Labs agression towards other dogs

[Liberty]

I have a 14 mo. old lab she stays in the same 12x12 kennel as my other 10 yr. old lab. They get along good, a little rough housing and chasing one another, nothing unusual. When she gets around other dogs she bows up at them, her hair stands up on her back and she growls at them. I call her off and knee her in her side, is there anything else I should be doing or will this go away as she gets older? Any help would be appreciated.

[go24]

Yeah, it'll get better when she growls at the wrong dog and gets her *** whipped.

Seriously, I think it's just a little pecking order thing going on, I wouldn't worry about it at this point. MHO

[damnyankee]

My dog gets along with the others at the house but growls at every other one she sees.
Snaps at them on occassion, I agree it's a pecking order thing one day she'll do it to the wrong one.

[goosebruce]

A dog that goes out of its way to show aggression to another dog should be corrected. It shouldnt be tolerated. How many times is a dog going to have to interact with other dogs, in a blind, training, or maybe a hotel room on a trip of a lifetime? Sure would be bad for that trip for your dog to learn its lesson the hard way, and you gotta find out where the nearest vet is. Dog gets up in yuor dogs face, or bristles up at butt sniffing, is being dogs. Dog that on purpose gets aggresive with another dog should be stopped immediately. No good time for a dog fight. travis

[feedcall]

It is natural behavior that should be corrected just as jumping up on people should be corrected. Make no mistake they can hurt each other real fast, and real bad. We have 8 or 9 dogs at our camp, and just this year I think 3 of them have been to the vet for scratches and other things that the dogs have done to each other. These are highly trained dogs too, all of them are great hunters. You need to correct it as best you can. Just as children need to be around other children dogs need to be social too, it will give you more opportunities to correct the hostile behavior. Good Luck!

[AccountingDucks]

Liberty,

I agree w/ Goosebruce, any type of agression whether towards people or dogs should not be tolerated. When my dog showed agression I imediately corrected him w/ the alph-male move, the exact thing that an alph male wolf does to a subordinate pack member. All you do is flip the dog over on his back and place a hand on his neck, the dog should then go into a complete submissive posture which is front legs folded in to the chest and not wanting to make eye contact with you. It is not as bad as it sounds or looks. However this needs to be done as the dog is showing the agressive behavior or doing whatever you don't want it to do. You need to hit(so to speak) like a ton of bricks grabbing the dog by the neck skin under the chin and flipping. This should be forceful so the dog makes no mistake about your feelings towards his behavoir. After the dog is on his back you should grab the dogs throat with just enough force to keep the dog in the submissive position. After that its all an act as you stare him down and scold him in your ruffest voice telling him NO NO. Do this for 30 to 45 seconds and let him up. If he gets up and tucks his tale and tries to hide from you,avoiding eye contact you have succeded, if he gets up and tries to love and lick on you, you need to do it a little ruffer next time. I only use this method when the dog has shown agression towards me, other people and dogs, or in a situation where I know (and I mean I know) the dog understands a direct command is just plain out ignoring me.

[damnyankee]

Well I agree with the advice here but there are situations where no amount of training IMHO can prevent.
My dog has been trained(by me) to stay at heel whenever told. However it's usaully the male dog with his nose up her..uh... well you get the idea that sets her off. She does not wonder off to the other dogs and actually prefers to be left alone. IE at camp I leave the tailgate down and that's where she stays unless told otherwise.
It is not my responsibilty to train other people's dogs, I would prefer she not snap at other dogs and she has never attacked another dog, however I'd also prefer people keep control of their dogs. She has only snapped at other dogs when they keep pestering?sp her.
Now perhaps I should try to correct this problem, I have done what was said above to stop her from growling at people and it worked excellant. But I'm not sure if I try to prevent her from snapping at other dogs that invade her space I'd be doing her any good.
Now when we all ride in the truck she's great she knows it's okay to be around other dogs or in the blind. But after the hunt and were in the driveway she's at heel and another dog sticks his nose well "there" there probably is going to be a problem.
Just my opinion I'd like to here more.

[NOHERE]

I would agree that each situation is a little different, this is what you have to be carefull about. Is this just normal "dog stuff" or aggression, you have to make that call yourself, but, if it is something out of the ordinary, you need to but him/her on the ground as the previous post stated, and once may not be enough.

[goosebruce]

DY, its natrual a dog would snip when getting its hooch sniffed by an unwanted dog. Thats dog behavior. If she turned and went for the neck vein, thats another story. I wouldnt try to quell behavior thats quite natrual, and needed for her onw protection. Im talking about a dog that LOOKS for it. A dog that leaves heel to get in another dogs face, bristled up, wanting to rumble. Or worst, the dog that does start a fight. Dogs gonna sniff, and growl a lil, and put on an act. Its the agressiveness thats a problem, and should be stopped.
Rowdy wouldnt share a pit box with another dog first week of the season (glenns female choc, he knows well). A week later, we were going to hunt rowdy, and a customers dog. Told steve I didnt think thatd be a good ideal, rowdy with another male in a pit box, might tangle. Steve brought up a real good point, who the hell asked him what he wanted? Well, good point. Guess what, didnt take no introductions, just put him in box, and when we set new dog in box and rowdy growled, got his ass one time and said NO. He shares a pit box just dandy with whoever you put in there with him now! Soon as he figgered out, dat mess wouldnt be tolrated, it was a nonissue. travis

[TN Duck Daddy]

I have the same problem with one of my labs. The first time she hunted with a dog other than her sister/kennel mate she ripped the dogs ear almost completely off. The kicker was, it was her mother.

I've corrected her severely everytime she's done it but it remains a problem. A poorly behaved dog is always a problem.

It has cut down on the opportunities that I get to take my dogs hunting. I'm sure it more of my poor training than anything.

[DR.DUCK2000]

I ran into an incdent along those lines this past weekend. I was hunting with a friend and his dog. When we planned the hunt he said that it would be fine for me to bring my female...His male had never been agressive towards a female but had fought with other males in the past. We breifly let the dogs see each other as we went to our spot but kept them apart during the hunt...alternating retrieves and making them honor one another. It was good for both of them.
After the hunt we were getting the gear together and had the ducks in a few piles and his male dog showed some agressive behavior towards my bitch. he corrected the dog but I told him that it was fine because that is dogs being dogs. I was careful to keep my dog at heel all the way back to the 4-wheelers. When we got back to where we had parked our trucks everything was fine and the dogs had stayed apart.
Then I decided to feed my dog as I always like to do after she has worked hard. The other dog then proceded to come towards her- at that point I told the dog "NO". He proceded to attack my dog. Luckily I saw it coming and was able to stop it before it got out of hand. I definately scared the hell out of that dog...mainly by yelling really loudly and going after him.
It was definately the fight or flight kicing in. My brother is a Vet and has told me horror stories of dog fighting injuries. I apologized to my buddy for losing it at his dog. He said he understood and would have done the same thing. He apologized for his dog"s behavior. The moral to that story is that when you get a hint of true agressive behavior, control your dog. Even if your dog is not the agressor. In retrospect we should have kenneled both dogs upon arriving back at the trucks. I was under the impression that dog fights usualy happen between two males or two females...Is that not correct?

[goosebruce]

Kinda general yeah, but I think its a lot more to do with dominant behavior. I can show you a lil alpha female, thats as sweet on the couch as any dog you've ever seen, but she either gonna hump yur male or wanna get in his face. But the dogs a sweethart.
Glad yur gig didnt git out of hand. Your paying attention probalby saved a bad deal. travis