust her even to touch noses with another dog or she flips out and tries to attack them. This is a bit tricky because we now can't take them to run at the park, because just the sight of other dogs she stops being the sweet little girl we have at home and turns into a real feral. She looks genuinely anxious - flat low ears, darting wide eyes and general high anxiety expressions etc, then when other dogs come close enough, it goes from anxiety to aggression.

Having done quite a bit of agility and obedience with Aslan over the years, I know the basics but I'm certainly no expert and this is out of my level of experience! Would love to do anything I can to help her adjust and learn to get along with other dogs. We saw her with other dogs at the breeder and she was not like this at all, though perhaps that is because they were dogs she knew, as she took a while to warm to Aslan as well.

Thanks in advance, any help or suggestions are much appreciated!!

Attaching a cute photo of the two babies playing in our yard...Aslan is the blue merle and Star is the black tri.

Nicole :-) xx

Poor girl, gone from pillar to post.........nothing wrong with dominance, you just need to handle it............and understand that not all dogs want to be friends with everybody.............she probably does not know if she is Arthur or Martha, I would stop exposing her to strange dogs if that's the way she feels about them...............get some help managing her

[persephone]

I agree - why expose her to other dogs if she reacts like that ? She doesn't 'have' to like or play with others of her kind - esp as she has her sibling , training, and a wonderful doggy yard!!

Also, I would be concerned that your boy may pick up on her behaviour , and react in ways you won't enjoy

Another who strongly suggests a reputable and recommended behaviourist .Feel free to ask on here for names !!

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

a few things aren't adding up for me. I could be wrong but I think debarking involves piercing or cutting membranes in a dog's mouth... So if this dog was aggressive and/or debarked - the NSW people would not be able to show it anyway.

And then the breeder to allow / encourage litters from a dog that is aggressive to other dogs - not good either.

pg 47 of the NSW show regulations (part 2 show on this page)

http://www.dogsnsw.org.au/breeding/code-of-ethics.html

14.3 A dog shall be disqualified from winning a prize at a Show held under the Regulations if a Show Committee or the Board of Directors are satisfied that:- (09/11)

(snip)

(iii) the lining membranes of the mouth have been cut, pierced or

mutilated in any way;

page 49 of same

14.10 (Revised 12/12)

(a) It is the obligation of each owner, exhibitor and handler at a show to take all such steps as may be necessary to ensure that any dog under that person's care or control or for which that person is responsible does not behave in an aggressive manner.

So now you have a dog that is fine with people and with her home pack (dog selective peacefulness) but not with other dogs. Retraining that is difficult, and it really helps to know what kind of aggression it is... eg fear aggression or just hates dogs. And it helps to get a professional in who has really good timing with delivering rewards for good behaviour so that you counter condition successfully instead of rewarding the bad behaviour and making it worse ie timing is absolutely critical with this.

http://www.badrap.org/dogdog-tolerance

Or you keep her away from other dogs. Which is really hard to do.