What have been your experiences with dog-aggression (DA)?

[Bahamutt99]

In light of recent discussions, I got curious about what forum members' experiences have been with dog-aggression (DA). Just to be totally clear, I'm talking about dog-on-dog aggression. Not aggression towards other animals or people. The question does not necessarily refer to the bulk of the dogs you've had, but just probing to see what level of DA you've experienced with any/all dogs you've had.

Feel free to make an explanatory post if you'd like. I'm always curious about how the experiences of people who keep certain breeds varies with others, and how special circumstances have affected DA in your dogs. It'd be interesting to hear, too, how people have dealt with the presence of DA when it has shown itself.

 

[Bahamutt99]

In my own experience, probably half of my dogs have had some level of DA. I had my first truly DA dogs when I was about 16 years old. They were the type that could get along with each other, but were aggro towards most other dogs (and animals, and yes even some people).

I would consider Loki more dog-selective and resource guardy than anything, but as she's gotten older, she's a lot less tolerant of other APBTs especially. And she will provoke a dog that she knows is spoiling for a fight, unless she is on a leash or actively working. Terra is really hot towards Loki specifically, but a lot of her aggression otherwise has been reactive. (Excitement and dogs barking at humans are two things that can spur it. And she's got a lot of barrier aggression in crates and cages.)

In my experience working with others' dogs, I've seen a lot of aggression. But I've never met one that was so DA that it could only focus on other dogs in the vicinity.

 

[Sweet72947]

I picked the "dogs who became DA because of maturity or because of...?"

Daisy, a labrador retriever, started life loving all dogs. Through the years she became selectively DA toward female dogs because she has been accosted by off-leash female dogs while on-leash. Of course, her "DA" is that she gets very snarky and growls and snaps at them, she wouldn't actually "eat" them.

Benji, the little schnauzer mix, was DA toward ALL male dogs once he matured. Females were fine, but males he would not tolerate. Both did fine at Doggie Daycare mingling with dogs of all type and sex. I think, since it was a controlled environment, they felt more comfortable.

I'm not sure if it counts, but I have also handled many DA dogs at FOHA. Some were pit bulls who want to eat all dogs, some were other breeds. I knew a yellow lab who was very DA due to fear aggression, and if other dogs came near him he would put up quite a display. I knew a very DA saint-bernard mix who twice started a fight with Guppy the Presa. Luckily nobody was seriously injured. I also knew a lab/pit bull mix named Molly Brown who was very DA to other females but completely fine with males. IMO dogs who are DA/dog selective are just as common as dogs who love every dog, and DA dogs are found in every breed (some breeds are just more famous for it).

 

[Linds]

I picked non dog aggressive dogs because of Kaylee and Traveler and then dog selectiveness with Hannah.

Hannah was never the most dog tolerant dog to those outside of the home/dogs she didn't grow up with. After she got spayed that tolerance dropped to almost 0 for strange dogs. She does seem to be ok with some dogs she meets though, especially intact males.

 

[Dekka]

Due to one dog's aggression, (though it wasn't to all dogs) I picked the last one. She was out to outright kill a few other dogs. As in get out of her crate, get the other dog out of its crate and fight. Or latch on to other dogs through crates....

She does live a nice happy life with one other male dog in a quiet house. So even the really bad ones aren't hopeless.

ETA I didn't realize it was multiple options. I would have clicked all of them

 

[AdrianneIsabel]

I can't type a run down on my phone because my fingers will fall off but I selected several. I have had a varying degree from reactivity to aggressive in maturity through fights (Arnold) to gets along with pack but unstable with strangers. I have only had one of the last category dogs that I can think of meaning this dog was pretty much unworkable and completely unsafe with other dogs, especially smaller dogs and around food. She however was a complicated case, she was a skin and bone rescue out of the desert and had her upbringing been less traumatic who knows, maybe she would have been a model citizen. Even with her severity she still liked Arnold for a while, it seemed like they were both so mentally screwy they complimented one another.

 

[Dekka]

(I did have one dog that was ridiculously human aggressive and we had to have him PTS'd Interestingly he was fine with all dogs, but flew into a rage when ever he saw a kid or man)

 

[RD]

My dog liked other dogs less and less as she got older.

 

[jenv101]

I picked reactivity because I'm not really sure how to describe Riley. He's had this issue since we got him so I think maybe he got beaten up alot by his siblings or had some bad experience before we got him. He is extremely aggressive to strange dogs at first meet. However, after being in their general vicinity for an extended period of time or over multiple exposures he seems to get over it and is all of a sudden ready to play. So it must be fear based. I'm just glad I figured out how to manage it and I know that he CAN eventually make friends.

Aura has none whatsoever and is great with all dogs!

 

[Laurelin]

Just reactivity and dog selectiveness. Both my current dogs are DR.

 

[CaliTerp07]

Lucy has leash reactivity. Off leash, she loves everyone.

 

[Maxy24]

Neither Tucker nor Max were dog aggressive. Max was very under socialized so was clearly uncomfortable and nervous around other dogs but was excited to meet them, just nervous during the whole encounter. He never became aggressive towards a dog that wasn't aggressive towards him.

