Hi I am having some problems with my puppy Sarah. She's 17 weeks now. My in-laws came over yesterday and they have 2 boston terriors. So when I opened the front door surprise! there were the 2 dogs on my porch. They hadn't knocked yet so I didn't know they were there and Sarah and I were on our way out... no leash. We had a frozen surprise moment before Sarah lost it and started to growl and bark and move towards the other dogs very aggressive and really deep sounding. I moved forward and grabbed the scruff of sarah's neck and she froze tense, then calmed and sat. This isn't the first time she's done this. There are a lot of other dogs in my neighborhood that run free and my friends brought their dogs over constantly before Sarah. The only dog she's gotten along with was a puppy 3 weeks younger than her. I honestly don't know how to fix this so that her first response isn't an aggressive Don't mess with me!!! She's not like this with people. But any other animal is a threat. Help!!!!!!! Any advise is definitely welcome!!!
hah I forgot to mention she's a mastiff mix.
Hi,
I recommend enrolling in a clicker-training puppy class ASAP. This will give you exposure to other dogs in a controlled, leashed environment with an instructor there to assist should a problem arise. Once you have the basics of clicker training down, you can apply that to training her around other dogs outside of class. I don't recommend attempting to deal with aggression issues without the help of a professional trainer, especially with a giant breed dog. If you get her into a class now, you shouldn't have a problem reversing the behavior while she's still a manageable size, but if you wait you could have a huge problem on your hands.
We are already enrolled in a puppy training class. it starts in 2weeks. I would have enrolled sooner but she gets her final round of shots on wed. but it's not a clicker its a petsmart class. Is there any advise you can give in the mean time? I am dog clueless. Why would she do this. It seems she's only aggressive with adult dogs. and she only puppy nips small kids. it's wierd. my nephew is 8 mos. we don't let them alone together and ive been doing 'leave it' with him. ya know trying to teach her to just let him be. but he only visits on the weekends and his rents are getting upset with it. Patience I say. His mom actually told me she'd beat her puppy for nipping! Bah... I told her I won't. Sorry I kinda rambled there. But thanks for the advise!