My dog is a female and 2 years old, 62 pounds. She does have anxiety in general. It’s not around dogs, it’s around humans normally. She has been in dog parks even though I don’t go anymore and does really well. She likes the tennis balls and honestly could care less about other dogs.
She has had a couple instances where I have questions.
First: the first dog she lived with was reactive. We didn’t know this. He attacked her a couple times and to defend herself she would pin him to the ground and hold him until he stopped fighting. She would walk away with scratches. Nothing happened to him ever.
Another instance: we were trying to find somebody that would watch her while we went on vacation. We found a couple that had a golden doodle and they wanted us to come over so the dogs could meet. I feel this is where we messed… we should not have met on another person’s property. Anyways we go there they let us into their backyard and they bring their dog out. Our dog is leashed, but their dog wasn’t and we expected the dog to be leashed for a proper introduction. Mistake number two. That dog came out like a bat out of hell the dog was very excited to see our dog and was barking in her face and jump, jumping all over her. My dog was trying to get away from the situation and I made ANOTHER mistake to let her off the leash too. She went to hide behind me, and I tried to put myself in between the two. The dog would not stop going after her, even though it was in a playful way, and she snapped, she went to go pin him to the ground. I know that’s exactly the action that she was gonna do because it’s the same look that she used to give the first dog for attacking her. anyways, we couldn’t stay with them obviously so we settled with a place that didn’t have any dogs. We figured that would be easier.
Last: we had a roommate who wanted to move in that had another dog that was a smaller dog. We had taken precautions this time by having them meet in the park and walk around our neighborhood and then bring them slowly into the house over a couple meetings and greets. when we did this, they were fine. My dog was playing with him. They had a great time. We decided that they would be good together. however, our roommate made the decision to bring the dog in without telling me to the garage so I leashed my dog and we were in the garage letting them sniff. I should’ve known better than to put them into the garage and I take full responsibility for that. Immediately, because my dog was excited to see our Roommate she was jumping on the Roommate and the little dog did not like that started barking and snarling at my dog. right after that, the Roommate’s dog tried to jump on me and my dog gave a very normal easy correction which was a snap in his direction to tell him to back off. We decided then that we should take them for a walk before trying to bring them inside the house so we went for a walk and we let them sniff around. when they sniffed each other my roommate’s dog decided to get on top of my dog as if to try and hump her by her face. this has been something that the Roommate’s Dog did several times during the meet and greets. she has given a normal correction every time, but this time she didn’t she went after him to go pin him to the ground. My roommate picked him up before she was able to do that and I pulled the her away. they walked after like normal. She completely ignored him, which was fine and then they got inside the house and she wanted to play with him. He was snarling, not happy so we didn’t let it happen he left and now we can’t have the roommates dog over because we don’t trust their situation together.
Is my dog at fault in these situations? I’m trying to understand if maybe she’s got an overcorrect problem or if there’s something that I’m doing wrong. I know in both situations I should’ve advocated for her better and I can’t believe I let it happen twice. It will never happen again, but I’m wondering why her reaction was so severe. She usually gives normal corrections in the beginning like she did with the roommates dog, and she was literally trying to run away from the other dog in the situation with the babysitting, but I’ve never seen a dog pinning the other dog to the ground after being “fed up” I guess. Did she perhaps start this because of the first dog she lived with? Like the need for control because the other dog was erratic?
**** I want to emphasize that she has never hurt another dog ever never latched onto another dog at all and I think that if she was an aggressive dog when she got attacked by the first dog, she lived with she could have killed him. She at least could’ve injured him for sure so I’m just confused.
She has had a couple instances where I have questions.
First: the first dog she lived with was reactive. We didn’t know this. He attacked her a couple times and to defend herself she would pin him to the ground and hold him until he stopped fighting. She would walk away with scratches. Nothing happened to him ever.
Another instance: we were trying to find somebody that would watch her while we went on vacation. We found a couple that had a golden doodle and they wanted us to come over so the dogs could meet. I feel this is where we messed… we should not have met on another person’s property. Anyways we go there they let us into their backyard and they bring their dog out. Our dog is leashed, but their dog wasn’t and we expected the dog to be leashed for a proper introduction. Mistake number two. That dog came out like a bat out of hell the dog was very excited to see our dog and was barking in her face and jump, jumping all over her. My dog was trying to get away from the situation and I made ANOTHER mistake to let her off the leash too. She went to hide behind me, and I tried to put myself in between the two. The dog would not stop going after her, even though it was in a playful way, and she snapped, she went to go pin him to the ground. I know that’s exactly the action that she was gonna do because it’s the same look that she used to give the first dog for attacking her. anyways, we couldn’t stay with them obviously so we settled with a place that didn’t have any dogs. We figured that would be easier.
Last: we had a roommate who wanted to move in that had another dog that was a smaller dog. We had taken precautions this time by having them meet in the park and walk around our neighborhood and then bring them slowly into the house over a couple meetings and greets. when we did this, they were fine. My dog was playing with him. They had a great time. We decided that they would be good together. however, our roommate made the decision to bring the dog in without telling me to the garage so I leashed my dog and we were in the garage letting them sniff. I should’ve known better than to put them into the garage and I take full responsibility for that. Immediately, because my dog was excited to see our Roommate she was jumping on the Roommate and the little dog did not like that started barking and snarling at my dog. right after that, the Roommate’s dog tried to jump on me and my dog gave a very normal easy correction which was a snap in his direction to tell him to back off. We decided then that we should take them for a walk before trying to bring them inside the house so we went for a walk and we let them sniff around. when they sniffed each other my roommate’s dog decided to get on top of my dog as if to try and hump her by her face. this has been something that the Roommate’s Dog did several times during the meet and greets. she has given a normal correction every time, but this time she didn’t she went after him to go pin him to the ground. My roommate picked him up before she was able to do that and I pulled the her away. they walked after like normal. She completely ignored him, which was fine and then they got inside the house and she wanted to play with him. He was snarling, not happy so we didn’t let it happen he left and now we can’t have the roommates dog over because we don’t trust their situation together.
Is my dog at fault in these situations? I’m trying to understand if maybe she’s got an overcorrect problem or if there’s something that I’m doing wrong. I know in both situations I should’ve advocated for her better and I can’t believe I let it happen twice. It will never happen again, but I’m wondering why her reaction was so severe. She usually gives normal corrections in the beginning like she did with the roommates dog, and she was literally trying to run away from the other dog in the situation with the babysitting, but I’ve never seen a dog pinning the other dog to the ground after being “fed up” I guess. Did she perhaps start this because of the first dog she lived with? Like the need for control because the other dog was erratic?
**** I want to emphasize that she has never hurt another dog ever never latched onto another dog at all and I think that if she was an aggressive dog when she got attacked by the first dog, she lived with she could have killed him. She at least could’ve injured him for sure so I’m just confused.
