# Dog aggression



## TobysDad (Apr 7, 2009)

Don't know what the deal is with this. It's happened a couple of times. With people, Toby is always a friendly dog. Often, in fact, toooo friendly - I sometimes say that he should have been a politician. However, twice now in the past couple of weeks he has "attacked" another dog that was walking by on the leash. The first time he literally bolted out of my arms and went after a beagle walking in the middle of the street, and yesterday he jumped off the deck and into the street to growl and essentially start a fight with a black lab. Luckily I was able to stop him both times before he or the other dog did any damage.

He has been socialized around a number of dogs, and seems either to want to play, to ignore them, or to hate them. He lives with a toy poodle and there has only been two or three battles in two years - mainly over a special treat or a special bone. Last summer when he was leashed and on a walk with me and we met another dog, he started growling and I thought a fight would develop. I passed the event off as jealousy or efforts to "protect" me. Now I'm not so sure.

Any thoughts? He is my velcro dog and would follow me / stay with me 24/7 if possible.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

Are the incidents you described things that happened while on your property?

He is asking the dogs to go away, and feels he needs to display it in a big way. This means either you are missing his early indications of discomfort (lip licks, head turns away, moving away, tensing, etc), or you have unintentionally trained him to not display the early signs, or he doesn't know how to display the earlier signs.

We want to teach him that other dogs are good/safe and that he doesn't need to be afraid. I would recommend you consult with a competent professional. In the mean time, always keep him a safe distance, on leash, and turn away if you see another dog approaching. Until you have a training plan in place you do nt want to let him practice the undesirable behavior.

Dogs who stick close to their owners often have some level of anxiety that needs to be addressed and it's not uncommon for other challenges to surface as a result of the anxiety.


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## TobysDad (Apr 7, 2009)

*last time*

The most recent time (yesterday) he was lying calmly in the shade next to the poodle. I was about five feet away washing the car. All had been quiet for 1/2 hour or so. Then the poodle saw the other dog walking in the street and started barking. Toby stood up, looked around to see why the poodle was barking, and bolted through the yard at the black lab, growling all the way.

I almost always have him restrained, and even if he was unleashed, I leash him as soon as I see another dog or person until I see that all is ok. This time he took me totally by surprise.


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## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

Have you noticed is it always the poodle that starts the reaction?


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## Braccarius (Sep 8, 2008)

General V said:


> Have you noticed is it always the poodle that starts the reaction?


Very first thing I thought too. Harley loves everything and everybody, he is very well socialized and a total sweetie. Mirabelle is a semi-confident female but gets intimidated from time to time by other exceptionally forward dogs. If she starts acting squirrely, Harley has put the run on other dogs. He is very plain with his body language for the most part, but I've seen him escalate from normal Harley to totally honked off in a split second. Best thing to do is start working with the poodle, your Golden is picking up on its distress signals and acting out on its behalf.


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