Aggression in dog we are thinking of getting

Hello everybody,

I'm a new member here and I'd just like to ask you all your thoughts on what me and my mother experienced today.

We are seriously interested in adopting a 6-7 year old female Staffie. We have taken her out for walks quite a number of times and she has been absolutely fine, and almost disinterested in other dogs being so preoccupied with the world around her haha!

Today, however, another walker from the sanctuary was taking another dog (not a Staffie) out whilst we were out walking the Staffie. The other walker and the Staffie are big friends, and the other walker went towards us to try and make a fuss of her. However, out of nowhere the Staffie attacked the other dog this walker was with. She had the other dog by its neck and it could have been a lot worse.

This was completely out of character, and we were both a little shocked. Do any of you have any idea why this could have been? We suspect that maybe it was because the Staffie got jealous of the other walker being with the other dog. Could this be possible? She has not been spayed either.

Would really appreciate it if you all let me know what you think.

Thanks!

Hi why not introduce yourself here https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f7-new-member-introductions

It does sound as if it could be jealousy. I would take intros slowly, until you are sure of what you are dealing with. Get the centre to work more with her and other dogs. It could also be stress of being in kennels. In the end you have to ask yourself if you are happy to take a dog like this. Good luck

Its hard to say, could have been jealousy.

Welcome by the way   

Hiya welcome perhaps a little fear aggression as it must all be strange for her also jealousy maybe

Do you know her history? Sadly Oz is DA it's difficult to deal with as we had no idea he was like that when we got him but we cope with it ! Nit ideal but hate to think wha would have happened to our gorgeous cuddle monster otherwise. He is great in every other way a typical fun living staffie

Thank you all very much for your replies!

The strange thing is everybody at the sanctuary has told us how laid back and good she is. She has been in kennels for 11 months, but doesn't seem distressed. Apparently she recently had a scrap with another dog and the other dog was at fault. Maybe this had something to do with it?

We were told that she has lived with one other family from a young age (not sure if from pup or not) and was then brought to sanctuary.

Even the other walker was shocked and said she'd never seen her do anything like she did. It was all just a little shocking.

We're quite sure though that we're not going to give up on her now, I'm sure she will be a brilliant companion and with a bit of training will be just fine!

Good on you, don't give up on her, Oz is a delight but just hates any other dog, we don't know his history but can only presume he had a bad experience it was used for baiting?

I wouldn't worry about this incident too much. Sometimes dogs don't get on well with other dogs just as we don't get on with every person we meet.

Please have a look through the link below which explains all about a dogs body language and give you some signs to watch for:

http://staffy-bull-terrier.com/dog_body_language

Hello

I'm going to go against the grain again here and say I think you need to find out more about this dog before you commit to anything. I've seen what seems to be random aggression in kennel dogs before that have been overused as stooge dogs or mishandled by staff not reading their behaviour efficiently.

Have you had a dog with dog aggression before? And if not, could you afford to pay for a behaviourist to help you to learn about this and how to manage it? Dog-dog aggression in my view is harder to cope with than human aggression, humans are usually a little more under control and won't appear out of nowhere jumping all over your dog. And dog aggression is hard in any breed, but a breed as powerful as the stafford in non experienced hands could potentially be leathal. Not to say she wouldn't be safe in any home, of course.

It may be a one off, but it concerns me that she went straight in for a bite without any forewarning.. Unless her signals were misread of course. Again, this is harder than fear aggression where a dog will generally give adequate warning before lashing out, unless that have been mishandled and had their warning signals corrected which will result in a "flash biter." Did she cause puncture wounds or bleeding with her bite?

Thank you again for all your replies!

Well in all honesty the staff do seem to be pretty knowledgeable about dogs and how to read their behaviour. One especially is very keen on Staffies and has told us what to look out for in Staffies in general as a breed.

Our dog who sadly passed away in March was a cross and definitely had Staffie in her. She would quite commonly snap at other dogs (not to the same extent as what happened with our potential pooch), but we were able to control it. In the past my parents had two German Shepherds which they were able to control very soundly.

