Joined
·
442 Posts
I apologize in advance for the length of this post but I really could use some outside perspective on this situation.
I'm starting to get a little concerned that Mayzie (our new dog) is becoming reactive around other dogs. As some history, we've had her about 3 months. She was rescued from a bad situation where she never had much socialization with other dogs or people. She looooves people and seems to enjoy other dogs as long as our 1st "child," Ranger, isn't in the picture.
Mayzie has been following Ranger's lead with other dogs. If the other dogs are polite, Ranger is cool with them. But if they're pushy (especially if they're bigger), he will tell them to "back off." He never bites or makes contact. It's just a warning to give him some space. When he does this, Mayzie will also lunge into it...again, not making contact. But I don't think she actually knows what's going on. She's just taking Ranger's lead.
Well, we've had a couple of times in the past week where she has started this behavior on her own. Both times, Ranger was there but he was fine with the other dog. But Mayzie charged the other dog and kind of snapped the air...but still no contact. One incident involved a lab that was loose and a lady was trying to catch it. My DH stopped the car and got Ranger out on a leash and the lab immediately walked up to Ranger so they were able to grab the lab's collar. The lady started to walk away with the lab. My DH had the windows down on the truck and Mayzie jumped out of the truck and charged the lab as it was walking away. My DH called to her and she immediately came back.
We have never seen this kind of behavior on her part when she's without Ranger. She appears uncertain of strange dogs - especially when she can see them coming straight at us down a trail or something - and will go into a kind of crouch and STARE at them. But if she meets them on her own, she is generally fine with them. She and Ranger also go to daycare and she's never behaved this way there. And she was great with the other dogs that were in our obedience class (again, Ranger was not there).
It seems like she doesn't have very good "doggie language" - either reading other dogs' signals or giving off appropriate signals of her own. For instance, Ranger will give a warning growl and his body will go stiff before he takes it up a notch. This gives us a little window to remove him from the situation. Mayzie doesn't seem to be giving off these types of signals (or maybe we're just not good at reading them) so we're always surprised when she behaves in this manner so we're left being reactive rather than pro-active.
With her being a fearful dog, our main worry is that this will continue to escalate into full-blown reactivity and possibly aggression, since we've seen her behavior with other dogs build since we've had her. Maybe we're reading too much into it and she's reacting appropriately but we're just not sure.
We contacted the trainer who we took the obedience class with. He said that he's sure she's giving us signals so we need to pay closer attention to them. And then to "stop" the behavior (including the crouching and staring). Then praise her for reacting appropriately. I kind of get this but I don't know that it will change her feelings about the situation, you know?
We've never had two dogs before and I do think "pack mentality" is coming into play here. Has anyone ever experienced something like this before? Any advice or insight would be welcome!
Ugh! Again...sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading!
I'm starting to get a little concerned that Mayzie (our new dog) is becoming reactive around other dogs. As some history, we've had her about 3 months. She was rescued from a bad situation where she never had much socialization with other dogs or people. She looooves people and seems to enjoy other dogs as long as our 1st "child," Ranger, isn't in the picture.
Mayzie has been following Ranger's lead with other dogs. If the other dogs are polite, Ranger is cool with them. But if they're pushy (especially if they're bigger), he will tell them to "back off." He never bites or makes contact. It's just a warning to give him some space. When he does this, Mayzie will also lunge into it...again, not making contact. But I don't think she actually knows what's going on. She's just taking Ranger's lead.
Well, we've had a couple of times in the past week where she has started this behavior on her own. Both times, Ranger was there but he was fine with the other dog. But Mayzie charged the other dog and kind of snapped the air...but still no contact. One incident involved a lab that was loose and a lady was trying to catch it. My DH stopped the car and got Ranger out on a leash and the lab immediately walked up to Ranger so they were able to grab the lab's collar. The lady started to walk away with the lab. My DH had the windows down on the truck and Mayzie jumped out of the truck and charged the lab as it was walking away. My DH called to her and she immediately came back.
We have never seen this kind of behavior on her part when she's without Ranger. She appears uncertain of strange dogs - especially when she can see them coming straight at us down a trail or something - and will go into a kind of crouch and STARE at them. But if she meets them on her own, she is generally fine with them. She and Ranger also go to daycare and she's never behaved this way there. And she was great with the other dogs that were in our obedience class (again, Ranger was not there).
It seems like she doesn't have very good "doggie language" - either reading other dogs' signals or giving off appropriate signals of her own. For instance, Ranger will give a warning growl and his body will go stiff before he takes it up a notch. This gives us a little window to remove him from the situation. Mayzie doesn't seem to be giving off these types of signals (or maybe we're just not good at reading them) so we're always surprised when she behaves in this manner so we're left being reactive rather than pro-active.
With her being a fearful dog, our main worry is that this will continue to escalate into full-blown reactivity and possibly aggression, since we've seen her behavior with other dogs build since we've had her. Maybe we're reading too much into it and she's reacting appropriately but we're just not sure.
We contacted the trainer who we took the obedience class with. He said that he's sure she's giving us signals so we need to pay closer attention to them. And then to "stop" the behavior (including the crouching and staring). Then praise her for reacting appropriately. I kind of get this but I don't know that it will change her feelings about the situation, you know?
We've never had two dogs before and I do think "pack mentality" is coming into play here. Has anyone ever experienced something like this before? Any advice or insight would be welcome!
Ugh! Again...sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading!