My staffy "Grabs" strange dogs when on walks

On two separate occasions my staffy has gotten hold of another dog whilst we were out for a walk. the first occasion this happened twiggy (our staffy) was off-lead and the other dog was acting very submissive having been chased (playfully) by our other 2 dogs (spaniel and huskamute) when twiggy decided that he would get a hold of the other dog & wouldn't let go. The second time we had just put twiggy on the lead as we were coming close to our car after a long walk when we met a poodle & greyhound, the poodle ran around with our other 2 dogs then ran upto his owner (who was standing by twiggy) & then leaned over twiggy at which point twiggy grabbed him/her by the loose skin around the neck. On both occasions it took a great deal of effort to prise twiggy's jaw open to release the other dog. On neither occasion was the grabbing hold accompanied by any growling, head shaking, hackles or even pulling he just held on. He has never done anything like it when visiting other dogs in their homes or when other dogs have come to visit us it is just on walks. He does play fight with our other dogs but has never grabbed hold.

Any advice on how to prevent this from happening again would be greatly appreciated. He now walks with a muzzle to prevent him being able to grab on but it doesn't prevent him from lunging at other dogs.

Sounds just like my little boy all I can suggest is what you are doing as its exactly what I'm doing
How old is your boy mines 7 months but I've had him for just 4 months and he is nervous of everything ( not had a good start I'm his 3 rd home already but his last)
I would also relish any suggestions

Skiabs wrote:On two separate occasions my staffy has gotten hold of another dog whilst we were out for a walk. the first occasion this happened twiggy (our staffy) was off-lead and the other dog was acting very submissive having been chased (playfully) by our other 2 dogs (spaniel and huskamute) when twiggy decided that he would get a hold of the other dog & wouldn't let go. The second time we had just put twiggy on the lead as we were coming close to our car after a long walk when we met a poodle & greyhound, the poodle ran around with our other 2 dogs then ran upto his owner (who was standing by twiggy) & then leaned over twiggy at which point twiggy grabbed him/her by the loose skin around the neck. On both occasions it took a great deal of effort to prise twiggy's jaw open to release the other dog. On neither occasion was the grabbing hold accompanied by any growling, head shaking, hackles or even pulling he just held on. He has never done anything like it when visiting other dogs in their homes or when other dogs have come to visit us it is just on walks. He does play fight with our other dogs but has never grabbed hold.

Any advice on how to prevent this from happening again would be greatly appreciated. He now walks with a muzzle to prevent him being able to grab on but it doesn't prevent him from lunging at other dogs.

It sounds like he feels a bit threatened for some reason,like he's anxious of strange dogs.has anything happened recently with another dog?my old staff buster had a similar thing but just with german shepherds as he was attacked when he was a pup.how old is he?could it be a dominance thing?

i know some wont agree with me but when you have more then 2 dogs they form a pack like group and some just dont like other dog near them... but some do grow out of it given time.

all you can do is keep the dog that dont like other dog on the lead till there no other dog around. a lead long help also give them abit of freedom

Thanks guys =)
Twiggy is 11months (almost a yr) he had a bad start as a pup but I got him at 10 weeks (I just couldn't leave him where he was in the state that he was in & my sister took his half sister too.
Steve - he does walk on a long lead when we're at a busy beach but gets to be off lead when it's just us & I agree that it may be a 'pack' thing.
Gazagem - Twiggy isn't a nervous dog at all, he's very outgoing & was trying to be dominant in the house but then i had him snipped =P his behaviour has been much better since the op & i've changed his diet which has helped calm him down too =)
what i did forget to say was that these incidents happened BEFORE he had the snip & diet change but he has been walked on a muzzle ever since so I don't actually know if he'd do it again but i don't want to take the chance either.

i'm not a fan with muzzle becasue if another attack him is not a fair.... anlong u have your dog under control and you warn the other owner your not at fault

Skiabs wrote:Thanks guys =)
Twiggy is 11months (almost a yr) he had a bad start as a pup but I got him at 10 weeks (I just couldn't leave him where he was in the state that he was in & my sister took his half sister too.
Steve - he does walk on a long lead when we're at a busy beach but gets to be off lead when it's just us & I agree that it may be a 'pack' thing.
Gazagem - Twiggy isn't a nervous dog at all, he's very outgoing & was trying to be dominant in the house but then i had him snipped =P his behaviour has been much better since the op & i've changed his diet which has helped calm him down too =)
what i did forget to say was that these incidents happened BEFORE he had the snip & diet change but he has been walked on a muzzle ever since so I don't actually know if he'd do it again but i don't want to take the chance either.

Why not take the muzzle of but keep him on a tight lead and that way you could get a gist of things for a while when he's around strange dogs?

I'm not a fan of muzzles either because it leaves a dog defenseless. I would just keep him on lead and bring him in close if there is a dog he isn't used to around

I must admit I hate having to muzzle my boy but he is very nervous and other owners ( in my area) don't seem to listen when you tell them he's not sure of other dogs and then when he does grab the other dog Im the one who gets shouted at for not having my dog under control (I can't win even though he's the one that's on a lead and close to me)
I think with time he will build his confidence but after 4 ish months he's had to cope with lots of new scary things
Only time and patience will tell