The body language of our potential dog seemed to be one of sheer delight of seeing this other walker. Her tail was wagging and she genuinely seemed full of excitement. I do think that she saw this other dog with her and got jealous. The scrap she had recently been in with another dog, and the fact that she could possibly be in heat may well have contributed too I feel. There was no blood or anything and no injury to the other dog, who in a usual dog way seemed to take it all in her stride haha.

I do really appreciate all your comments and concerns

As always, when reading of behaviour rather than seeing it things can be interpreted incorrectly! I assume by "having another dog by the neck" you were meaning something much worse!

Ultimately it's up to you and what you want out of a dog. If it turns out that this behaviour is a common occurrence it would need to be managed, and possibly worked with. Training doesn't help all dogs; my dog is both human and dog aggressive, I believe through genetics, early experience and negative experience, as well as the fact that she is a fiery terrier! She's never improved, we just keep her muzzled and on lead, walking in quiet areas. However, she's the best little dog and I absolutely adore her! It's hard, yes, and there have been times where I've cried, laughed and screamed all in one!!

But it may also be a one off maybe you could walk her with a few different dogs from the centre to get a real view of her behaviour? 11 months in kennels is long for any breed, especially one as sociable as the stafford. Stress may just have manifested itself in a different way.

We've taken her out with another dog everytime we've taken her, and she has always been absolutely fine, no aggression whatsoever. This is why the incident took us by surprise. There was even one time when another dog we were walking rose up as if about to attack the Staffie (before I pulled him away), and there was no reaction from the Staffie.

The Staffie did have the other dog by her neck, and it took quite a lot of pulling and shoving to get her off. As I said though there was no injury to the other dog just a little squealing on her part during the encounter, so maybe it wasn't quite as bad as we thought.

I do hope it was a one off incident. I understand that we do still need to be vigilant and not be too casual.

You seem to be pretty knowledgeable in this area, so I just have a question:

If a similar situation was to arise again, how would you recommend for me or whoever was walking her to behave? I've read that the best thing to do (unless it is really quite serious) is to try to keep calm and relaxed, trying not to shout etc.

For example if I had her on the lead and she met another dog and went for it, if I was to quickly pull her back, remain calm and give her no attention whatsoever, would this be the best way to react to it?

P.S.

Your Staffie certainly sounds like a character! In your experiences of Staffies what are we to expect from our potential pooch (forgetting what we've just been talking about)?

Hey Richard

I would like to maybe put your mind at ease a little. Axl did exactly the same as your potential staffie. He was 7(ish) months old when he did it and like you describe above it was hard to get him off but in the end he did and there were no bite marks, he just seemed to hold the dog down on the floor by its neck, which was strange at the time because I'd never seen any kind of aggression in him at all. We don't know what triggered it, we think he may have been protecting my mum's dog as the dog he jumped on was growling but we'll never be sure. Its never happened again, he does take an occasional dislike to other dogs which all dogs do, they can't be expected to like everyone they meet

I would say that although Axl does get on with most dogs he is unpredictable so I don't ever let him just run up to a dog, he's always on the lead and any introductions are done carefully.

Hope that helps

Thanks!

This is comforting to hear. I think it will be a case of just trying to read her body language when meeting other dogs and always being careful. Maybe we will have to keep her on the lead most of the time. I do think it was an isolated incident.

Anyway, we've decided we are going to go ahead with adopting her so just need to get everything moving with the home visit etc now

I'm with Rach on this one, it is hard to handle but you learn to manage it and Oz is such a sweet robust character we wouldn't do without him but don't get me wrong, it isn't easy some times, sounds like yours is completely different anyway and sounds a delight

Richard_b wrote:We've taken her out with another dog everytime we've taken her, and she has always been absolutely fine, no aggression whatsoever. This is why the incident took us by surprise. There was even one time when another dog we were walking rose up as if about to attack the Staffie (before I pulled him away), and there was no reaction from the Staffie.

The Staffie did have the other dog by her neck, and it took quite a lot of pulling and shoving to get her off. As I said though there was no injury to the other dog just a little squealing on her part during the encounter, so maybe it wasn't quite as bad as we thought.

