one attack too many?

take a look at my beautiful girl.

her name is lola she is 4 years old and the friendliest dog in the world as my first stafford i knew i'd got a special dog a true nanny dog as a puppy playing with toddlers she was gentle and caring and when one fell down she was there trying to get them up,never took food from them even when dropped never jumped or knocked them over knew they were children and to be treated with care,she would lay on the floor chewing her toy my friends newly crawling child crawled over took the toy from her lola crawled back gently pawed it away moving further away child crawled over took it back this went on for hours i could see lola was getting the child to crawl ever further she wasn't trying to get her toy away from them but teaching them this was truly a special dog a knowing dog,as lola grew this behaviour radiated from her, confident and knowing, other dogs would sense this and feel calm around her she would carry this behaviour everywhere she went changing peoples perspective on the breed but as she grew so did attacks by other irresponsible owners dogs taking her calm nature and slowly chipping away at it,but still she never growled ( at 1 stage i thought she actually couldn't growl ) i always had her back in these situations protecting her luckily she was never fully attacked as i was there so she was never bitten or injured.
at 4 years now she has still never retaliated just takes the higher ground proudly puts her head in the air and walks away showing what a good stafford is.

But i think now she's had enough this week has been awful for her and the puppy and me,we've had a rottweiler 2 border terriers 3 chiwowas a pug and a colly bark and growl at us charging us on the lead with them free running. but the straw broke with jack russels.when lola was a puppy this same womans jack russel repeatedly attacked all dogs in our area but picking mostly on lola i reported her to the dog warden many times even contacted the police about it but nothing happened i explained if the shoe were on the other foot it'd be a different story but nothing.
so this week a jack russel went for the puppy i knew lola wouldn't react as she never has but there must have been something different about this occasion as i pulled the puppy to safety lola snapped all these years of putting up with it my beautiful girl attacked this dog i've never seen such determination to kill something before luckily i managed to get the dog before she did.the womans dog started fair enough but this is lola the dog with the higher ground my baby to say i was shocked is an understatement,the woman wanted the police involved i feared the worst but went on my way saving my dog from who knows.
again today i went for a walk a jack russel approached us off the lead owner way in front it looked friendly surely lola would see this and be fine but bang she snapped and went for it 20 kilo's of staffy pulling for a fight is hard work and holding for dear life on to the puppy whilst calling the owner to retrieve his dog it was horrible.
what has happened to my beautiful girl with a flower in her hair? the child protector? the lover? the friend to all?

I think it is what you have said. She's just taken too much and is being protective of pup. You'll need to go back to basics and retrain her. Have a look at the websites page about dog body language and it might help you pick up on it before she attacks again.

her body language is relaxed ears back tail down no tension non focused on dog then bam,almost like she's luring them in with a friendly greeting.

Hi I am so sorry your going throught this poor Lola, but i had a similar situation, My skye wasn,t calm like lola but she was nervous and kept herself too herself she was always great with people and ok with other dogs but just kept away playing with her ball on her own, she never showed any signs of aggression too any dogs, but two years ago she was attacked an numerous occasions in a very small time scale, all from irresponsible owners 3 times she was hurt, now i have a puppy whos nearly 5mnths old, Skye loves her and they have completely bonded, but my lovely girl has really changed in nature she will not tolerant any dogs in her face if they run up too her and show signs of dominance she will go, infact i now keep her on the lead when there are other dogs around, as others have said number one lola has had enough, secondly she will be more protective of the pup so is more likely too snap, but also bitches can change when they mature and just will not put up with any nonsense from other dogs, its so sad though when our dogs change due too irresponsible owners, really hope Lola is ok xx

I'm really sorry to hear that. We're going through something a bit similar. I think your dog was also being protective of your puppy, a few years ago one of my dog's was very protective of my dog when she was a puppy. Hope your girl is back to her usual self soon.

Very sorry to hear you and Lola are having a rough time of it me and my boy having a similar stage atm, he used to rise above it but after an 'incident' almost daily for a week he started to snap back I hope you can both conquer it:) xx

i hope she goes back to normal lola again she's such an excellent dog i forgot to mention she's a registered therapy dog too the first staffy in our area ever.i feel for her because she's always looked out for us and been there and i've always protected her from potential attacks and she really is a fantastic temperament example of the breed,she knows something is different with these 2 dogs she's gone for and is quite an emotional girl and knows this behaviour is wrong although i stopped it i haven't "punished" her you can't really punish a dog anyway just correct them,i've always stood by my dogs as have they with me i will find a solution that works for lola without harnesses muzzles etc because that's not going to make her feel good it'll just upset her even more,i worry for the puppy seeing it as she's such high energy she'll join in as she tried the 1st time.

Mine wore a muzzle a couple of times on the trainers suggestion. I've stopped using it because I didn't like using it and I think it could make my dog worse. I do keep mine on a long lead for now for safety but I know this is needed for my dog. We're giving my dog her favourite treats and toys when she's relaxed around other dog's as a way of making her feel happy around other dog's again.

lolabon wrote:her body language is relaxed ears back tail down no tension non focused on dog then bam,almost like she's luring them in with a friendly greeting.

