Impatient Mambo - advice needed

Second time this week Mambo snapped at the dog while saying helo (or rather just after).
First time, little spaniel female dog (on the lead) was very excited and jumped around until she finally approached Mambo who wasn't really impressed and snapped at her. Of course the other dog screamed, hid behind is owner but after 3 seconds wanted to come back again, which is when I said that's enough.

Pretty similar thing happened today - a little poodle dog, probably still a puppy was a bit scared to greet Mambo, but too curious not to approach him (which is where I'm wondering if owners - a couple with kid - should actually let him) anyway, they greet, sniffed noses, waggling tails etc, after a while puppy comes over again, Mambo's body language wasn't that assuring at this point so I just said that would be enough, then little dog put his paw on Mambo's head, and of course Mambo snapped. Puppy screamed, the lady picked up the dog to check if it was ok (of couse it was). We had to apologize, fortunately they didn't seem to be very worried.

From what I noticed, Mambo doesn't like dogs who are moving too much when they greet him, who jump around etc. He's fine when he meets calm and 'whatever-style-attitude' dogs, but the greetings never take longer than 1 minute and we usually say that's enough and go. Also, the snapping he does doesn't look like he's being aggressive and starting a fight but rather saying 'I don't want you to do this leave me alone' - but the dogs affected always scream and it's quite scary...

I'm not sure what to do with this - should we just agree that Mambo is not necessarily ok with other dogs and avoid contact with them, or should we try and socialise him anyway? The owners we met up to now were all very understandable but it may not always be the case.

We usually have this problem in reverse with the smaller dogs snapping at Suki. The biggest fear I had with getting an AmStaff was the sterotype that they couldn't get along with other dogs amd sometimes they really can't. However, Suki has done very well in this area. I usually try to talk with the handler and ask if their dog is socialized and good with other dogs. I also watch the handlers body language as well. If they seems nervous or worried about their dog being around anthor dog than I think this is a sign that they could be a . If the handler is confident and says their dog is okay I will let them interact.

I've found that the larger breeds with responsible handlers are usually the most well behavied and properly socilaized dogs. The smaller breeds with irresponsible handlers usually cause the biggest problems. I assume that since their dogs are so small they think proper behavior isn't very important. So their dogs tend to snap at Suki and they are very quick to blame other dogs and act mortified if Suki barks at their dogs in response. So I usually try to avoid them. There are some smaller dogs that she is good friends though so it's just a generality and not a rule.

hmmmm....is he on lead? My Ty can be picky with who he will tolerate, quite often he is sooo much better off lead when greeting but obviously u dont want him off lead if your not to sure on how he will react. We are lucky and live in a village where everyone has dogs and have found a few play mates for Ty who are perfect for him, around his size, not snappy or barky but will not but up with his crap lol. I would still try to socialise him on lead take treats or a toy if thats what he preffers and a quick greet and sniff then distract him with treats or toy then another greet and sniff etc so his good greetings with dogs are rewarded. If he snaps or whatever a short sharp "AH AH" and take him straight away till calm then try again. Only let him off lead with dogs you no he is good with! I have to do this all the time, Kaos is so so friendly with other dogs and isnt excited by then at all so quite often i end up feeling awful for Ty as kaos is off playing and he has to be on lead but its all for his own sake! x

we let him off lead only when there's no dogs around, so he's always on lead when greeting other dogs, usually these dogs are on lead as well. I wouldn't risk him meeting other unknown dog off lead...

we live in a small town with a lot of dog owners too, and some we meet few times a week - their dogs are usually the ones that Mambo 'is safe with' but they will never play or anything like that - either the dogs don't want or just don't care after a while, or Mambo seems either too tense or not interested after few minutes.

I just think we have to be very picky with dogs that we'll let Mambo greet and observe both Mambo and them closely... I'm not sure... on the other hand, I don't want to be so picky that he will stop meeting other dogs at all - all in all , he's not that bad with all dogs. I just want to avoid him snapping because it makes us really nervous and we don't want any trouble with other owners.

There is nothing wrong with being cautious with the dogs you let him interact with. We are carefull as well because it only takes one bad experience to cause a set back with all of the training and socialization.

jstaff wrote:There is nothing wrong with being cautious with the dogs you let him interact with. We are carefull as well because it only takes one bad experience to cause a set back with all of the training and socialization.

that's exactly what I worry about. but I don't want to take away his chance to meet other dogs.

my OH just came back from a walk with Mambo (while I was writing this)and said that they met another staffy: they greet, waggled their tails, made some funny sounds and everything was fine wish it was always like this every time!
is it possible that Mambo acts snappy with the dogs that he feels are weaker than him? (this staff was at least the same as him if not stronger )

I think that sometimes the smaller breeds are just very excitable and can give off a bad energy. That coupled with the fact that sometimes their handlers aren't overly concerned with discipline. This is why I tend to watch both the dog and the handler to see how the dogs are likely to interact.

jstaff wrote:I think that sometimes the smaller breeds are just very excitable and can give off a bad energy. That coupled with the fact that sometimes their handlers aren't overly concerned with discipline. This is why I tend to watch both the dog and the handler to see how the dogs are likely to interact.

exactly...
the problem is we usually meet small dogs... we've already learnt to observe and many times we just avoid any contact. but you can't always say how the dog will react. now we will definitely avoid overexcited dogs... the only thing I don't want is to scare people away, saying, no he's not OK with other dogs, so they will then think that all staffs are. especially that even Mambo himself is not always like this. I think we need more time to observe and see how he reacts to different dogs... we only got him for 3 months! (seems like forever to us though, we can't imagine living without him now!)

on the other hand, the dogs that Mambo likes are cute tiny spaniel and some extremely old, slow and smelly female lab cross...
he's weird

The age of the dogs does indeed seem to make a difference. If they are both young and well socialized they will want to play. If the other dog is older than your dog should be submissive and respectfull. We meet alot of smaller dogs to. Still if the handler is nervous than we try to stay away. I would rather people think Suki is not trained well or that AmStaffs are not friendly than risk a bad interaction. Thankfully there are alot of well trained dogs here

I think your better off doing a few seconds hello and good bye so it ends on good terms.
for a couple of days simply allow a sniff (polite hello)from both dogs then walk off before things turn bad or things get to excited and gradually over time stay a little longer, he doesn't need to play with dogs to be socialised just having him say a polite hello is all dogs need really and as long as both dogs end it on good terms the next time you could stay for a few more seconds.
Maybe he is just saying right i'v said hi and thats enough for me.

MissRogue wrote:I think your better off doing a few seconds hello and good bye so it ends on good terms.
for a couple of days simply allow a sniff (polite hello)from both dogs then walk off before things turn bad or things get to excited and gradually over time stay a little longer, he doesn't need to play with dogs to be socialised just having him say a polite hello is all dogs need really and as long as both dogs end it on good terms the next time you could stay for a few more seconds.
Maybe he is just saying right i'v said hi and thats enough for me.

I think that may be it - he's just not the one who wants to play etc. although I can tell when he's OK with some dogs so that's when I think we may let them to sniff each other for a bit longer.

I'm very proud of him being so nice with another staffy this evening, although my OH did exactly what you said - just a quick hello and that's it - just in case.