I do hope it was a one off incident. I understand that we do still need to be vigilant and not be too casual.

You seem to be pretty knowledgeable in this area, so I just have a question:

If a similar situation was to arise again, how would you recommend for me or whoever was walking her to behave? I've read that the best thing to do (unless it is really quite serious) is to try to keep calm and relaxed, trying not to shout etc.

For example if I had her on the lead and she met another dog and went for it, if I was to quickly pull her back, remain calm and give her no attention whatsoever, would this be the best way to react to it?

Perhaps it was just isolated then Do you have any friends with dogs that she could spend some time with? I'd always start with a parallel on lead walk with minimal interaction and then brief interactions of polite sniffing etc until they're comfortable around each other. She may not like dogs being all over her, just be careful with off lead dogs running up to her in an unknown space. Perhaps she just doesn't like dogs invading her space or her people!

I have seen a stafford do this before, unfortunately it was to a tiny westie and she suffered from quite severe bruising and went into shock, but suffered no puncture wounds. She was also okay with dogs before hand, we couldn't ever really explain what happened but unfortunately the rescue centre didn't want to risk it and put her to sleep, so we never learnt any more about the behaviour. I generally don't like to comment on aggression or attacks as text can be misinterpreted, and i'm sorry for the graphic nature of this post, but I will say a general rule is do not ever pull the dog away when they are latched on; that is what will cause tearing of skin and they will just bite on harder. Don't scream, don't panic. I've seen attacks on people from bull breeds where the person has (understandably) panicked and it's just fueled the behaviour; resulting in a skin grafts on half of her body! There is also always a risk of redirection onto the handler when handling an attacking dog. To be honest, you need to avoid this happening at all. If it does turn out that she isn't sociable and will latch onto dogs, muzzling is the way forward. But of course, you will need to muzzle train her beforehand.

I have worked with thousands of staffies in rescue and each one has been different just like any dogs really; it doesn't help that people cross them a lot. I have grown up with staffords, my first dogs as a child were staffordshire bull terrier/pit bull terriers. Jesse, the bitch was an absolute gem very sweet and delicate. Jake was much more of a handful and very aggressive towards other dogs.. he would run for 8 hours a day at work with my dad and still be wired! I have met staffs with the most gorgeous temperaments that have been excellent with all other animals and children. I have also been attacked by a staffordshire bull terrier. You just need to find the one that's right for you! Biscuit is quiet, calm, clean, non destructive and just very dainty. She doesn't do mud, she adores women and children and would happily nap by your side all day long. I absolutely adore her. Max however is a staffy cross, he has partly destroyed my house, he needs to run for 2 hours plus a day or he becomes problematic, and he is a bossy little so and so.. loud, clumsy and impulsive!

we couldn't ever really explain what happened but unfortunately the rescue centre didn't want to risk it and put her to sleep

I know its the harsh truth but man that's sad

Ah sorry... I do try not to talk about rescue centres on here

No not at all Rachel, to be honest I knew you worked for a rescue centre and I really like to read your posts as I find them very interesting. This just happens to be the harsh truth, if more people knew what actually happens and how may dogs get destroyed a day maybe there'd be more people willing to stop breeding etc

But yeah your posts are always very informative and I do enjoy and learn things from you

I'm not legally allowed to talk about what happens, but I so believe figures and stories should be made public.. The centres aren't to blame and shouldn't have to hide the truth.. It's not then they screw up and throw out their dogs after all!

I actually quit my job last month and I'm setting up as a dog walker/trainer now! But I so feel that I blab on a lot so thank you lol!!

Thanks again for the advice Rachel. It's much appreciated; your blabbing is informative blabbing haha!

We actually booked our Staffie (Moose) today. She will be in her forever home very soon

Congratulations to you and Moose, hope it all goes well x

Thanks Sazzle!

Moose is a brilliant name!! Bet you're so excited feel free to come back if you have any settling in questions

Owww exciting times ahead, don't forget to take plenty of photos, we love those