Puppy attack

All the dogs at our training classes are staffy/staffy crosses. On Tuesday we had an 18 month old dog ( pure staff ) who hasn't attended for a while and was doing a lot of snarling at the other dogs. Mid-way through the session he attacked Bacchus, and I'm not talking about reprimanding a puppy, he had a real go. Luckily, because we were doing lead work at the time, we got them separated before any damage was done.
What really surprised me was
a. a mature dog attacking a puppy
b. Bacchus rather than backing off, at barely 5 months, retaliated and was going
to have a go
My wife, who was attending the class for the first time, was totally shocked. Not so much that the other dog attacked the puppy, but at Bacchus aggressive reaction, as he is a fantastic, albeit mischievous, natured puppy and I think this shook her a little.

P.S.
Within seconds Bacchus seemed completely unconcerned by the incident and continued to enjoy the rest of his class.

Staffys will protect themselves if needed. Our dog is a real softie but once she was attacked by a jack russell. I thought she would not do anything but she did and We were quite shocked by her too

yes i remember memphis at about 6months old being attacked by the same dog staffie x beagle (offlead)twice in the same day and he more than held his own

firstly at 18months the other dog isn't "mature" still a pup himself.. And yes it is shocking the first time it happens but Steff has got into a couple of little scraps herself lately, never any damage done except a few scratches maybe this is the age where our pups start standing up for themselves.. I am happy with how she is progressing though I want her to be confident enough to have a go if or when it's necessary, it dosen't mean they are aggressive, just that they are confident enough to stand their own

Just to add, like Bacchus Steff has never instigated the fight but she handled it well, there have been 3 occassions now and all in the last few weeks and she too is over it in minutes and back playing often with the same dog she had the issue with..

my sister has a patterdale terrier (roxie 1 year old), when cass was about 12 weeks old, we introduced them. roxie all of a sudden showed her teeth and went for cass, to be fair cass even at 12 weeks, stood his ground and went forward, which really surprised me considering his age. roxie backed off. previous to this my sis and her husband also have a black lab, roxie still tries to bully that too although its about a sixth its size now.

To be fair the lady handler did apologise, but I don't think it was an isolated incident because she said that her dog used to be ok with other dogs.
After talking to the lady it turns out that her dog is related to Bacchus so she reckons he will turn out the same.
I don't believe this necessarily follows, and certainly hope not as the the reason I take him to classes is more for socialisation than the training, which I can do myself.

I stopped taking buster to classes . In my opinion he was picking up bad habits

reuben wrote: To be fair the lady handler did apologise, but I don't think it was an isolated incident because she said that her dog used to be ok with other dogs.
After talking to the lady it turns out that her dog is related to Bacchus so she reckons he will turn out the same.
I don't believe this necessarily follows, and certainly hope not as the the reason I take him to classes is more for socialisation than the training, which I can do myself.

Buster bumble wrote:I stopped taking buster to classes . In my opinion he was picking up bad habits

looking at both your pups coloring and age there not related are they ??????

Staffs very rarely back down from a fight. 5 months is big enough for a dog to be seen as an adult to other dogs but it sounds like the other dogs fault totally.

reuben wrote: To be fair the lady handler did apologise, but I don't think it was an isolated incident because she said that her dog used to be ok with other dogs.
After talking to the lady it turns out that her dog is related to Bacchus so she reckons he will turn out the same.
I don't believe this necessarily follows, and certainly hope not as the the reason I take him to classes is more for socialisation than the training, which I can do myself.

There's a good argument to be had that dogs become aggressive to other dogs after themselves being on the receiving end of dog aggression - almost like a "catching" condition, if you like.

Not all dogs, mind you, and repeated socialization after a dog's confidence is dented is, in my opinion, key to retaining and maintaining an even temperament.

Sure genetics play a part in most things, but I agree - I don't think turning out the same will necessarily follow at all.

I think around that age, they stop giving the puppy some lenience and start teaching them they're growing up and it's time to act like it, if that makes sense. Because other dogs used to get annoyed with Loki, but it was no big deal, not a fight. But then eventually they'd step it up a bit, a couple of dogs have tried to go at him, but fortunately never managed it. Loki's never retaliated though, his defence was to move away or be scared, silly boy. It worked though, he used to be over-the-top hyperactive with dogs, whereas now he stands there calmly and sniffs them while they sniff him instead of diving at them. Sometimes they need a good telling off (provided they don't get hurt, of course)

Not saying Bacchus did anything wrong, the dog obviously isn't a fan of other dogs, but even at his age they're going to defend themselves against an attack. So I wouldn't worry, it doesn't make him aggressive or anything, he's just doing what he needed to do. Bacchus is braver than Loki glad he's OK.

Could it be possible it happened because they are related? What the trainer/person in charge said about it? Maybe she/he could help you handle the situation next time.

I think genetics can perdispose a dog to be aggressive it isn't a guarentee. Even if they were related they is no way to tell how the ohter dog was raised or what enviroment they were in

bigwazza wrote:

reuben wrote: To be fair the lady handler did apologise, but I don't think it was an isolated incident because she said that her dog used to be ok with other dogs.
After talking to the lady it turns out that her dog is related to Bacchus so she reckons he will turn out the same.
I don't believe this necessarily follows, and certainly hope not as the the reason I take him to classes is more for socialisation than the training, which I can do myself.

Buster bumble wrote:I stopped taking buster to classes . In my opinion he was picking up bad habits

looking at both your pups coloring and age there not related are they ??????

I think Warren meant that Bacchus and Buster could be related. They do look kind of similar x