Like I've said in other threads, my wife and I rescued Manni about 5 months ago. Manni is a yellow lab, roughly 4-5 years old.
A couple months after we got him, we heard of a fenced off-leash dog park not too far away. So we started taking Manni once a week so that he could get more exercise but also so he could be off-leash and socialize freely with other dogs.
At first, Manni was completely submissive at the park, and was immediately a "hump target" for the beta-dogs in the park. For the first few visits, Manni responded to being humped by a quick (not non-aggressive) warning bite. However, even then, if the dog persisted, Manni would eventually become aggressive and attack the dog.
After a while, Manni himself started becoming a humper, and would selectively choose a dog at the park to hump persistently. Sometimes we intervened, but sometimes the other dog's owner would say something like "Oh, just let them be dogs, this is what dogs do", and we did.
Unfortunately, if the other dog resists the humping, and especially if the dog pulls away and then tries to hump Manni, Manni will attack quite frequently. This seems to have become more frequent in the last few weeks.
So, a few things about Manni that may be relevant:
1) He has never attacked another dog while we're holding him on leash, even if him and the dog start playing rough.
2) He has never attacked a small dog. I think the smallest dog was about 40 pounds or so. Several times small dogs have humped him, and he doesn't respond at all other than maybe with playfulness. I've twice seen small dogs (literally) hanging from his jowls, and Manni just looked up at me with his big dopey eyes saying (I'm guessing) "Aren't you going to do something about this?" Manni himself is a pretty big dog, weighing in at about 95 pounds or so.
3) He has never randomly attacked a dog that he passes by. It's always after they've started playing.
4) I've seen him play very roughly (but non-aggressively) with some dogs for 45-60 minutes or sometimes more, even if they're humping each other. I don't know what's different between these dogs and the dogs that Manni ends up fighting with. In fact, Manni's "best friend" at the park is the dog who most persistently humped him when we first started going, and they play rough without fighting at all.
5) He has never been aggressive to humans in any way. He's the same with men, women, and children, and is even submissive to humans that break up his dog fight.
6) We don't know anything about his former life, but he's an obsessive tracker and would do anything to catch a seagull, rabbit, or squirrel. Once he heard a gunshot at a veterans parade, and he got extremely excited and dragged me towards the sound. We know he's from South Carolina, and we're wondering if he may have been a bird dog.
7) In general, Manni is the most aloof dog I've ever met. He's a true "mellow yellow", and is not demanding at all and seems just to be happy to be alive.
A few questions:
1) When he gets into a fight, what's the best way for me to react? Like I said before, he's not aggressive towards humans who break up his fights.
2) After a fight and he's calmed down, is it OK for him to return to playing with the dog he was fighting with? We generally allow this, and sometimes it's OK, but sometimes they just go right back to fighting.
3) Should I take him home immediately after a fight?
4) Is there any way I can train him so that his behavior that leads up to the fight can be prevented? Or will he learn himself from these negative interactions with other dogs that humping and fighting is not rewarding.
5) Is this behavior severe enough to involve an animal behaviorist?
6) Now that I've seen him fight so many times, I typically stay near him when we're at the park. Sometimes the natural human reaction is counter-productive, so I'm wondering if this is the right thing to do.
7) Should I stop taking him to the dog park altogether?
8) I've seen plenty of dog fights at the park. To some extent I'd like to think that the dogs can use their own culture to sort out their problems (unless they're intent on killing each other). How often are these dog fights "acceptable" before getting concerned?
9) We've noticed that Manni tends to hump when he's stressed, even away from the park. He certainly does not hump under normal circumstances, but once we took him on a long car ride and after about 4 hours he was humping everything in the back seat. We're wondering if his humping at the park is indicative of him being stressed out by being surrounded by all these dogs (which he likely never experienced before we rescued him), or if it's "normal" humping that many dogs do.
10) Is there any reason to think that Manni's behavior will improve if we keep taking him to the park and socializing him? Or is it likely to get worse?
