agressive with other dogs

[Morfini]

Hello everyone,
Im new to this forum, glad to meet you. I have a male toy poodle who is now almost 9 years old with no health problems. He has a kind and sweet character and is very friendly with people, my turtles and he doesn't attack cats. Since he was a puppy he seemed afraid of the other dogs. I used to take him to a dog park to let him socialise, but he always seemed to avoid geting near them. I tried to mate him several times but it didn't work. I even left him to house of the female dog's owner for some hours. What he did was to just sit beside the dor, waiting for me and crying. Lately he isn't just afraid. He is just attacking every dog he meets in the street, tries to bite them and barking all the time. He is also attacking big and agressive dogs and Im afraid to walk him now. The only exeption is when we are to the vet's office. There he just stays still in the waiting room, between the other dogs trembling of fear.
Last week me and my husbund desided to take him to a friend's house. He has a big yard and a female chaw chaw puppy that is 1 year old. The pup was always trying to play with him, but he was so agressive and nervous, and was trying to bite the other dog all the time and the owner asked me to hold him until we left. All this time I was holding him, my dog was watching the other one like mad, making sure it wasnt anywhere near him...
Any suggestions?
Please excuse my grammatical and spelling mistakes, as english isn't my first language.
Thank you in advance

 

[Sch3Dana]

In a nine year old dog I think your chances of resolving this are almost nil. You would need a super-passive, sweet, gentle dog and lots of time and patience. Even then, you would most likely make a decent result with that dog but not get much carry over with the next dog. It sounds like he wasn't raised around other dogs, regards them as an alien species and would prefer not interact with them. I would honor his wishes and keep him away from dogs unless you need him to get along with a specific dog. Even then, you need to be careful that his aggressive behavior doesn't provoke a fight that he could be injured in.

On your walks, I would teach him to ignore other dogs as an obedience exercise. Have him sit or down or heel when other dogs go by at a distance. Praise and feed him lavishly for looking at you and always keep the dogs far enough away that he feels safe. My guess is that something has happened to scare him on his walks. Try to make sure he doesn't have any bad experiences around other dogs. Carry him or keep him in a carrier at the vet and keep all dogs at a safe distance from him on walks (his idea of safe, not yours).

Finally, he is nine years old. Have you had a thorough vet check recently? There could be underlying medical conditions exacerbating his anxiety, like thyroid conditions, pain or vision/hearing reduction. Have a vet go over him thoroughly now that he is in his golden years.

 

[Morfini]

Thank you for your reply. As fas as I know he doesn't have any bad experiences involving other dogs, since I got him when he was 2 months old. I don't know what happened previously though. He also hasn't any health problems, apart from a prostate hypertrophy. I get him checked often by a top vet of my city, who loves poodles very much. He only told me that he is being protective, but he hasn't seen my dog acting REALLY mad.
Also, me and husband really want to get a puppy now, since we have the time to take care of it and train it well. But don't even think about it, because we are afraid our dog could even kill it. And I hate to think about him that way... because he is the sweetest with people, patient, loving and playful.

 

[Sch3Dana]

Ah, adding another dog to the mix is a whole other question. I think your best bet is to look for a local trainer who can help you with the selection of the next dog and work with you to make the introductions successful.

On the other hand, you have one dog who you love. Do you really want to upset the balance by bringing a new dog into the household? There is always a chance that they will never like each other, no matter how hard you work at it. Then you will have a lot of work maintaining the two dogs and a less happy, peaceful home. I would really evaluate your reasons for adding a second dog before jumping in and doing it. I have known many people who loved the second dog, but always regretted bringing him into the house when the first dog was still alive.

 

[dr2little]

Have you ever heard of Click to Calm by Emma Parsons. You can order her book on Dogwise. It is essentially a method where by instead of not addressing his anxiety/fear around other dogs, you work at a safe distance on pairing positive things with what normally triggers a reactive response.

Of course this is done at a proper threshold distance, far enough that he's not reacting but close enough for him to acknowledge the presence of another dog. Then, instead of stopping him from looking at the other dog, you reward FOR the look. Instead of interrupting his anxiety, you change the way that he feels about the trigger entirely.

While this can be a fairly long process, it works wonders. I've been using this method or something very similar in my GROWL classes for years with amazing success. Many of the dogs in class are older than your dog so this can work for him too.

It would be great if you could find a certified trainer (look into the CPDT listing) who is familiar with Emma's methods. The book is great but this is really something that a professional should help you with.

One more important thing is to make sure that he stops getting practice with this anxious behavior. Offleash parks and greeting other dogs on or off leash should be out of the question for right now. His behavior can get him badly hurt or worse.

One more thing, is he neutered?

 

[lizzybeth727]

Just to clarify, it sounds like your dog is "fear aggressive," not "protective," or "dominant," or anything else. Fear aggressive means that your dog is reactive to other dogs because he is afraid of that other dog.

It's never too late to neuter, and it could help out a lot. It certainly couldn't hurt anything (I do hope you're not planning to try to breed him again).

And I agree, I would not suggest getting a new dog at this point, and particularly not a puppy. Puppies are hyper, like to bite, chew, and wrestle with other dogs, and most older dogs are very very annoyed with puppies. Couple that with a dog who you know doesn't like other dogs, and I think you're setting yourself up for a lot of stress and heartache.

 

[Morfini]

Thank you for your replies,
Well I didn't make my self clear. I'd add a puppy to the household ONLY if my dog stops being afraid of other dogs. But now this is out of question. I wouldn't want him to be upset, not now, and of course I wont try to breed him again. My reasons of wanting a new dog are egoistic I suppose. Since my boy is beloved like a child I don't know what I'd do If I lost him. I imagine an empty house and all of his stuff and toys and feel like crying. I want another one just in case... so when this time comes I'd love the other one too and have consolation. Pretty egoistic, I know. But I hope he lives till he is 20 years old (I' ve met a poodle that was 17 years old, tired obviously, but not suffering from anything particullar). As I said though, I won't bring a new dog that would be in danger probably or that would make my older boy miserable.
Good trainers in my country are hard to find, most of them are breeders who sell puppys to pet shops and they use training methods I disagree with. I found out about the NILF method myself, by reading books in english. I trained him myself and he did excellent, except I left out the sosialising part. I ll search for that book you suggest dr2little, so thanks . It sounds like an excellent method.
Also, my vet strongly disagrees to neuter him. He said that he would do it if his prostate gets worse, but he thinks that doing that for no reason (and, apparently, he feels that we don't have a proper reason) is a bad thing to do, especially to older dogs.
Also I think this could be also a genetic proplem. A sister of my boy has this aggresive nature too, only with dogs, but she mated and gave birth at least once as far as I know.

 

[Sch3Dana]

I think you have many long years left with your boy and I hope you really enjoy them. In my experience toy poodles live a long time and are still pretty spry and happy even when they are very old.

What is the NILF method?

 

[seatrainer]

I think Morfini means NILIF...nothing in life is free...basically, the dog works for anything it wants (sit before being fed, etc)

 

[Sch3Dana]

Thanks for the explanation. I like to raise my pups like that. I wish my parents had raised me like that- I'm sure I'd be working harder now :lol-sign:

 

[Cessena]

Me too Dana. I'm one spoiled pet.