I type this with a heavy hand, because (as I'm sure most of you know) I like my dogs more than I like most people...
I've got 'That Dog' ...you know, the one at the dog park that decides he wants to fight with every other dog in the place...out of nowhere.
Well...ok - so - I'm intelligent enough to know that it's not 'out of nowhere' - it came from somewhere, but I'm too ignorant to put my finger on what it is/was.
I posted a few days ago about sea-sickness, mentioned a dog-fight in the dog park, but kinda blushed it off as Tonka not feeling well.
So...let me get into the meat and potatoes...Tonka has history (almost 2 full years ago) of getting into a fight with another dog that was living with me. The dog that he got into a fight with back then is OLD (10+, lived a rough life outside most of the time - in Arizon...), arthritic, and doesn't respond to a single command. The owner allows the dog to growl, show teeth, etc when other dogs are within 10 yards of him. I attributed this original fight to the OTHER dog - Tonka just reacted as any dog would, right? (rhetorical question).
Saturday at the dog park, Tonka had vomited several times in the afternoon, so I had just attributed it to him not feeling well.
Monday at the dog park, Tonka was playing with other dogs - another dog even challenged him when he first arrived, approaching nose-to-nose, tail up, ears up, very stiff body language...Tonka stiffened up, but I called him, and he broke body language, wagged his tail and came over my way - nothing more happened there.
Later on, there was a big ol' 5-gallon bucket of water, Tonka was head-in drinking and another dog came up to the bucket and stuck his head right in next to him...this was OK for about 10 seconds, then something happened that somebody didn't like. I can't say for sure if Tonka 'started' it or just reacted, or what...the other dog's owner was VERY VERY calm, I probably reacted worse than SHE did (yes, she....), although, when we both got to the scene of the crime, both dogs separated without incident, her dog laid down immediately, Tonka didn't want to take his eyes off of the other dog. We went through the 'is he ok?, yes, is he ok?' thing, no bites, no punctures, and as we talked through it, both realize that neither dog had done anything more than lock-up arms and growl/bark.
This was good news, or so I thought. Tonka and the other dog laid down for a bit (neither of us alpha-rolled, just put the dogs i a down-stay) about 5 feet away with us in-between, although Tonka wouldn't stay put (not AB-normal...), and wanted to keep his eyes locked on the other dog. Once he had seemed to relax, I let him get up, and he IMMEDIATELY lunged at the other dog - no warning growl, bark, anything - just went at him - the other dog went down, I got Tonka by the collar, and again - no bites, just excitement, all show. ( <---does this sound right? )
I waited about 20 mins this time (and yes, I was probably frustrated, embarrassed, MY dogs don't act like this!) and Chloe wasn't helping (although she was trying to by barking at Tonka...ever heard a pointer go NUTS barking? It'll get you frustrated too!). When I let Tonka up again, he immediately went towards the water bucket, and another dog was approaching, he lunged and locked up chest-to-chest with this OTHER dog too...
So, I leashed him up, walked him around the perimeter a few times - the folks there were VERY well mannered, understanding, and were VERY willing to offer their dogs to help any way I thought might help. After we walked around for about 30 mins, we stopped, got some water, and then we SUCCESSFULLY walked on-leash past a few other dogs (including the ones he locked-up with earlier) who were off-leash. He tensed up a bit, but we stopped, sat, waited a few mins, and started again, he didn' react again.
Until today.
He locked up with another dog today. The other dog didn't appear to do anything to instigate.
Then when we got back to the room, he started targeting Chloe - never bit her, but he was "eyeballing" her, and when she'd move towards the food/water dishes, he'd jump up, stiff, hair up, tail up, growl, and put his head over her (because she had already hit the floor when he got to her). Then he lays down between her and the food/water, and eyeballs her. Then she starts barking at him, like "Yo, a$$face, lemme get a drink!".
I'm so bewildered. They've been eating and drinking together for almost a year now, through the good, bad and ugly.
I want to point the finger at just being away from home - but we're sticking to a schedule, walking in the morning, crate during the day, walk after work, dog-park, eat, walk, sleep...maybe not exact, but VERY similar to our home schedule - and none of this happened the first few weeks we were away...
So, I went and picked up the gentle leader today to walk him around in the dog park with, something that gives me a little better control and access to him, I'm going to use that the rest of this week, but I'm so embarrassed. MY dog doesn't do this.
I don't even have anywhere else to really work with him one-on-one because the hotel room isn't quite big enough, and no yard...except the dog-park.
That's my story, I don't know if I'm asking for advice, or just putting it down for the simple sake of putting it 'on paper'.
Do your worst.
Linear Mode
