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OK, so from the title you might think "Well DUH, why shouldn't he?", and yes, I get not liking someone who hurt you, but it's a bit uncomfortable for us, and here's why.
We live in a neighborhood with a lot of dogs – One neighbor has 3 labs, two have mixes, one has two, one has one… etc). And the dogs are often allowed to play with each other off-leash, running from yard to yard - we sometimes have them over in our backward for playmates etc.
Our dog is a 1 year old male (neutered) fluffy white Samoyed named Chewie, and he loves all dogs. Maybe too much. But he loves to play, and gets along great with all the neighborhood dogs except the one directly across the street from us, which is a mix of some sort – it looks like a black lab, only bigger.
That dog is maybe 3 years old, and when our dog was a puppy he seemed to get along ok with Chewie. He didn't really want to play with him, but wasn't overly angry towards him, and we would sometimes walk together. When Chewie got to be around 7 months, that dog did a quick snap at him one day, seemingly out of the blue when they were sniffing each other. I suppose you never know what a dog is truly thinking, and we assumed our dog, being young, maybe breached some sort of dog etiquette, and let it go.
over the next 3 months, there was one more snapping incident, so we decided if we saw that dog off leash, playing with the other dogs, we would just keep Chewie inside. This worked ok for a few months, but this winter, with all the snow, we had Chewie outside playing with our neighbors labs, and then the dog that doesn't like Chewie came over. The three dogs began running around and playing fine for about 10 minutes, and I began to think maybe they were working things out when suddenly there was a lot of snarling, a yelp, and the dog bit Chewie's snout (not bad enough to cause any damage I could see, thank goodness) Now they were BOTH snarling and snapping at each other, sop I ran over and I pulled my dog away while the other owner came out and tried to stop his dog (I'd say both dogs are about 70 pounds, although Chewie looks a big bigger due to his puffy fur, which might have helped protect him a bit from the random snaps).
Since then we have made it a point to avoid that dog at all costs.
So the problem is, we see this dog a LOT. Even if we do not plan to, our neighbor walks his dog a lot, and so do we, and we often pass each other on opposite sides of the street. When we do, I can feel Chewie tense up, and he now begins growling at the other dog. The other dog growls occasionally too, but Chewie seems to initiate the growling (again, who knows if the other dog is giving off a vibe or not). If you were some random person (or a kid biking by) that did not know us/him and only saw him pass this dog, you could easily get scared and think he was a scary dog.
So my question is: What can I do, if anything, to stop Chewie from growling at this dog as we pass? We can kind of distract him with treats, but we don't always have enough and he is still looking at the dog out of the corner of his eye, clearly not trusting him. Is it worth it to try to have them play off leash and become friendlier, or is it too risky?
the only reason I care is it is the only sign of aggressive behavior I have seen him exhibit, (like all parents I think my dog is perfect) but I'm worried the more he feels he can growl at this dog, however justified, the more likely he is to growl at some other dog or even a person. We have 2 kids and their friends love Chewie, and he IS adorable and smiley and soft and fluffy, so even random stranger's kids walk up to him and pet him in front of their parents (without asking even which baffles me). So obviously I don't like the idea of seeing Chewie act angry at anyone, even a dog that hurt him.
Other random info that might be pertinent :
- While the dog that bit Chewie seems to play nice with all the other neighborhood dogs besides Chewie, rumor in the neighborhood is that that dog snapped/bit at the older of the 3 labs next door recently, and when talking to other dog owners in the neighborhood, we found he had bitten a smaller dog a couple months ago. His owner, our neighbor, is a nice older man, and we like him very much, and he likes Chewie, but doesn't seem overly worried about their animosity. He actually boards rescue dogs, and his dog seems to be more aggressive towards Chewie when he was walking along with one of the rescue dogs, perhaps he felt protective of the dog. I assume his dog does not act aggressively towards the dogs he boards, but I don't know.
- All kidding aside, Chewie really is as good a dog as I have seen, and has a bunch of dog friends, and we have done about as good a job as you can to socialize him. He goes on walks with 5- or 6 different dogs throughout the week with my wife, we take him to dog parks and dog beaches, and his first reaction when meeting any dog is to try to play. Not all dogs like him though, I'd say 10% of dogs he meets on walks will bark or growl at him. Since this biting incident, Chewie will now growl back if another dog instigates it (when he was younger he would just whine), perhaps to protect my wife or I, or perhaps just because he is now one year old, big, and knows he doesn't have to slink away anymore.
