Don't know why this is happening?
:( This was the first place I could think of to seek advice. Rufous has been with us for 6 months now. We have been to training classes for beginners, overcome Lick Granuloma - coped with his hip & elbow dysplacia thus far, and glad to say there is def some improvement in his mobility etc. However, we now have a new & rather more serious problem. He is starting to become agressive towards some male dogs when he is out on a lead walk - who perhaps 'look' at him the wrong way :evil: . It mainly seems to happen if the other dogs start vocalising first but I have noticed recently that he is starting to 'fire' up much more quickly and he can be very, very strong as he pulls away from me growling and barking..quite a lot to handle for someone who is no spring chicken!! He is just 4 and neutured and in most other ways he has been a good boy. His other problems such as his tendancy to chase footballs and not coming back readily when called, seem to pale into insignificance. I have taken the tack of standing in front of him - getting him to sit so that he calms down but I have had to be really firm with him. This of course has the undesirable effect of upsetting our other dog Kala who is quite a sensitive little girl. She thinks she is getting told off too when she has done nothing at all wrong. Sorry to blab on but if this situation gets any worse, and we can't control him, I don't know what is going to happen. Perhaps the honeymoon period is over after 6 months and he is showing his true colours? Maybe he has not been socialised enough in his earlier years but there again he generally is good with other dogs both m & f when off lead...Although he doesn't play with them (or Kala) when out. I just can't think why this has started....He does tend to turn a deaf ear when asked to do something he doesn't want to do, like a stubborn male. Can anybody offer me some assistance...More training classes?? :shock:

Hi Sheila Sudden changes in behaviour are often linked to health or medical matters and since your boy has HD and other issues, this might be a factor. My first reaction would be to talk to your vet, just to make sure that there is no pain or discomfort making him feel less tolerant of unfamiliar dogs. My second thought is that this may be linked to a particular incident. Could you describe in as much detail as you can what happened the first time or few times you noticed the change in him? ie where you were, how the other dog approached and anything you noticed about what both dogs did - and also what you did and how it all ended. It's interesting that you say you think the other dogs may have 'looked' at him in the wrong way - he may be reacting to a situation by 'getting in first', and he may also be responding to canine rudeness -dogs have rules of politeness but many can be quite clumsy and lacking in social skills and Rufous may not be tolerant about this any more, particularly if he feels any discomfort. My third thought is that you may have found yourself in an uncomfortable, difficult or embarrassing situation with him (an as the owner of a dog-aggressive rescue, thankfully now much improved, I know how that can feel) The normal and natural human reaction in that situation is to see another dog approaching or in the distance and to think 'uh-oh potential trouble here' and to involuntarily tense in anticipation of what your dog might do. Our muscles tense, our breathing changes and often we tighten the lead - and by doing this unfortunately our dogs then get the message that the approaching dog is going to be trouble and that their owner knows this ...and so they tense up too and are more likely to react badly. I won't say any more until you have given a bit more detail, since I might be barking up the wrong tree if you'll pardon the pun. The clues to what's happening with Rufous will quite possibly be tied up in the incidents you describe.... In the meantime, if you see any dogs approaching while he is on lead, then I would just change direction in a happy and upbeat manner - teaching and practising a 'this way' command helps, or just mnove out of the way so that the approaching dog doesn't pass too close.

