Missbehaves around family when out?

Hey I'm Gisele, I have a 20month old staffy cross english bull terrier called Fifi (silly name I know) and she's definitely more staffy than anything.

She's never been the biggest fan of other dogs (she tolerates them) to be honest even though she lives with a submissive collie cross shepherd. And they get along well in the house even though recently they've started fighting more over things like toys, bones. Etc.

I'm the one that walks both of them out of my family but when we all go out together with the dogs she seems to turn into this dog from hell.

I'll describe the walk to you:
We got to the fields and I let them off of the lead as I usually do. Fifi bolted off straight at a boy who must've been about 8 years old, He began screaming and running which in turn made her snarl and bark at him, he then fell on his butt and she came back. She's not a fan of children but she always avoids them, the only time she's gotten defensive is when they come to stroke her so I avoid those situations. So that was really weird.
Bella our collie cross went over to sniff some dogs and so did Fifi. The dogs then came over to us and Fifi went mental she started snapping and snarling at the dog that hadn't done anything to her?
Normally when we're out she will sniff dogs and wander off. If the dog seems friendly enough she's even been known to play with them a little. she only ever gets that way if the dog is bouncy all over her as a warning or if they snap at her first. But its usually short lived as she tends to run off.
We then began playing fetch with them and every time Bella ran she would barge into her bite her face and get quite vocal and aggressive, It's gone to the point that Bella drops the ball when she see's Fifi coming because she doesn't want to get injured. Fifi even attacked her to the point that Bella was limping (this is really strange as like I said they have lived together since Fifi was 5 weeks old, They are both spayed and this kind of thing hasn't really happened before)
I don't understand this sudden change?
But the stranger thing is I have a friend I go dog walking with regularly who has a collie called rusty and both fifi and rusty run around playing, Occasionally if Fifi get's too rough rusty will snap at her and she will stop. Bella just plods along with us and Fi might come over for a sniff but that's about it. The area we go walking in usually has little kids but 90% of the time Fi avoids them, Unless they're on some sort of contraption then she may stand 3 meters away and bark a little before coming back. She bumps into dogs regularly and sniffs them and wanders off.

Like I said i'm the only one that walks her and she responds really well to me, She sits when I stop walking and comes when i call her. She's exceptionally good with the leave command that I use a lot of the time if she's got her sights set on a squirrel or something. But she doesn't respond well at all with anyone else?

I don't even know if this is normal behavior? And I don't understand this new hate she has for Bella when we're out as at home they pretty much cuddle up all of the time?

HELP if anyone has any advice, tips, explanation it would be great? I've never had a staffy before and sadly no one I know does so I can't get help on weather this kind of behavior is a normal thing?

Hi there, I'm afraid I can help with the behaviour issues but I'm sure someone will have some help for you,
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It's normal for them to respond better to the person that is their primary caretaker. She's a little old for the typical teenage problem but could be trying to assert dominance over your other dog.

How frequently and for how long are you walking her. At her age she should have 2-3 walks per day of about 45 minutes each. Also what are you feeding her. Alot of behaviour can be attributed to theese two areas.

Welcome from us and Suki

Welcome

Dogs can behave better with the person that does the most for them, so maybe get your family involved in feeding, walking and training her more. Have them do a few training sessions, just starting out with smaller things, so she knows she has to behave with the rest of your family too.

Also, as for the incident with the kid, I think you should be a bit more careful/wary of when you let her off the lead. I know you said she mostly ignores them, but if anything did happen (even something not serious like the boy just falling over and Fifi running back), it'd be you at fault for having an out of control dog. Having a dog run over to you randomly might be scary for some, and the running can excite the dog and make things worse. Just something to be careful about in case it does happen again.

Besides that, can't think of why the sudden change with Bella, has anything changed at all recently?

@ Jstaff: I'm currently taking her out once a day for one and a half - 2 hours. Ill try upping her walks to see if that helps her. As for food she's on hypoallergenic royal canine as she has allergies and comes up in rashes. Thank you for your suggestions!

@ Tara : yeah ive tried but my family are inconsistent with training and they end up shouting at her which doesn't help. It's difficult with so many people acting so differently with her. I can try and maybe take them out with her regularly one at a time?

Yes the incident with the boy was awful and unexpected . And it was made worse by the fact I couldn't even call her back as everyone was shouting and the boy was screaming.

The things I can think of in regards to Bella is that due to fifis behavioural issues I've always spent a lot of time with her and more so recently as I work at a vets and take her in with me due to her rashes? So Bella tends to stay home more.
Another thing could be that Bella is so submissive that she never fights back.
Or that I've also started a part time dog walking job so I took Bella with me instead of fifi? I'm not sure.
It seems to have gotten worse really since fifi spent 2 days and a night just me and her as I stayed at a friends near the vets due to being on call? The second she got home she attacked Bella. This was only last week though.

I hope that made some sort of sense?

Yeah, upping her walks will definitely help, a tired dog is a good dog, as they say, and when they have extra energy, they can be a bit mad. When the snow was bad here I didn't take Loki out for a few days, and the result was a dog that was jumping on couches he's not allowed on, jumping on people, running into things and generally being horrible so that should make an improvement.

Well, if you see a kid while she's off the lead, call her back before she sees them. That's what I do with Loki. He's not aggressive, just playful, but he still thinks it's OK to bite people to say hello, so I prefer not to take the chance, that way it'll save anymore problems.

I was going to say it could be jealousy, but it sounds like you spend more time with Fifi than Bella, so that wouldn't make sense. I can't think of anything on that, sorry hopefully someone else can give you advice about that.

As for your family, could you sit them down and calmly explain to them that dogs need consistent training and that shouting at them just confuses them and makes them less likely to listen? It'd help lots if the family got involved, but of course it won't help unless they're doing it properly. Small training/walking/feeding sessions with you, one family member and the dogs might help though.

@Tara : Thanks so much for the advice, I've been taking the family out with her more often and her walks have been upped. I've seen a significant change in her already. She's not as easily scared I've even managed to introduce her to dogs I take walking for work and she's already best buds with a Dalmatian. They fall out now and then but other than that it's brilliant for her. Also B
because I've been taking her out with other dogs to play with I find she doesn't pick on Bella as much.
I'm wondering If this happens now because she's a higher energy dog than Bella so she likes to run and play and Bella doesn't really do that? I'm not sure yet though. Just keeping an eye on her.

As for kids they were out playing and a toddler came towards us and I distracted her before she noticed him and that worked Brilliantly!

So far so good with her =D thank you so much for the help!

That's brilliant news, I hope it continues improving

good luck with your ongoing work and thanks for the updates

Try taking them out more often , mybe 3, 30 or 45 minute walks .it could he that shes so wired by the time she gets out?