Thanks,
Adam
A couple months after we got him, we heard of a fenced off-leash dog park not too far away. So we started taking Manni once a week so that he could get more exercise but also so he could be off-leash and socialize freely with other dogs.
At first, Manni was completely submissive at the park, and was immediately a "hump target" for the beta-dogs in the park. For the first few visits, Manni responded to being humped by a quick (not non-aggressive) warning bite. However, even then, if the dog persisted, Manni would eventually become aggressive and attack the dog.
After a while, Manni himself started becoming a humper, and would selectively choose a dog at the park to hump persistently. Sometimes we intervened, but sometimes the other dog's owner would say something like "Oh, just let them be dogs, this is what dogs do", and we did.
Unfortunately, if the other dog resists the humping, and especially if the dog pulls away and then tries to hump Manni, Manni will attack quite frequently. This seems to have become more frequent in the last few weeks.
So, a few things about Manni that may be relevant:
1) He has never attacked another dog while we're holding him on leash, even if him and the dog start playing rough.
2) He has never attacked a small dog. I think the smallest dog was about 40 pounds or so. Several times small dogs have humped him, and he doesn't respond at all other than maybe with playfulness. I've twice seen small dogs (literally) hanging from his jowls, and Manni just looked up at me with his big dopey eyes saying (I'm guessing) "Aren't you going to do something about this?" Manni himself is a pretty big dog, weighing in at about 95 pounds or so.
3) He has never randomly attacked a dog that he passes by. It's always after they've started playing.
4) I've seen him play very roughly (but non-aggressively) with some dogs for 45-60 minutes or sometimes more, even if they're humping each other. I don't know what's different between these dogs and the dogs that Manni ends up fighting with. In fact, Manni's "best friend" at the park is the dog who most persistently humped him when we first started going, and they play rough without fighting at all.
5) He has never been aggressive to humans in any way. He's the same with men, women, and children, and is even submissive to humans that break up his dog fight.
6) We don't know anything about his former life, but he's an obsessive tracker and would do anything to catch a seagull, rabbit, or squirrel. Once he heard a gunshot at a veterans parade, and he got extremely excited and dragged me towards the sound. We know he's from South Carolina, and we're wondering if he may have been a bird dog.
7) In general, Manni is the most aloof dog I've ever met. He's a true "mellow yellow", and is not demanding at all and seems just to be happy to be alive.
A few questions:
1) When he gets into a fight, what's the best way for me to react? Like I said before, he's not aggressive towards humans who break up his fights.
2) After a fight and he's calmed down, is it OK for him to return to playing with the dog he was fighting with? We generally allow this, and sometimes it's OK, but sometimes they just go right back to fighting.
3) Should I take him home immediately after a fight?
4) Is there any way I can train him so that his behavior that leads up to the fight can be prevented? Or will he learn himself from these negative interactions with other dogs that humping and fighting is not rewarding.
5) Is this behavior severe enough to involve an animal behaviorist?
6) Now that I've seen him fight so many times, I typically stay near him when we're at the park. Sometimes the natural human reaction is counter-productive, so I'm wondering if this is the right thing to do.
7) Should I stop taking him to the dog park altogether?
8) I've seen plenty of dog fights at the park. To some extent I'd like to think that the dogs can use their own culture to sort out their problems (unless they're intent on killing each other). How often are these dog fights "acceptable" before getting concerned?
9) We've noticed that Manni tends to hump when he's stressed, even away from the park. He certainly does not hump under normal circumstances, but once we took him on a long car ride and after about 4 hours he was humping everything in the back seat. We're wondering if his humping at the park is indicative of him being stressed out by being surrounded by all these dogs (which he likely never experienced before we rescued him), or if it's "normal" humping that many dogs do.
10) Is there any reason to think that Manni's behavior will improve if we keep taking him to the park and socializing him? Or is it likely to get worse?
Thanks,
Adam
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