Aggression towards puppies

Hi all

My little man will be 4 in may, hes a small but solid boy weighing in around 21kgs and he's always had an issue with puppies, esp other male puppies. He doesn't usually see a lot of puppies so its never been a real issue... Until today. We took him to the dog beach and he got into a fight with a young male dog (bigger than he was, some sort of mastiff cross) luckily my husband was able to grab him off this poor dog and no damage was done. we put him straight backin the lead.Then my friend came down with her 6 month old male catahoula/mastiff pup (much bigger than my dog) and he growled and tried to lunge at the pup, but he was back on his lead so couldn't get far.

He is fine with older dogs, any size or breed, but seems to just dislike puppies - no matter how big they are! He isn't desexed and now we are seriously considering it, if it will help curve his aggression. Does it sound like a domination thing? I don't really know if desexing him is going to help as its only young dogs he's aggressive towards. He has no other behavioural issues, never tries to mount anything, hardly barks and is actually a real big smooch.

We are planning to get a female bulldog in a year or so and would like to try and "fix" the issue before introducing a puppy...

Hi, welcome to the forum!

Some dogs have issues excepting certain other dogs. Logan is fantastic with most dogs but is horrendous around Alsatians/huskys or anything "wolf-like". It came from being attacked by an Alsatian when he was very young. Has your boy ever had experiences like this?

Even if not it is just in some dogs not to like others, it was described before as "have you ever met someone you just didn't like, for no reason".

Neutering won't help with dog aggression. A few months back I was thinking about it for Logan and after a lot of research I've decided not too. Neutering even makes some dogs more nervous and worse.

The only way it can be solved is through more socialisation around his problem source, young dogs. Teach him the "look at me" command, where when you meet a dog that you know there will be a problem with him sit still and look at you, maybe with a treat of fav toy. Then once the dog has past praise and reward him.

Welcome to the forum why don't you introduce yourself and your dog here?:

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f7-new-member-introductions

Is it all puppies, or just ones that are bigger than him? Is it really young ones, or ones that are like 6-ish months old? Has he been attacked by any puppies before?

I think some dogs really are not tolerant at all of puppies. I think I read that the really young puppies get away with murder because they're so young, but when they're a little bit older, some dogs will be quick to put them in their place because they have no manners. Not sure how true that is but it's always made sense to me, especially since Loki's had a lot of dogs go for him even when he was really young, just because of how boisterous he is. I don't think neutering him would help though, but I'll wait for someone with more experience to comment on that

I sometimes think it has to do with their wilder side. Males view other males as a threat, and their offspring too. Just be aware of it and do the best you can to avoid situations where there are puppies.

Hi all, thanks for your replies.

We got our boy from a private breeder at 11 weeks. We took him to training classes and completed levels 1 and 2.

He's never been attacked by any dog before. We first found out about the puppy issues when we took him for his shots at the vet when he was about 2 and a lady had a box of new pups getting their first shots. He lunged straight at the box, heckles up, snarled and growling. He was on the lead so I pulled him back but he was tugging hard to get back over to them.

I think I might have to invest in a muzzle for places like the beach etc. I really don't want to be responsible for him injuring another dog