Hi Elaine - thanks for that. I have tried to move over out of the way or indeed changed route if I know the other dog/s have a tendancy to start things off, but to no avail. Watching the dog wisperer on tv makes it all seem so easy, but it's not as simple as that as you prob know if you also have had a boy with these issues. So here goes with several events to date that I can recall: 1) R was on the lead as we were leaving our walk. A young boxer off lead came up to say hello (he is a nice dog) as I was talking to the owner and her friend and R just let rip at him for no real reason. He has since met him off lead and all was ok? 2) R retailiated at a young staffy which, again was just messing around - both on leads and on the pavement = tho far enough apart not to sink teeth. He saw the same pup on another walk, we diverted behind some railings but he just let rip without reason? Glad the railings were there!! Seemed R had taken a distinct dislike to him. 3) A boxer stole R's ball. It's owner grabbed her as she woudn't give it up. holding her by the collar as he wrestled the ball free from her mouth - R was off lead and just went in firing on all guns - no real reason? 4) OH was out with the dogs on the beach - off lead. A Rotti came sniffing around and R told him where to go - how dangerous!! Same thing has also happened when OH had the dogs out in country one day when they were off lead. Not too sure how Ralph dealt with these instances so can't comment. 5) On another evening walk, again a black staffy walked by on the pavement and Rufous just went mental at him - no reason as far as I could tell. Last night the owner saw us coming and diverted out of the way, probably for my benefit. But if R is getting a reputation, that is embarrising. 6) Last night I took the dogs for their late evening walk around a local grassed area. In the distance I spyed a yellow lab, known to have a go at Kala before now, that is also very vocal. The owner did thankfully put the dog on a lead. My 2 were already on a lead and so I walked away to the right to leave a safe distance (as I thought)...But the lab started and R had a go back. Just barking but hackles raised and he gets into a most excited state. On a scale of 1 - 10, he was 10! It is hard for me to hold him back and there have been times when the lead has almost come out of my hand, dread to think! I know there have been some other minor instances when he meets other dogs off the lead but generally I haven't noticed too much of a problem. You are no doubt right that I do tend to tense up and reel in his lead so that I have a better hold on him. He wears a halti harness mostly when we lead walk that attaches both to this chest and to his back so that I have more control of him when needs must. to be honest if Kala was not so well behaved, I just would not be able to cope. She has been brill but I do worry about the effect on her when she thinks she has done wrong in these situations of aggression with Rufous. :? I must say that I don't feel embarressed if Rufous lets fire but I do try to come down hard on him which, may not be the right tact perhaps? I grab him, force him to sit, stand in front of him and tell him firmly 'NO' holding his head either side to calm him down before we go on our way. I am however becoming increasingly angry, such as last night and I just didn't want to speak to the dogs when we came home. R stayed out in the conservatory on his couch, obviously knowing I was cross. Clearly this does not help at all. :( All was well today however. Just one little cross word with yet another young staffy on a lead that came too close when R was on his lead coming out of the woods/park. OH is unfortunatley away this week which, is why I am taking the dogs out for their last walk. In retrospect it may be better if I didn't go at all or just keep out of the places where these situations are causing problems? As for R's health, he may perhaps be tired at the end of the day and perhaps a bit uncomfortable after 2 previous walks during the day. He sometimes just really doesn't want to go anyway. Perhaps I should leave him and just take Kala? Sorry if this post if enormously long but wanted to get everything out! They say it always helps to share problems. It may be that R needs more 1-2-1 time and I would hate for him to turn into a difficult dog. If he chooses not the listen to me and if he then becomes more of a problem, we are not doing him or ourselves any favours. Nor is is doing Kala any good. I pray that we can improve him as if not, we will be left with no alternative than to seek another home for him which would be tragic.

Sorry to hear you are experiencing some trouble with Rufous. I am sure Elaine will come up with some tips for you. Willow was a bit of a 'have a go hero' when we first got her. She had no social skills at all really! She is mainly fine but she certainly remembers dogs she's had problems with before - 2 JRTS - and isn't very pleasant at all then. She can also be a bit ansty when on the lead and passing another dog on the lead but I think this is a fairly common problem judging by what other dog walkers have said - it's like a protective kind of thing and because they can't greet each other in the normal way of having a good sniff of bottoms etc, they just can't judge each other from the sides of the road. All I can say is please please don't be put off enjoying your dogs. There might not be a total fix for you but I'm sure there are things that can be done to improve the situation so keep your chin up! :wink:

whew! Sheila, you've described a lot of difficult situations for you and Rufous so I'll make a few general points first.... First - PLEASE DON'T BELIEVE WHAT YOU SEE ON THE TELLY!!!! especially from Cesar Milan who has a less than good reputation in the dog training world, despite the hype. Back to Rufous: I think from memory he's an irish boy..? If so he may not have had experience on a lead from a very young age. If he isn't an irish boy, that may still be a factor. Dogs (and other animals) basically have 2 options if they sense trouble or danger: i) fight (ie see off the other dog and make it go away) ii) flight (get the hell outta there yourself!) on a lead, number ii) is denied the dog - he can't run off so he only has one option - to see off the other dog. If his experience of leads did not start at an early age, then this may be compounded. Many dogs feel restricted on the lead and are more defensive and less tolerant than if they had been loose. Add to this the possible tension from the owner coming down the lead (and this is very, very common if you realise trouble might be ahead) and you have a volatile situation. I very strongly suggest you still talk to your vet about possible pain/discomfort. This may make him more likely to react - especially if a rude and silly dog is approaching and he thinks it might jump on him and hurt him. I once fostered a dog called Fred who had been returned to rescue by two people for being 'aggressive' to humans - this boy was in the last chance saloon, so it was stay with me or be pts. On day 1 when I let him off the lead, I could see he was hobbling - a visit to the vet revealed he had undiagnosed severe HD and a ruptured cruciate ligament. The two families who had adopted him had either tried to drag him off the sofa by the collar (poor love, he had been trying to find a comfy place to rest) or had taken him for long runs that he couldn't cope with since he wasn;t on any painkilling medication. No fault with anyone - they just didn;t realise. He did get into a scrap with my dog-aggressive rescue - but it was a typical doggy argument over a toy and my own Dexter was the aggressor - he jumped on Fred when they both rasn for the same ball, and fred naturally felt the need (more than other dogs) to protect his weary bones from an idiot lab leaping on his back. In addition to all this, there is the issue of canine rudeness and the fact that some dogs are not tolerant of in-yer-face social 'loons'. if your dog might have aches and pains, this would be even more likely. This is quite a long article, but I think you may find it useful to read: http://www.flyingdogpress.com/sayhi.html Looking at the examples you gave: i) The boxer came to say hello. Perhaps Rufous did not want him to. You and the owner chatted, and no-one saw what either dog did - so there's a chance that the boxer was too OTT and upset him. If no-one saw, then maybe Rufous needs the benefit of the doubt - my advice in a future situation was keep an eye on things, learn his body language and look for signs that he might feel uncomfortable - and protect him, if necessary by taking him away or shooing the other dog away. 2. Can you be sure the staffy was messing around after reading the above article? or was it a bit loopy and could he have been worried it might jump all over him (pain/discomfort?) With the railings - hmm, hard to say but some dogs do react with frustratiuon when there is a barrier between them. 3. Another dog took his toy and wouldn't give it back. Sounds like resource guarding - protecting what's his. if he's a dog who hasn;t had possessions in the past, he may guard them more jealously. This is normal canine behaviour although it doens'yt look nice and as owners it's best to avoid those situations arising (eg when i threw 2 balls and my dog-aggressive dog and the foster boy fred both ran for the same one). 4. Rufous was on-lead? Maybe he didn;t want this big bruiser coming up and sniffing him? maybe it wasn;t polite in its approach, or maybe he sent it polite signals saying 'back off, i'd rather not interact with you' and the dog just kept on coming. 5. Not sure here. One thing worth mentioning is that dogs do not approach other dogs head-on - a friendly approach from a dog is on a curve. However, human life with pavements etc means that we force dogs into situations where they have to walk head-on at each other and then pass close by. perhaps this was a factor - or perhaps there was owner tension - hard to say from the description. 6. Known difficult dog had a go and Rufous responded - he may have felt tense, and Kala may have been uptinght and you too - all adding to the feeling of tension. He wears a halti harness mostly when we lead walk that attaches both to this chest and to his back so that I have more control of him I completely understand your need to control him, but this may well make him feel trussed up like a chicken - and even moire likely to explode when feeling threatened, since he would feel so restricted. I do try to come down hard on him which, may not be the right tact perhaps? I grab him, force him to sit, stand in front of him and tell him firmly 'NO' holding his head either side to calm him down before we go on our way. I am however becoming increasingly angry, I know how you can end up feeling at your wit's end and terribly frustrated, but sadly you are right that this won't help. Basically, another dog approaches and he can't cope - so he reacts badly. If you then give him a hard time he will be learning the lesson that other dogs are well and truly BAD NEWS - they even make my owner attack me (in his eyes if you are grabbing and holding his head so he can't move). being angry when you get home will be too long after the event for him to understand what has upset you (his brain just isn't sophisticated enough to understand) - and if he feels confused, this will just add to his stress and negativity. As for R's health, he may perhaps be tired at the end of the day and perhaps a bit uncomfortable after 2 previous walks during the day. He sometimes just really doesn't want to go anyway. Perhaps I should leave him and just take Kala? he may well indeed be telling you something. It may be that R needs more 1-2-1 time I would certainly give this a try - but DO check out the medical side of things too. perhaps if you walk him on his own - fewer walks if needs be - you can feel more relaxed without having to manage Kala as well. If you spot a possible porblem ahead, stay very calm and positive and move him away. praise the good and get in first before anything bad has a chance to happen. I think I've rambled on enough for now, but this article might also be useful to you: http://www.flyingdogpress.com/onldagg.html both are by Suzanne Clothier - she makes very good points, although I must confess that not all her articles do in my opinion if you surf around her website...best stick with these!! :D

