No mates now

My brother has a staffy called bella, she is 3 months younger than Louby and they have always got on, played together in my brothers back garden, taken them to a local river, off lead. Bella is a lovely dog, my brother takes her out and she is hardly ever on lead, friendly with all dogs.
The same cannot be said about Lou, we have just been round to my brothers for their weekly play session and Lou just went for bella, not just handbags at dawn, properly whereby bella has a little bite hole near her ear. We seperated them pretty quickly.

Any ideas why Louby has suddenly done this? They have been friends for months now. It's so disappointing. Can it be resolved?
Thanks

was there no trigger at all , food , toy ?? , maybe someone giving one of them more attention than normal ??

From what I could tell it was the same as it always is..my brother takes Louby through the house to the back garden where bella is waiting, they usually get together, jump all over each other and then run round like loons for an hour.
Louby can be funny if my brother gives bella any attention or if Lou is getting the attention and bella comes over. But this didn't happen tonight, it was such an instantaneous thing, my brother (luckily) didn't have chance to take loubys lead off!

I would reintroduce them carefully , both on lead at a distance and see how things go

My brother is now very reluctant at having them together. But we shall give that a try.
It upsets me cos I obviously don't want her to hurt other animals, but I don't want an aggressive dog whereby I poop myself every time another dog comes over. I don't want a dog that people frown upon, especially as they will do that a bit anyway cos she's a staff!!
We are supposed to start dog training classes next month, I'm scared now of how she is going to be. I imagine all the dogs will be on Lead, but we will end up stood seperated from everyone, she will be known as the 'devil dog'...

Well first and most important is not to be anxious , without a doubt she will be able to sense that and that will give you trouble , if you're anxious , she will be anxious

Dave wrote:Well first and most important is not to be anxious , without a doubt she will be able to sense that and that will give you trouble , if you're anxious , she will be anxious

I totally agree with Dave here, she'll sense your feelings. Gently introduce them again, good luck.

If it was me, I'd get them both back outside of the house and walk them on leads together for a few meetings. Let them settle again out on neutral ground. Don't worry about the classes, relax and enjoy them, take it from me, You may think Louby is the worst dog there, but it means you'll get extra help and won't be overlooked, and trust me, I've seen some cases over the years go through training classes that have made remarkable changes. You stick with it, to many people give up because they think their dog is embarrassing, You are going for a genuine reason, and it's what a good trainer is paid to do... help you both

Take them out on side by side walks don't let them meet head on. It might be staffy play as they are used to each other

I would definitely make their next meeting on neutral ground

Thanks everyone, we shall definitely give them another go, as suggested, on mutual ground, on lead etc. I shall let you know how we get on x

Good luck

Mrs McFisher wrote: but I don't want an aggressive dog whereby I poop myself every time another dog comes over. I don't want a dog that people frown upon, especially as they will do that a bit anyway cos she's a staff!!

Some staffords do decide they don't like other dogs, and it can happen overnight. I'm not saying that's the case her, but you need to be aware of it. It isn't the end of the world & you can live with a da stafford very easily - I know, I've done it!

Mrs McFisher wrote: We are supposed to start dog training classes next month, I'm scared now of how she is going to be. I imagine all the dogs will be on Lead, but we will end up stood seperated from everyone, she will be known as the 'devil dog'...

You need to be calm & relaxed - don't go there thinking she's going to attack everything in sight, or she most likely will. Dogs can pick up on emotions far better than we can!

Hope the next meeting goes well, and as said before, don't be anxious! It might just have been a bit of rough play that got carried away! And as for the dog training, I wouldn't stress too much, the trainers should be able to help you if anything, but as they all do, excitement can take over!