No dog to dog manners

Hello Staff forums!

My partner and I recently adopted a 2 year old Staff named Jay who's a brilliant little lad. Very friendly, fairly well trained, good recall and seems all round pretty healthy. He isn't castrated but will be soon! We couldn't be happier with our new pooch, its understandable there are a few things we need to work on, other wise he wouldn't be a rescue dog!

One of the main things at the moment is he has no dog manners! If he see's another dog when we're out on a walk he will get very excited and is straight up at that level of energy, pulling on the lead, whining even barking to try and get to the other dog. (In a non violent, but understandably sometimes intimidating way in the other dogs eyes)

After trying to calm him and slowly introduce him to the strange dog he will not give them any personal space, he will just be super intense, sniffing them, trying to run round them and then will relentlessly lick their penis (we've only met male dogs so far) but taking him away and he will whine and crane his head round and try his hardest to get back to the other dog.

Other dogs have snapped at him, which is understandable because he doesn't seem to understand the social signals, and for a rescue staff he has been brilliant in those situations, if he's had a dog try and snap at him he doesn't fight back at all, but he doesn't go submissive, he just carries on trying to sniff them, and sometimes mount.

Is it just a case of letting him get used to meeting new dogs slowly, and accepting that he might get a snap or two by the end of it? Even keeping him on a tight lead if they are right up at each other having a sniff its possible that one of them may catch a stray warning bite before they are separated, but he has to learn dog manners and personal space, I don't want him to make other dogs uncomfortable when they meet out walking, especially as this is on lead, not off lead and I would like him to understand manners first.

Any information would be greatly appreciated, and thanks for all the people who put in the time and effort helping others out!

Regards,
Martin

Welcome why don't you introduce yourself and your dog to us here?

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

It sounds like he's had next to no socialisation or training on meeting dogs. Loki's not a rescue, I've had him since he was a puppy, but he was always terrible at manners, he got told off loads of times by other dogs because he wouldn't even sniff them first, he'd just jump all over them non-stop. After a few tellings off, he learnt to say hello calmly first, and now he doesn't jump on them at all.

I think at his age, dogs might not give him any leniency because he's an adult, so I wouldn't just leave him to be told off. If he gets over-excited, walk him away from the other dog for a bit, then re-introduce him. Keep doing this and eventually he should realise that he only gets to say hello to dogs when he's being calm and polite.

I'm sure with patience & persistence you can train him to have some manners, as with everything it takes time, great advice from Tara welcome from darcy & me.

You don't say exactly how long you've had him, but it sounds like he's still settling in & can't believe his luck!

If he's never had proper socialisation it might take him a while to calm down around other dogs, so it would be good if you could find a couple of bomb-proof dogs to walk with from time to time.

Also, try and teach him the 'watch' command. Hold a treat in front of your face & say 'Watch'. The second he looks at you, praise him & give him the treat. You'll need to do this quite a few times at home, but eventually when you say watch he'll look automatically. The you can give him a treat, say, every other time.

Then try it outside (no distractions), and when he's got it you can try when there are dogs around, but not too close. I'm sure you can get the jist.

It'll help to take his mind off other dogs for a few seconds & concentrate on you - a very useful thing!

It sounds like he is good natured and just hasn't had the chance to be around alot of other dogs. I would just keep socializing as much as possible and explain what you are doing and how your dog reacts to other handlers before introducing your dog. That way if the other dog isn't friendly you can avoid a bad interaction

Hey guys, this is all good advice, thanks very much! I will definitely introduce us when I get home from work this evening, I have a feeling I'll probably be on here a fair bit!

We've only had him 4 days, but I wanted to make sure I approached this right from the beginning, It's understandable he's excitable at the moment, but it's amazing how much he has calmed down already, I think he's settling in really well!

I will definitely be teaching him the watch command, and try to get him to understand he has to be calm before being able to approach the other dogs, I will have to walk him a fair distance before he will calm down but the other dog owners in the area seem really nice so I'm sure they won't mind helping with a bit of training!

Thanks very much guys, some really useful info!

Oh also the obsession with licking other dogs genitals, is this likely to go away after he's had the snip, or should I be using the same methods to train it out of him as well?

The only other dog I've known that does this is a 3/4 Staff 1/4 pitbull , once again still full male, but haven't known any other dogs to be quite so obsessed!

Neutering won't neccessarily alter his behaviour significantly in any way. Glad to hear he is settling in well

Oh also the obsession with licking other dogs genitals, is this likely to go away after he's had the snip, or should I be using the same methods to train it out of him as well?

My friends Pug does this to my boy every time he sees him we have to keep dragging him away he's relentless!! I thought it was someting to do with my friend's dog being submissive although I'm not 100% sure on that.

I just wanted to also say Axl is coming up a year and a half now and I've had him since 8 weeks old, he's been socialised and he's pretty well rounded BUT he had no manners whatsoever with other dogs, he used to just launch at them in play mode which didn't go down too well understandably. Anyway I keep him on a lead when other dogs are around and introduce him on the lead, I always say "nicely" when he's meeting a dog which he seems to respond to (or he's just behaving better naturally and I'm trying to make myself feel better lol). He's started to lay down now when a dog approaches and he'll let the other dog sniff him first so I'm making progress. Jay sounds a lot like him, he sound excitable and happy I'd suggest doing the same with Jay as I did with Axl, keep him on the lead, introduce slowly to other dogs. When he jumps pull him away and say "no" and when he's calm say something along the lines of "gently" or "nicely". If it seems like your getting nowhere sometimes with Jay's training, keep at it because eventually and usually pretty suddenly they'll get it

Frankie is 2 and still licks male dogs. Or he will * his leg so the other dog can lick him. It can be very embarrassing!!
Good luck with you're training and its so nice to hear he's got a forever home