# Male Dominance?



## Braccarius (Sep 8, 2008)

8 months old and high energy is the most irritating thing at the dog park (to other dogs).


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Hmm, I'll be interested reading the replies since that's a Ranger thing to do. He doesn't like high energy dogs too much either. Well, that's not true. He doesn't like "spastic", nervy energy dogs but he loves really playful dogs. He used to pin a boxer (nervy energy) on his walks with the dog walker. It got to the point where she had to walk them on different days since Ranger would nail the boxer and pin her. No teeth, no growling, but it terrified the boxer nonetheless. The first time it happened, he let her up when he saw the dog walker coming over and the boxer took off and wouldn't come back! Walker had to put ranger in the van before the boxer would come. 

So yeah, not sure what to tell you. I think some dogs just don't like that nervy, shaky energy. It makes HIM go nuts.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

They could have had a disagreement about something.....and poor communication. I would monitor closely, set him up for good interactions. Based off of the other dogs reaction, it doesn't sound as bad as how you interpreted it. No, we don't want him to do that, but if the other dog wasn't upset, it may have been more polite of a conflict than it seemed.

Dominance is about control of resources....it doesn't sound like resources were involved.


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## wenryder (Oct 21, 2010)

Thanks for your replies. This is why I was confused by it - and yes, I probably interpreted it worse then it was. and the growling got louder and nastier AS I was pulling him off the other dog. Maybe the growling was at ME for interfering?

And you are correct, no resources were involved at that point. But it happened so quickly! It was only seconds after they started playing.

I was just nervous that perhaps he was developing some issues that I wanted to nip in the bud now before they got worse. I will continue to watch him when he interacts with others.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

If you know which dogs he DOES play with well, try to set it up so he's mostly playing with them for now. Yes, we do want to address things early on. It's really hard with only one bad experience.... we don't want a repeat, but without knowing the triggers, we can't do the right training and management....yet we have to be responsible in letting it not happen again! If you see a dog that you think even could be a problem..... avoid the situation.


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## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

It is too bad the lady left. IMO it would be have been to distract the two dogs with the ball and have them play at a game you were controlling rather than wrestling. It could be too that your dog is starting that play growl that some dogs do. My APBT sounds like she wants to rip a dog apart but really that is the sound she makes when she is happy and playing hard. The other dogs understand this and do not react differently.

One thing you could do in the future is to not pull your dog off but get his attention and distract him with a toy.


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