my pup is going through puberty and i am going grey (well almost lol )

Hello everyone,
I am new to sharing my life with a staffie,i have always had lurchers ,and have a 19 month old male Greyhound/whippet called Shadow.
Flash our staffie has settled in well, he is 9 months old and gets on well with Shadow,who has accepted him into the family home.
Shadow has now gone through puberty without too many problems...But as for Flash we are having only one problem and that is he has started to have a problem with certain other male dogs.Today he was playing quite happily with Shadow and our other male doggie friend Riley who is a Siberian husky aged 12 months. All was fine,as we all walked across the field the same field we have always walked across,there was a male dog roughly the same age as Shadow with his owners, i have seen them before so went up to say hello, saying how big her dog had grown, we all said hello to each others dogs and continued to chat,next minute Flash is prancing around their dog tail upright,he started to growl then lunged at her dog.He didn;t bite it but wouldn't back off when i told him to leave.The male owner grabbed his dog by the collar as i tried to get flash by his harness .His dog was jumping around so Flash was running around trying to get a hold of his dog.This all seemed to happen in a split second ,next minute the female owner was booting Flash in his side,which had no effect.
This upset me so much,it was bad enough that Flash was behaving really badly ,without some one kicking my dog.Anyway i got Flash back on his lead and walked away,calmed him down and let him know his behaviour was unacceptable .I said that i was very sorry for Flashes behaviour and hoped they were all ok,although i wasn't best pleased with her kicking my dog.But as Flash started it i didn't know what else to do or say.There was quite a few bystanders ,probably all nodding their heads thinking typical staffie ! I kept Flash on his lead for the rest of the walk.
I don't want there to be a next time ,so i am going to keep him on his lead for now .Which is a shame because he loves to play and run around with Shadow and Riley.But i expect the news has flown around with a few bits added,so i feel i have no choice but to keep him on his lead.I have been out and bought a muzzle and am reluctant to use it as it will give out the wrong impression, might make Flash worse,he may hate it .I really am lost as what to do, getting him castrated might be an answer .Is it just a rebellious teenager thing .He dosen't show this kind of aggression to all dogs,but i can't take any risks,it would be unfair to Flash and any other dog he might choose to have a go at.

Sorry if this post is a little long winded ,but i wanted to give as much info as possible.I would be really grateful for any feed back. Many thanks.

Hi &

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Hello and welcome to the forum
the person kicking your dog is not going to help,like kids maybe he just took an instant dislike to that dog, or he thought he's my mate not you're s, find your own. there are many reasons that we can't be sure of, but if you are worried take it back to basics of reintroducing him to other dogs on the lead, if ok then fine but maybe if another dog is about to be introduced to the area, put him on the lead again and introduce to the new dog, i'm sure better advice will be along

Hello and welcome from me and the kids

Hi and welcome from us and Suki.

Staffs tend to play on the rough side so growling or lunging is not neccessarily aggressive behaviour although most people will see it as so. This seems even more so when they meet a dog of their own age. Here is a link that will help you better understand what to watch out for.

http://staffy-bull-terrier.co.uk/dogbodylanguage.html

Neutering him will not neccessarily cause a change in his behaviour either.

Hello and welcome to the forum from Tyson & me.

Hi & welcome.

To be honest, had I been in the same position as the other dog's owner, I might well have kicked your dog as well. I'm not having a go at you, just saying I can see the other point of view. You see your dog being attacked, and you automatically lash out.

I think what probably happened was that your dog was with his 'pack' and a strange dog came amongst them - he was settling the hierarchy. However, you obviously can't allow that so in future he should probably be put on his lead for introductions to other dogs, especially if his pther doggie friends are around!

Castration won't change dominance, although it will sometimes calm a dog down. However, whether he's castrated or not, the main thing is training. I'd still let him play with his friends, but make sure that it's kept to your small group. If any other dogs come over, make sure Flash is put on lead so that introductions can be made.

I really don't think you need a muzzle unless it makes you feel calmer. He doesn't sound as though he's aggressive, more dominant within his 'pack'.

Can you remember if your dog stared at the other. This is seen as a challenge and can set dogs on edge. It does all happen so quickly it's hard to remember what happend to kick things off.

Probably a good idea to keep your dog on a lead for the time being. Do you have a training line for him?

Try to keep to quiet places for walks to begin with then build up the socialisation again. Do you know any dogs that yours can play with well?

Caryll wrote:Hi & welcome.

To be honest, had I been in the same position as the other dog's owner, I might well have kicked your dog as well. I'm not having a go at you, just saying I can see the other point of view. You see your dog being attacked, and you automatically lash out.

I think what probably happened was that your dog was with his 'pack' and a strange dog came amongst them - he was settling the hierarchy. However, you obviously can't allow that so in future he should probably be put on his lead for introductions to other dogs, especially if his pther doggie friends are around!

Castration won't change dominance, although it will sometimes calm a dog down. However, whether he's castrated or not, the main thing is training. I'd still let him play with his friends, but make sure that it's kept to your small group. If any other dogs come over, make sure Flash is put on lead so that introductions can be made.

I really don't think you need a muzzle unless it makes you feel calmer. He doesn't sound as though he's aggressive, more dominant within his 'pack'.

x2 great answer

Hello by the way & welcome to the forum from me, enzo & enya

welcome

Hi & welcome to the forum

Thanks very much for all your replies.I can put myself in the other owners boots and i agree i would have been terrified .Flash played quite happily today with Shadow and Riley, i did put his muzzle on .Poor Riley couldn't understand what he had on his face and Flash hung his head down.I felt awful seeing him like this ,so before he became too distressed i took it off.As soon as i knew we were going to encounter some dogs i put him back on his lead ,All went really well today.I am going to go back to basic;s again and i am hopeful we will have success.Yesterday was a bad day for all of us,today was a lot brighter ,weather included .I will keep you all posted .Love and light from us all x

hia from me and sasha
glad you had a better day to day,try and learn abit about his body langue when he's around new dogs he has'nt met before,i have to with sasha,she does'nt like some dogs so i know to put her on her lead and she how she is with them,hope things carry on getting better for you

Hi and welcome from Greg, Trish and Kyda.

Hi & welcome to the forum

How have things been going?

Pleased to say Flash's behaviour has improved , i have been walking him on his lead for 15 minutes,then letting him off the lead to play chase the ball with Shadow and Riley,then putting him back on his lead.I have let him have a little sniff of other dogs,then calmly walk off with him giving him lots of praise and a little treat.I again let him off the lead on the top end of the field to play ball.I am very happy with him so far.I will keep you posted ,happy days :-) x

glad to hear it's going well

Just to give you an update, Flash is doing great, no more incidents, i am so happy i didn't rush to the vets and get him castrated.The training has paid off, plus he loves to play with balls on rope, at least i am able to throw these further than 10 feet. Happy days

Glad to hear things are going well