More on dog psychology

[GlennB]

This is becoming a bit of an issue ...

 

We have a Black Lab, Sam. Sam loves everybody and is basically a very submissive dog. I've seen him (down at the beach and to much laughter from onlookers) happily being 'mounted' by a small terrier. Sam doesn't seem to care much about the doggie dominance thing.

 

But .. we have friends who have a Husky (wolf?) called "Chief". Chief has a long history of fighting other dogs and even snapping up chickens etc. These friends came to stay. We were prepared to chain Chief in the garden, but introduced the dogs on neutral ground, up in the village square, to see if they might get on.

 

Both dogs were on hefty leads and both stiffened. Hackles raised. Chief tried a dominance move (I believe) of putting one paw on Sam's shoulder. Sam went totally ballistic and all hell broke loose. I have never seen him like this and never thought I would. All the way home I might just as well have carried him because he was trying to drag me back to where Chief was coming along, way behind, itching for a scrap.

 

How does a submissive dog like this go so bonkers out of the blue and with no history of this kind of behaviour? Is there anything that can be done? We would like to have these folks to stay on a regular basis.

 

My strong feeling is that any confrontation between the two would end in serious injury, but any advice welcomed.

[Guest Rabbit]

The more aggressive a dogs nature the more it attracts likewise, i had a boxer / lab cross for many years and he (Toby) could never be trusted with other dogs. I think the pack instinct is amplified in Huskies because of the work they do, so they do seek dominance.

 

if Sam is not wanting to be submissive to Chief and why would he on his own patch i dont know what you can do.

 

Maybe socialising them by walking with each other would help, but it looks like a long shot. personally I think i would want Chief muzzled when he comes to visit as he sounds like a real nutter.

 

Hope you are enjoying Greece Glenn and not too homesick.

[GlennB]

The more aggressive a dogs nature the more it attracts likewise, i had a boxer / lab cross for many years and he (Toby) could never be trusted with other dogs. I think the pack instinct is amplified in Huskies because of the work they do, so they do seek dominance.

 

if Sam is not wanting to be submissive to Chief and why would he on his own patch i dont know what you can do.

 

Maybe socialising them by walking with each other would help, but it looks like a long shot. personally I think i would want Chief muzzled when he comes to visit as he sounds like a real nutter.

 

Hope you are enjoying Greece Glenn and not too homesick.

 

Hiya! Yes, Greece is great but we're gearing up already for the summer heat. On the plus side we have loads of veggies already coming in. On the minus side I'll be "man with garden shading and a hosepipe" come mid-June, at this rate.

 

The muzzle business would, I suppose, only make sense if both dogs were muzzled. Even then I reckon they'd go potty. Chief is a poppet with people, mind. Maybe Sam sees it as a do-or-die situation? Like, just submitting won't be good enough and he knows it? Damn funny animals, dogs. Not like people

 

I'll post about the "goat attack" quite soon.

Edited May 21, 2008 by GlennB

[Guest Rabbit]

I'll post about the "goat attack" quite soon.

 

 

You attacked a GOAT!!

 

Sorry, just got the picture of mad dogs and Englishmen

[Huge_Vitae]

Hello Glen, glad you are enjoying the sun,

 

I am no expert on dog psychology but I read your post and put a bit of thought into it (unusual for me!), a few things you said turned a few cogs in my mind and here is my tuppence worth.

 

As you probably read, I lost a companion a few months back but still have my Lab, Bert (AKA Falcon Royal of Binfield )

 

My GSD, Flint (AKA Ravensmead Whodunnit) was, without doubt, an Alpha Male, to the other dog, the chickens and goats and even to the cats and pigeons.

 

He was brought up in a territory that spanned 157 acres, the territory was his and his alone. Every person who encroached on the territory was challenged.

 

The funny part of it was, I could take him anywhere without problems, yet my wife, who's dog he actually was would have to be careful where she walked him.

 

As a for-instance, our local vet said to me one day, "There is an obvious difference when you bring Flint in, than when your wife does", when I took him to the vets he would stand behind me and look at the Vet from behind my legs, when my wife took him he would stand in front of her and bare his teeth at the vet!

 

My Labby was always subversive to him, would lay down when he approached and would put up with the paw on the shoulder dominance.

 

One day I took Flint, on his own for a walk down the riverbank to Newport, I stopped a few times along the way to chat to people, he did his usual thing sniffed at the grass or whatever, lots of people passed us, cyclists, people walking and even a couple of other dogs, not a sound or an indication of 'trouble'.

 

As I approached an open area of grass, a bloke and his wife walked into view, the bloke, an ex colleague of mine, I cannot abide and dislike with a vengeance, I am in no way scared or wary of him, he once, a few years ago said something to me to get my back up, it worked, I picked him up off the ground and threw him against a wall some twenty feet away.

 

Micro seconds after I saw him and registered my dislike, my Flint, threw himself at the bloke, it was only the fact that I had him on a long training lead with which to check him in mid air that prevented him from taking the bloke down there and then.

 

That same afternoon, my wife decided to walk the Labby, Bert on his own as I had taken Flint out, she was walking through our fields when she was approached by some workmen doing a sewer line in the fields, she did not know who they were and was, in her words, "a little bit worried as she did not have Flint with her." Bert who was off lead and behind her, as is common with a low ranking dog, ran forward and stood half way between her and the approaching men, his hackles went up on his neck, his legs were placed in a square on defiant pose, he growled "like a hound from hell" and he barred the full arsenal of his teeth.

 

We can try and understand dogs Glen, but we are in the early stages of understanding ourselves. I would suggest that your dog has picked up your anxiety and is acting in YOUR defence.

 

Now that is a hard one, if true YOU are going to need some training!

 

What's your favourite treat, I will tell your wife for you.

[GlennB]

Hello Glen, glad you are enjoying the sun,

 

I am no expert on dog psychology but I read your post and put a bit of thought into it (unusual for me!), a few things you said turned a few cogs in my mind and here is my tuppence worth.

....

Now that is a hard one, if true YOU are going to need some training!

 

What's your favourite treat, I will tell your wife for you.

 

Hi Huge. Yep the blazing sun is loverly right now, but until September it's not going to get any cooler. But we knew the risks

 

I too have thought long and hard about what you said. Though Chief (the Husky) is a poppet with people and I have no fear of him, I will admit his reputation had me fearing mightily for Sam when we took them to meet. So perhaps he picked up on that and took it for me feeling threatened by Chief? Is this what you mean?

It probably didn't help that a friend had warned me in very graphic terms about Chief .. "Sam had just better roll over and give in straight away or ..." kind of stuff.

Anyway, I suspect we'll just have to keep them apart.

 

p.s. my favourite treat is pickled herrings or maybe some jellied eels. But my wife already knows this. When she comes home with pickled herrings in the shopping bag it usually means it's time to get out the concrete mixer and build an extension (or something)

Edited May 23, 2008 by GlennB

[Huge_Vitae]

I too have thought long and hard about what you said. Though Chief (the Husky) is a poppet with people and I have no fear of him, I will admit his reputation had me fearing mightily for Sam when we took them to meet. So perhaps he picked up on that and took it for me feeling threatened by Chief? Is this what you mean?

 

Yes.

 

It probably didn't help that a friend had warned me in very graphic terms about Chief .. "Sam had just better roll over and give in straight away or ..."

 

Probably it.

 

p.s. my favourite treat is pickled herrings or maybe some jellied eels. But my wife already knows this. When she comes home with pickled herrings in the shopping bag it usually means it's time to get out the concrete mixer and build an extension (or something)

 

 

You are a lost cause.