Change in behaviour.. advice needed

Hello everyone so Harley is coming up to 15 months and is currently still neutered. All of a sudden he has become aggressive if another dog challenges him. We have been going to puppy/ advanced dog agility since he was 12 weeks old and has never shown any aggression even if a dog has gone for him he would run away I've never heard him growl at a dog until now. Tonight we were in agility and we haven't been for a while due to commitments and Harley was extra wound up we went over the jumps with his lead trailing as he was doing fine until he came through the tunnel and a large golden retriever was standing there and the lead slipped through my hands, Harley sniffed with tail wagging to say hello then the retriever snapped went for him and Harley reacted and there was a lot of loud noise and he was in a frenzy totally out muscled the retriever and had him pinned although there were no punctures on either dog. It was very hard to try and part them but Rachel the trainer came over and shouted loudly and they parted I was shook up I apologised to the retrievers owner. The trainer suggested that as he was bread to fight that he will not back down and for me to keep him on the lead she did suggest not changing his normal routine and to keep doing what I was doing with him. "Also the other trainer gave me a mouthful saying don't know where he came from he just attacked him"but that's a different story. It was so out of the blue. Advice please ? I was thinking maybe he was just defending himself

hiya beth i know staffys wee bred as fighting dogs hen but the truth is half them wouldn't say boo to a goose. maybe just a case of his being scared as the retriever lunged at him the key is harley never made the first move i would just monitor his behaviour and if you think hes changed at all since the incident then you will have to make changes and doing his training sessions more often

Hey! What a stressful evening at 15 months Harley is officially an adolescent and may well react to things that he previously wouldn't have. Without having seen the incident it's hard to comment; the retriever may well have snapped due to Harley's body language/posture, or Harley may have been responding to the retrievers aggression. Without knowing this, it's difficult to say if he was reacting to a threat (which, IMO, it a pretty normal reaction for any dog, regardless of breed), or if he did "start" the squabble, in which case a little more care may be needed. Tail wagging doesn't always mean happy; down and slow can be unsure and up high and fast can be overstimulated or even aggression.

It is known of the breed, and terriers in general, to be tenacious and strong willed - which is why careful socialisation and training is so important, but I don't think that it's fair to tar all staffies with the "fighting" brush. My own dog, who is fear aggressive, was attacked by another staffie a little while ago, and she was a rubbish "fighter"! She hid between my legs and just lay there until I got the dog off of her, she eventually did nip the other dog, but it was with her front little teeth and didn't even leave a mark. So, her genetics have certainly failed her. I do think you need to keep his boundaries/training/routine at a high level, but I'm very strict in general with my dogs! It doesn't mean you have to be hard on him, just that it's important that he knows what is/isn't acceptable, and encourage him to make his own positive choices when you aren't able to intervene.

Also, take into consideration that he was probably completely overstimulated by the agility, and made a snap decision, which unfortunately was a poor one.

well put rachel no good with words sometimes

I would like to think that he felt threatened and reacted. As already mentioned, he's an adolescent so may well be quick to react. Rachel gives great advice as ever and all I would add is to be mindful of where situations could occur but certainly do try and keep him socialising otherwise he may become fearful of other dogs which may only make it worse Beth.

I had this with Katy when we started agility, she loves doing it but would kick off at any dog that eyed her some in the class were worried about her, even though she would do her round & get her toy & run straight past them to me without a noise!!!!
We started to do pack walk with some of the class, without all the excitement & she's as good as gold. She will still bark at agility but that if one of the others is running & not her Try & see if the other owners would be willing on having a walk without the over excitement

Thank you all for the advice and thanks Katy I will look into pack walks as I think it is important for him to keep socialising. He is very boisterous still and this compiled with his over stimulated state just made him react.
I also have a few issues with him on the lead when meeting dogs that could be my error that I need advice for.

If we see a dog in the distance he will pull until he can talk to the dog and then he's fine. He lays down on the ground with some dogs and some times jumps up at them or lays and waits for the dog to come over. He has no doggy manners sometimes and jumps and lunges at them to play even when they don't want to normally leads end up tangled and he will sometimes put his neck over the other dogs and stand still but it looks intense even though there is no agression. Off lead he will behave much better and sniff noses and run around with dogs. So where am I going wrong ? And how can I improve his manners on lead.

In my own experience such as it is, I think they can feel restricted when on lead which is why you see the difference in behaviour when meeting other dogs.

I would use a distraction method to get him to calm down, that way you break the association of seeing another dog and wanting to bound over and will stop the pulling etc. I found the long lead was the key to understanding why my Flo was like this, it really was a light bulb moment.

I'm sure those with more experience will be able to offer further advice Beth.

beth from your last post it sounds like hes testing the boundaries a bit with regards to the pulling i would just be firm with the habits you don't want him to do. before he gets to lay in wait for the other dog be firm and get him to sit it will be less confrontational if both dogs are at the same level.

Excuse me, but why is it Harley who's getting the blame here? It sounds to me like a situation that was set up by the trainer not managing her class properly. How come you have one dog standing over another when they're coming out of the tunnel? Think about it, you've got a dog coming out of a confined space being confronted by another he doesn't expect to see, and all that in a situation of high excitement. Sounds like a fair reason to get upset if you ask me.

I have a friend who does agilty with her BC and and they have all sorts of problems with dogs snapping at each other because the trainer is so focussed on getting good rounds that she's not looking at the wider picture. As a result, Zazu (my friend's dog) who was brilliant with others has started to become snappy with another comes into her space. There are great benefits to agility but if the class is badly run there are some negatives as well.

I'd keep going but with your eyes open as to how Harley might be perceiving things. If he's seeing loads of hyper dogs invading his space as a threat, then you need to work with him away from them (so away from the course) to teach him to quieten and relax in high stress situations.

Re on lead interaction in general, I wouldn't allow him to pull towards another dog. You need him to be able to walk past without interacting if you ask him to. 'Watch me' is a great one for this, using loads of treats thrust under his nose if needs be.

And yes to group walks. A great idea.

But please, please don't think you suddenly have a dog aggressive dog because of one incident that was set up for him to fail by others. Just clock it that he doesn't cope well with that sort of thing and make sure he's not put in that position again. If you see others lurking on the course while you're doing it, either call them to move away or stop your round/miss that obstacle. If the trainer has a problem with it, find another agility class.