Sorry for the long post, and thanks for any feedback.
We live in a neighborhood with a lot of dogs – One neighbor has 3 labs, two have mixes, one has two, one has one… etc). And the dogs are often allowed to play with each other off-leash, running from yard to yard - we sometimes have them over in our backward for playmates etc.
Our dog is a 1 year old male (neutered) fluffy white Samoyed named Chewie, and he loves all dogs. Maybe too much. But he loves to play, and gets along great with all the neighborhood dogs except the one directly across the street from us, which is a mix of some sort – it looks like a black lab, only bigger.
That dog is maybe 3 years old, and when our dog was a puppy he seemed to get along ok with Chewie. He didn't really want to play with him, but wasn't overly angry towards him, and we would sometimes walk together. When Chewie got to be around 7 months, that dog did a quick snap at him one day, seemingly out of the blue when they were sniffing each other. I suppose you never know what a dog is truly thinking, and we assumed our dog, being young, maybe breached some sort of dog etiquette, and let it go.
over the next 3 months, there was one more snapping incident, so we decided if we saw that dog off leash, playing with the other dogs, we would just keep Chewie inside. This worked ok for a few months, but this winter, with all the snow, we had Chewie outside playing with our neighbors labs, and then the dog that doesn't like Chewie came over. The three dogs began running around and playing fine for about 10 minutes, and I began to think maybe they were working things out when suddenly there was a lot of snarling, a yelp, and the dog bit Chewie's snout (not bad enough to cause any damage I could see, thank goodness) Now they were BOTH snarling and snapping at each other, sop I ran over and I pulled my dog away while the other owner came out and tried to stop his dog (I'd say both dogs are about 70 pounds, although Chewie looks a big bigger due to his puffy fur, which might have helped protect him a bit from the random snaps).
Since then we have made it a point to avoid that dog at all costs.
So the problem is, we see this dog a LOT. Even if we do not plan to, our neighbor walks his dog a lot, and so do we, and we often pass each other on opposite sides of the street. When we do, I can feel Chewie tense up, and he now begins growling at the other dog. The other dog growls occasionally too, but Chewie seems to initiate the growling (again, who knows if the other dog is giving off a vibe or not). If you were some random person (or a kid biking by) that did not know us/him and only saw him pass this dog, you could easily get scared and think he was a scary dog.
So my question is: What can I do, if anything, to stop Chewie from growling at this dog as we pass? We can kind of distract him with treats, but we don't always have enough and he is still looking at the dog out of the corner of his eye, clearly not trusting him. Is it worth it to try to have them play off leash and become friendlier, or is it too risky?
the only reason I care is it is the only sign of aggressive behavior I have seen him exhibit, (like all parents I think my dog is perfect) but I'm worried the more he feels he can growl at this dog, however justified, the more likely he is to growl at some other dog or even a person. We have 2 kids and their friends love Chewie, and he IS adorable and smiley and soft and fluffy, so even random stranger's kids walk up to him and pet him in front of their parents (without asking even which baffles me). So obviously I don't like the idea of seeing Chewie act angry at anyone, even a dog that hurt him.
Other random info that might be pertinent :
- While the dog that bit Chewie seems to play nice with all the other neighborhood dogs besides Chewie, rumor in the neighborhood is that that dog snapped/bit at the older of the 3 labs next door recently, and when talking to other dog owners in the neighborhood, we found he had bitten a smaller dog a couple months ago. His owner, our neighbor, is a nice older man, and we like him very much, and he likes Chewie, but doesn't seem overly worried about their animosity. He actually boards rescue dogs, and his dog seems to be more aggressive towards Chewie when he was walking along with one of the rescue dogs, perhaps he felt protective of the dog. I assume his dog does not act aggressively towards the dogs he boards, but I don't know.
- All kidding aside, Chewie really is as good a dog as I have seen, and has a bunch of dog friends, and we have done about as good a job as you can to socialize him. He goes on walks with 5- or 6 different dogs throughout the week with my wife, we take him to dog parks and dog beaches, and his first reaction when meeting any dog is to try to play. Not all dogs like him though, I'd say 10% of dogs he meets on walks will bark or growl at him. Since this biting incident, Chewie will now growl back if another dog instigates it (when he was younger he would just whine), perhaps to protect my wife or I, or perhaps just because he is now one year old, big, and knows he doesn't have to slink away anymore.
Sorry for the long post, and thanks for any feedback.