Tail down and ears back is usually nervous or aggression, not friendliness.

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

ditto i have the same , sorry to say he hates other staffies as he has been attacked by the same one twice , i keep him on the flexi ribbon lead 15 metres this way he has has the feeling of freedom but at the same time i am in control of him i too am a bit reluctant to put a muzzle on (he does wear one when we go to the vets) but any signs of aggression towards dogs then i will have no choice but to , , i too though have gone back to basic puppy training but as he is older i am finding it a tad harder and of course i get the evil looks of when he does misbehave but i have to turn a blind eye to them and concentrate on Trouble , let us know how you get on and of course anyone else that is in a similar situation as i could do with any tips .

hmm interesting i thought that was relaxed behaviour this moning, the first attack her tail was up and wagging gently and sniffing the other dog again seemed normal,last week we were on a walk and there must have been a dozen staffies showed up no problems even with the 1 agressive bitch but even then she did nothing so i walked with the woman as it was her 1st dog and a rescuse and she thought that was how they were we did a bit of training and stuff i showed her what i do with mine and lola brought her out of her shell and they were all best friends afterward it was after that walk that everything went down hill with other dogs being out of control and she started to turn on these jack russels and only them.

I've got a fear of this exact situation. My dog Leo is the softest dog i have ever met, everyone is constantly commenting on how lovely he is and hoe 'he's not what they expect a Staffie to be like' i obviously explain that is is exactly what Staff's are like, the aggressive ones in the papers are the unusual ones!
Anyway, he's only 16 months old and has been attacked a few times by various dogs (a few Jack Russells, a Yorkshire terrier and on one occasion a Golden Retriever) not once has he retaliated or even barked or growled. I'm scared that he is eventually going to have enough and snap. We're now expecting our first baby, he is due in 13 weeks and I know Leo can tell. He is very cuddly with my GF and always snuggles with his head on her belly. I'm worried that he is going to become overly protective of the baby, is this likely?
He is great with kids, like you have said about Lola, he knows that he cant jump up at them or be as boisterous as he is with adults, instead he just rolls onto his back and waits for his belly to be rubbed. Any suggestions on how to make sure he doesn't go through what Lola is going through?

We have been just as lucky with our Polly, she has always been really gentle with all other dogs she has met and thankfully she has never been attacked, but now I do have to watch her, once we got Charlie the pup she has become very protective of him and will get between him and anything she perceives as a threat, this even included her up till then best friend a 2 year old lab unneutered dog. As Charlie is getting older she is calming down a lot but we still have to watch her with strange dogs, I usually call her back to her lead when we see someone she doesn't know. We are very lucky as where we walk our dogs we rarely meet strangers so she has been able to calm down at her own pace.

The people we have met have been great and understanding, I know we have been very lucky, but from experience with another dog (not staffy) which got attacked by a german shepherd a few years ago I would take photos of the attacking dog and the owners plus their car or vehicle number plate and report them to the police for having a dangerous dog out of control. The owner then got fined the dog has to wear a muzzle in public areas and they had to pay my vet costs.
I'm hope Lola calms down as your pup gets older and the pup learns from her how to be a great Staffy like her

I'm worried this will also happen to Romeo one day. he is so easy and happy and friendly... if maybe a little bit of a rapist too
But he gets barked at and lunged at often.... i'm waiting for the day that he snaps too... and when it does i know its not going to be pretty.... and if i follow through with my plan to get a second staff one day.... well... maybe he will go on the protector side too....

lola is doing well today no incidents, my advice to nick is this as it's how i taught lola,children are your possesion they are valuable to you and only you lola was allowed in the same room but outside of a perimiter i created with my arm as this and everything in it is mine i put food in this area on the floor it is mine her toy is now mine with these small understanding she learnt the child was mine and although she could greet the child it was as much her master as i was,if the child cries she naturally went to it or got my attention but then i took over the nursing,allowing them to panic or posses is where the small signs start naturally it's a new experience and they'll be excited nervous best to start putting things out that will be out when baby arrives ie chair or something so they don't freak out at the new thing,and smell is key to dogs introduce smell first then sight, i still do this with lola when lizards are out or hamsters.

don't wait for the day he snaps you'll be expecting trouble everywhere and he'll pick up on it just watch the other dogs and what they're doing so long as he knows you got his back he won't need to "snap" i think with lola and the jack russels there's a lot of history there and now she's got a little sister she's saying hey i've put up with their crap long enough that's it, it all depends on the other dog whether she goes or not, she's confident and self assured you can see it in her walk and her stand but i guess she's had enough of these out of control dogs.

Awe hope she is ok soon! My boy jasper is such a kind hearted little guy wouldn't hurt a fly, honestly the soppiest dog i've ever met. When we rescued faith (1 yrs old) a year ago he became very protective over her, if she met another dog in the field andd that dog lookedlike it was gonna go for her even growling and her he would stand up to it, rottweiiler, doberman you name it. They do get very protective.