my staffy hates other dogs! help!!!

hi everyone,
my names Lee and i have a 3 and a half year old staff cross american bulldog who ive owned for just over a year. shes the most loving dog towards humans, great with kids and just a really happy dog. However when approached by other dogs she completely changes into a vicious dog! ive tried pretty much everything and still cannot get her to like other dogs. i cant even let her off her leash in the park just incase she attacks another dog, i have to take her to a quiet field and let her run around! i thought about taking her to behaviour classes but what if she decides to attack the dogs in the class! i didnt want to get her spate but ive read that it helps with behaviour problems? the previous owner said she had to be takien from her mother quite early because she bit her in the face and rejected her, but i wouldnt of thought she would remember that would she? the only other reason i can think of is because she had no mother or siblings she feels like she needs to protect humans and that means attacking anything that comes within a metre of a human, if thats the case then how do i get her out of that frame of mind?
I'd never give up on Macee, i just want her to be happy and be able to play with other dogs.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks for your time, Lee

Hiya and welcome from me and Moo

Some dogs are just DA, doesn't mean there has to be an issue but you may find you will always have to keep her onlead. I'm not sure a class is the way to go tbh, might be way too much for her. Do you have any friends that you can try to socialise her with?

I've just adopted and am having a bit of an aggression issue too. My local vet has a behaviorist. They have one on ones and small group classes for dogs with a bit of tension! I'm thinking to find out a bit more about it. One on one seems to defeat the purpose a bit, other than to prepare us, but the small classes especially for dogs with reactive behaviours, seem good.

Goodluck

The best advice I can give you is to find someone who has a well socialized dog that is preferably older than yours. Walk them together with the handlers in the middle at first and than gradually bring the dogs together to walk side by side.

After that provided things go well allow them to interact on long leads for a short period and just keep repeating the entire process.

Hi &

Welcome to the staffordshire bull terrier niceboard. We are pleased you have decided to join us, and hope you enjoy your stay. We hope to see plenty of pictures of your staffordshire bull terriers or any other breed you may have in your household

If you would like to enter your dog(s), puppy(s) or another pet(s) you may have into our Monthly Competition, voting starts on the 20th of every month, if you are lucky your dog maybe placed on our Hall Of Fame page on our website.

Just one last thing before you look around could you please just have a quick look At This Poll, we would love to know how you found us.

Here are some links that will get you started with the website:-

Please read the Forum Rules before you start posting.
Here are a List of Tutorial & FAQs that will help you around the forum.
You can ask for Help here if you are having trouble doing something on the forum.
How to update your Profile information
If you have any ideas to improve the forum please let us know Your Feedback Here.
We have a Website with alot of information if you would like to view it.
Make a Donation to help us to keep improving our forum and website.

Good advice from Jstaff. Welcome to the forum. It sounds like she may have fear based aggression. Joining a socialisation class run by professionals should go a long way in helping. You need to try and not be anxious in yourself around other dogs as she will pick this up and react accordingly.

Hi from Skye buster and me
I also have a fear aggressive rescue if you have some one you can walk with it will help a lot
I took my boy on a bull terrier walk over the weekend and I had him walking with several calm bullies
It's amazing how much confidence it gives you

What part of Essex are you from

Hi and welcome:)
i know how it feels! my missy is not ususlly aggressive to other dogs but is far to exitable and will not do as she is told when she sees another dog when she is off the lead. will run after them,jump on there back,bite there ear etc...i do not trust her 100% not to attack another dog though, because she has done it in the past, so i have to keep her on the lead the majority of the time. its very frustrating! just want her to be able to run about off lead without having to worry about her geting in trouble!! she is 101% trustworthy with humans and children though. big sook...

i agree with the advice above,just keep persisting.be patient...take her out on walks with friends dogs as often as possible. get her used to been in the company of other dogs. as many different breeds/sizes of dogs as possible. i find missy gets on realy well with other staffies though(beter than other breeds) for some reason...

alot of my family own dogs so i have had Missy round visting them and had them up 2 my house with there dogs. sometimes it goes fine,other times not so much and they have to be seperated before a fight breaks out.

keep trying and good luck,sure she will get beter over time:)
hope missy does.hahah

Kev13 wrote:i do not trust her 100% not to attack another dog though, because she has done it in the past

Hiya

My dog is exactly the same. He was fine when he was under a year old then from about 14 months onwards he started to show some signs aggressive behaviour with some dogs. Like your dog, he is amazing with people and children, such a big softie/baby. Dogs that he knows well and sees regularly he is totally fine with however. It's normally submissive dogs or ones that "squeak" as this just excites him more. He has grabbed 3 dogs in the past round the neck when play has got a little too charged/excitable,which has been a very frightening experience! As everyone will know, trying to release a staffy's jaw grip is one hell of a tough job! Fortunately none of the 3 dogs was injured at all, just a little shaken up.

He now wears a muzzle when off lead (as much as I hate it) but it's reassurance that he can not harm another dog. Although I know he is not able to defend himself if the boot is on the other foot, I don't want run the risk of ever having to face the consequences of what might happen to him if he hurt another dog or human (by accident) who may try to break up a potential dog fight if it ever got to that stage

I know I'll never be able to fully trust him off lead without a muzzle which is sad, and if I think a dog approaching off a lead is potentially one that may excite him too much, I will put him on back on a lead.