Phew - a very interesting if not lengthy article but boy what a revalation. I can totally relate to everything mentioned and now feel like an ignorant and useless dog owner!!! I believe going forward that t is wrong to punish R if we do happen to get into an unfortunate situation. In fact one of the events did involve a young 'rude' dog whose 'rude' owner let it come on up to Rufous actually stating 'he only wants to say hi'!! Now I understand..I should have spoken very firmly to this lady with a 'better not' and moved off the other way, thus avoiding the conflict that ensued :twisted: So, from now on, there will be some changes in my actions and I will keep everyone posted as to how things go..All dog owners should read this brilliant article. Thank you so much Elaine for all of your help, you are a star..Thanks too Black&yellow for your kind words...Just to end on a good note - tonight we rounded the corner of our road only to be faced with a yellow lab (not that rude one) - Rufous and it simply had a quick sniff of each other and the moment passed with no trouble at all - great stuff!!! Neither of my dogs are 'rude' - but maybe Kala can be sometimes if she does her lie down and charge thing, but that is happening much less now thank goodness. It's a wonder she has grown up in one peice actually..Rufous likes just to keep himself to himself mainly. Likes to play with his ball, swim if possible and have fun - but if he is bothered, well, that is another story. At least we must be thankfull that he is not a dog that goes looking for trouble. Rufous has been more active since his mobility has improved and could be feeling uncomfortable so think I will increase his Rymadyl slightly to see if that helps him. Well, must off to bed now...I am so glad I joined this forum, and am thankfull for all the help it offers...Onwards and upwards!!!!! :D (I ifully ntend to read & digest the second link tomorrow night as the first one took so long)

PS on the health front, I would still have a chat to your vet rather than alter the rimadyl dosage yourself - the vet will hopefully be able to tell you the correct dosage/exercise level for his individual case. If Rufous's bad reactions to other dogs has been based on fear of being hurt, a higher dosage of painkiller might not affect that - since it might just be a learned behaviour on his part: 'Silly dogs might jump on me, therefore I need to keep them ALL away just in case' it brings back memories of my granny who didn;t live near us, so we didn;t see her that often. she had swollen arthritic legs which would be resting on a footstool in front of her. of course, as a young child I had no concept of what pain we might cause as me, my brother, sister and cousins karoomed around - but i remember 'MIND MY LEGS!' being said over and over...often in a somewhat grumpy way. as i said previously, lack of socialisation might be a factor with Rufous, rather than merely avoidance of potential perceived pain - but in the circumstances, i'd be watching and helping him whatever the cause :D

Hope it all improves for you. My friend had this with her Lab bitch,she also has a small dog. Lucy (the Lab rescue) became very anti social when out, doing her own thing when off lead but flying for no reason at dogs while on lead. She tried all sorts to stop this,in the end she had to start walking them separately as Lucy was a handful...and it worked. Shes a diffrent layed back dog now.

Once again, thanks to everyone who has responded, particularly Elaine. I can report a couple of good things tonight. Yesterday a cat was sitting by a wheelie bin on the pavement in front of us. Trying to remember all I have read on here :lol: I left the leads fairly loose and coaxed the dogs smartly forward praising them for not showing any chase signs or noise (we have a resident cat btw) - Suffice to say, they walked by without so much as a murmour!! How's that then?? And tonight, that 'rude' lab was approaching on the pavement on our way home - right, leads loose again - praise and calming words from me, and away we went. There was quite a lot of space betwix the other dog and us thankfully and the owner moved out of our path. Rufous had a quick look over but took no further action and the other dog did not utter a sound...So far so good methinks... I know there are going to be lots of other situ's but any journey begins with the first step. Hopefully I can 'train' myself well enough to help Rufous through his probs which, will also help Kala in the bigger picture....Way to go :P To close, Rufous will have to see the vet in a week or so for his Rabies blood -*test*-('"), I will mention his health/pain issues then as suggested, just in case....PS: Rufous was not an Irish boy but an adoptee via LRRSE from an owner who could not look after him any longer. Piccies of Rufous (red one) & Kala - butter would not melt ah? Ha Ha

