Need some advice

Hi just need some advice my female staffy Bella now 13 months has started to show aggression to other dogs when out at the park, she plays lovely with a female jack russell sharing her ball and sticks with her etc but on a couple of occassions she has got snarly with dogs that show aggression towards her or jump on her, also when she hasn't seen pixie her jack russell friend for awhile she got snarly towards her but then when they had both calmed down played great together.

I am worried as she never used to show aggression to other dogs and is so placid and loving at home apart from if one of my kids pull her around too much she will give a growl to warn them, is this normal behaviour and how do I control it I don't want her to be dog aggressive.

I'm sure there will lots of different opinions on this. The breed was originally designed for fighting and most if not all still maintain some dog aggression (DA). and will not likely back away from a physical challange. This means that if anther dog displays aggressive behaviour they will likely give a warning bark or growl like you described. IMHO this is normal behaviour and is your dogs way off communicating her displeasure.

That doesn't mean that most but not all can be socialized and play with other dogs. This isn't to say that they will get along great with any dog but
can be friendly with other dogs like you described with the Jack Rusell Terrier (JRT). Even then the dogs need to be monitored and if their body language or any other action suggests that the behaviour is no longer play they should be seperated before the situation escalates.

When you are introducing them to a new dog speak with the handler and ask if their dog is socialized. If it is allow the dogs to sniff each other and try to aviod an initial head to head meeting as the eye contact can be taken as a challange. Then try walking the dogs together with the handlers between them and gradually allow the dogs closer to one anther. After that and depending on both handlers comfort level decide if they should be allowed to play off leash or not. Again maintain supervision.

Suki is wonderfull with most dogs but there are some aggressive or untrained dogs I simply won't let her near. Her best friend is anther female Husky who she plays with for at least an hour a day. After 6 months of this I still closely watch them and have to seperate them on occassion if they start to get out of hand. I hope this helps and I am sure there will be others with different opinions that will offer advice.

well said jstaff!

i heard that staffs can start showing dog-aggression after some time when they're one year and older, but it doesn't mean they're going to stay this way - with good training and wise socialising (with the right dogs) she should be fine.

Mambo is usually ok with other dogs, but when he sees aggression he's ready to respond (of course we never allow him to get any closer).
yesterday he met two dogs (one that he knows, old female lab cross and some tiny spaniel) and he was overwhelmed and actually scared - they both started sniffing him happily and then wanted to play so he relaxed... on the other hand this morning he snapped at some spaniel female who wanted to say hello but was so excited and was jumping and moving all the time..
I think he just didn't know what her intention was. I was pretty ashamed after this and apologised to the owner of a spaniel, but he said it's ok no problem. even after the snap the crazy spaniel wanted to try and say hello agan... but i felt a bit disappointed with Mambo

i think you just have to watch your dog very carefully, as well as other dogs . always ask the other owner if their dog is ok to say hello, if you see they're uncertain, don't try (we met ppl saying their dogs are ok but looking at the dogs we could notice how terrified they were!). look at the dogs and you should see. today I learned that Mambo should avoid overexcited dogs...

I agree with the above, with the proviso that some staffs are, and always will be dog aggressive. I'm not saying that's the case here, but you must be aware that many staffs still carry that instinct to fight. While that doesn't mean that your dog constantly looks to fight, it does mean that it won't take any nonsense and will react to what it sees as aggression either towards itself, or its family!

I think Caryll described it perfectly. There is a well known saying that " a staffie won't start it, but will sure as hell end it". I can live with mine not taking any nonsense and responding to what he sees as aggression, but I was very unhappy when a couple of times recently he decided to get in first and I'm working on this with some success and restarting some training this week.