Tucker LOVES other dogs except large ones that run at him (he's still pumped to meet large dogs, until they start chasing him). At the park some large dogs, when let off their leashes, immediately bolt over to him. He stiffens up at this and dogs who can read social cues slow when they come to him so that they can both have a polite sniff. He can then warm up to these dogs and begin asking for play. But dogs who ignore his discomfort and try chasing/playing immediately scare him quite a bit and so he'll bark/snap/chase them away. I don't really blame him. He would just like a polite intro before play time, he needs to know the dogs are safe because they are certainly large enough to kill him. This is also likely a socialization problem, throughout his puppy hood he only met on leash dogs so was never accustomed to dogs running at him. He is fine with all on leash dogs. But again, this is not aggression, just some fear.

 

[ravennr]

I grew up with APBT's and we took in TONS of strays (most of the Pits were strays as well) and ferals. Most of them, we don't know what kind of past they had but we had a good chunk of DA dogs, anywhere from just mild reactions to not being okay with dogs outside of their own pack, and one that just outright hated other dogs if they did anything beyond walk by without staring (and not too close either).
We lived in the middle of nowhere, so DA was easy enough to deal with aside from hunter's running their dogs (and by running I mean they literally let them go, then go look for them later after they eat lunch). We'd get tons of hounds on our properties all the time, just streaking through in a forest break or tracking a deer through some part of the yard. We luckily never had any accidents though.

 

[~Jessie~]

Just reactivity and dog selectiveness. Both my current dogs are DR.

Same here with my chis. They're definitely DR but not DA, and they show preferences to certain breeds.

Rory is fine with most dogs. He generally ignores them.

 

[elegy]

Luce is aggressive toward other adult females. Female puppies are fine. I suspect she'd have issues with a very confident male who actively challenged her. She and Mushroom had some moments when they were young, but not in years, and I think they were just "two dogs who live together" fights vs anything having to do with "dog aggression". She has mellowed a lot over the years, but I don't doubt that she'd throw down if put in the right situation.

Mushroom is horrendously leash-aggressive. Horrendously. I wouldn't trust him around small dogs, but he plays ok with appropriately-introduced medium-large male or female dogs.

Steve is also fairly aggressive toward certain types of other dogs (black Labs, specifically), and is leash aggressive. Mostly he just doesn't want other dogs in his space. He's fine working off leash around them, but if they get in his face he will bite them. I want to send a big thank you to the two people with free-running black labs who jumped him (one dog each on two separate occasions) when he was a puppy for teaching him that all the appropriate warnings he was using wouldn't work, and that he should go straight to teeth.

 

[PWCorgi]

Frodo is definitely dog reactive but not aggressive.

Izzy (who many of you probably remember, was Frodo's littermate) was fine with dogs as long as introduced properly. On multiple occassions she went after the family dog (Mollie, who many of you probably also remember, and who is still old, fat, and happy ) and literally had to have her jaws pried off of poor Mollie. This was one of the factors that led to her being rehomed to a home with no other females, not because *I* couldn't manage the situation, but because my mom wouldn't take it seriously and my little sister who was only 7 or 8 at the time was unable to realize that when we left the house Mollie and Izzy HAD to be in separate rooms.

Incidentally, Izzy was AMAZING with all humans, total attention *****...unlike some corgis

 

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

I voted "No DA" for Jack - he hasn't met a dog that he didn't want to be friends with.

I voted "Dog Reactivity/Selectiveness" for Missy because her issues are limited to female dogs of comparable size - and she doesn't have a problem until they get into her space.

 

[Panzerotti]

Solo is reactive to strange dogs. He won't go out of his way to start things, but does not exhibit bite inhibition if a dog gets in his face and a scuffle occurs. He can also be an unpredictable resource guarder around other dogs, also resulting in bites (learned the hard way with a dog he had lived with for months with no issue). He wears a muzzle in public at all times.

Panzer, on the other hand, is a dream. She loves other dogs, and has excellent dog manners and communication skills (so far).

 

[cliffdog]

Both my girls prefer each other, with Abbey being outright DA to any dog outside the "pack" and Bonnie being dog selective to other dogs. They do occasionally have tiffs with one another but they never have all-out brawls, never have hurt each other, etc. Still, I keep them separate when nobody's got an eye on them.

I'm getting an APBT soon (well, within a few years) that I can show ADBA/AADR so I'm betting my future will see some more serious DA, but it's not something I'm too worried about because I know I can handle it, I'm used to tethering, kenneling, and C&R

 

[Aleron]

Due to one dog's aggression, (though it wasn't to all dogs) I picked the last one. She was out to outright kill a few other dogs. As in get out of her crate, get the other dog out of its crate and fight. Or latch on to other dogs through crates....

Same here. And I didn't know it was multiple options either. My girl GSD would fight with any mature bitches sharing the same household. It didn't matter if they were appropriate with her and had been raised with her, once they hit a certain age she would start attacking them.

Otherwise, the other dogs are dog friendly, dog tolerant or dog reactive.