Dog Aggression

Please can somebody help me

I have adopted a 4 yr old staffie Ozzy from RSPCA. I ahve now had him 4 weeks.He seems to love people but just hates any other dog when we are out walking. i have never dared to let him off the lead as i am not convinced he would ever come back to me. Every dog we see he adopts a very upright position, pulls like crazy and if a dog come up to him or walks past him he tries to go for it. He completely ignores me when he is in this state and i dont know what to do. i would love him to be sociable as we meet dogs all the time in the park and its becoming a real pain explaining to owners that he doesnt like other dogs and i am always on the lookout for other dogs approaching, i really try to stay calm and assertive but he just goes hyper.

i really need help, he is great in almost every other way, well there are a few more issues but this is the worst. not knowing his history doesnt help.

is it worth getting a trainer / behaviourist to help? if so does anyone know any in the south manchester / cheshire area who could help?

There are many knowledgable people on this forum who I AM SURE will be along very soon to advise you.

It seems that some Staffs are just dog aggressive, and as you don't know his history you can't be sure why Ozzy is. The very upright position MAY indicate that he is trying to assert his dominance.

Hi, welcome to the forum. Don't go too far asserting yourself, at this stage bonding is more important. I am not a trainer but I too rehomed mad dogs in the past so this is just from my own experience. Most dogs can be helped reduce their dog agression but you need to be open minded and understand that in some cases it won't happen and in most even if they won't got out of their way to attack they will never happily play with other dogs.

First of all you need to be sure why he goes for them as it could be out of fear not necessarily dominance. Dominant dogs don't look for opportunities to assert themselves reason why I think your boy is fearful of a fight and wants to get the first strike in.

do you know anyone with a calm and friendly dog?

One thing you have to bear in mind is that some staffords will always be dog aggressive. It's just their nature.

You could try introducing the 'watch' command.

Hello! I Have the same issue and having had bull breeds before i have to agree that it is just in their nature to not like other dogs. My dog Chaos is still very young so i am wanting to try to make him as un-aggressive as possible especially since he is a handsome KC Breed and worthy of being shown. Am considering dog whispering class or something. Tried to introduce him to my friends dog in a very natural friendly atmosphere today but it wasn't successful, my friends dog is a big english bull cross who can be very dominant but playfull, Chaos wasn't having any of it and had i let him off his harness/lead it would probably have ended up in a trip to the vets. which is obviously not something i want. So secluded walks and a lot of me/bonding time it is!! Also i think Chaos is suffering from the fear factor thing. He doesn't like sudden noises and seems to despise my mop also.. first jumping back from it then barking at it then attacking it when i mop!! I think he is just a typical defensive Staff who would just rather attack first than be attacked!!

Firstly don't beat yourself up over it. Some dogs just don't like other dogs. Its more typical of staffs due to the reason they were bred but i dont think its fair to say its just their Nature. Humans bred agro dogs, not nature. You rescued him so you have no idea what training he had before that and its likely that he had no socialization. It's very hard to change that but find out what works best be it the "watch" or making him sit at the side with a treat held to his nose as a dog walks by etc.

My girls da and if I see another dog I have got her to the point were she's not growling and barking at them by walking on (usually pulling her a little) and if she's good she gets a lot of fuss and cuddles. If she's bad I make her sit for a while as a mini time out type of thing.

Chaos' morning walk today was very un-eventful. We passed a few other dogs and he didn't bat an eyelid, in fact one of the other dogs wanted to go for him but Chaos Just ignored it. I have a feeling the previous owners may well have been nervy themselves thus projecting these "vibes" onto the dog. I will carry some treats round on walks now and praize him when he doesn't react to other dogs. So far so good

Watch his body language and if you see him going it to the stance try and get his attention make aloud noise to snap him out of it. I had really dog aggresive dog buster when i was yonger and i watched his body language and when i saw him about to go i carried a air horn and just a quick blast was enough just to snap him out of it i did nt happen over night but he soon relised not to do it. Eventually i was able to let him off and he would play and not be aggrresive.

Jezebelle wrote:Chaos' morning walk today was very un-eventful. We passed a few other dogs and he didn't bat an eyelid, in fact one of the other dogs wanted to go for him but Chaos Just ignored it. I have a feeling the previous owners may well have been nervy themselves thus projecting these "vibes" onto the dog. I will carry some treats round on walks now and praize him when he doesn't react to other dogs. So far so good

I just love your dog to bits it's gorgeous

there are some behaviourists in the manchester area that do training with their calm dogs. Cant remember the name of the place but google you might come up with it. I wish you all the luck in the world. I had this with a previous staffy cross that we rescued. It was a nightmare