What a beautiful pair they are! so glad you are seeing some improvement :D

PS on re-reading the posts tonight I owe you an apology - when you said rufous was on a 'halti harness' for some silly reason i read that as a halti headcollar. what you are using is a much 'kinder' bit of equipment - it gives you plenty of leverage and control but it's not wrapped round his muzzle like a headcollar so hopefully he wouldn';t feel trussed up like a chicken as I said previously. of course all dogs are individuals, and Dog A may feel a sense of restriction that Dog B doesn't in that same equipment - however, i apologise for thinking that you were using something more 'heavy duty' than you are. All that said - there may be so many factors affecting what he\s been doing - eg lead experience, socialisation, rudeness, owner tension, tension from Kala etc etc - it goes on! the great thing is that you have had some very calm and positive experiences now, and hopefully that has given you the confidence and technique to avert other problems. Of course there are always good days and bad days ... but the good news is that in most cases gradually the good outnumber the bad to such a huge extent that one day you suddenly notice: 'hey, we did REALLY well just then and we don't seem to really have that problem any more'. :P :D :D :D :D as I said, Rufous is one of the lucky ones!

Many thanks Elaine. Step backwards Friday night unfortunately. Dog tied up outside the local co-op. We went to walk past with Rufous on my right side as normal, about 6/7 feet away with Kala on the left. All the little JRT did was to stand up and lookour way - no sounds, but Rufous was having none of it and launched into a full scale 10!!! I had a job to turn him away. Yet today, this afternoon, all sorts of dogs passed by and one spaniel that was off lead came right up whilst R on the lead heading home - nothing???????????????????????????? No explanation is there... Maybe it is something to do with night time? He does get spooked at times by things and shadows in the evening. Wonder if he has some form of night blindness? Could be worth following up maybe. Or it could simply be the route we take at night which we don't often do during the day...Scratches head and decides to go and get another cup of tea :roll: Oh and BTW - hope you didn't mind but shared those articles with someone on Itsaspringthing forum who was having similar 'agression' probs with their springer girl (she also had HD and ED- hmmm) They thought it was all great reading and so interesting - Big thanks from them... :lol:

I think it's normal to have good and bad days - but over time, and with calm and positive handling, you start to notice that the bad ones get fewer and fewer. Rufous may indeed have times and places where he feels more sensitive and likely to react - if he's a bit uptight at night for some reason, or on a different route that he finds a bit more stressful, he may be on a shorter fuse. it can be known as being in a 'sensitised' state - like we would be on the way home from watching a horror film, maybe late at night. we might be jumping at all sorts of innocuous things which on the same route on a normal day we wouldn;t bat an eyelid at. however, the terrier itself may have been the root of the problem. they are notorious for being protective of their personal space and a tied-up dog is usually even more uptight than a normal on-lead dog (can;'t run away, no-one to protect it and feeling very vulnerable with maybe cars thundering past or too many people/dogs passing by) the little dog stood up - this was no accident of body language. It was very possibly a challenging posture ('oi, don't come too close'). It also looked your way. Dogs that want to avoid confrontation look AWAY from the thing they want to send 'I'm no threat' signals to. An animal that makes direct eye contact is usually being unfriendly (dogs usually learn with humans that it's ok and safe to look into our eyes). As an example a stiff, still posture - maybe tail up vertically and ears forward - and a direct glare is a definite unfriendly stance. so on that occasion eg Rufous at his uptight time of day perhaps, little dog sending out unfriendly signals, and you getting to just 6ft away was perhaps too much for Rufous. My own boy Dexter would probably find walking towards a tied-up dog who was that close a bit too much (although he quite likes terriers!) have a look at Rufous as you approach things from some distance away and you should hopefully begin to see from his own body language that he's uncomfortable, before he gets to the point where he kicks off. once you get aware of the very early signs (eg ears forward, tail up, stiff body - or whatever else he may do) then you can move him away and avoid 'situations' the spaniel who approached him may have been polite and friendly and Rufous may have been feeling more relaxed - and maybe it was a nice bitch he liked the look of! :lol: My Dex is a rather insecure dog who learned years ago to 'get in first' with a display of aggression so that he controlled situations and the other dog then would usually show him signs of appeasement - it just became a habit for him. however, he only does it to medium or large dogs who might have been a possible threat to him in his eyes. he likes small dogs. if they are small and fiesty to him, he just stands and looks a bit worried whereas with a big dog he'd have kicked off into a fit! please show the articles to anyone you like :D if it helps another owner that's great!