My Kai is 3 years old, she was attacked about a year ago and since this incident, I can only allow her to play with 3 other dogs. That I know she wont growl at.
After readind the post about Reg and his behaviour, I am wondering if I am handling this correctly.
If a dog approaches her off the lead and she is on her lead, I try to stand between them, often having to hold her head to stop her snapping out at it, then call owner quickly to take dog away. Should I tell the dog to go away? or try to shu it away.
If we are walking and there is another dog on lead and they look like they want to stop, I often just say she is not friendly, as in the past she has snapped at dogs, she seems friendly but changes the minute any sniffing goes on. What is the correct thing to do, if I stop her with every dog am I never going to be able to stop this behaviour.
Before she has pinned a dog down while she was on a lead, she did not bite, but would not let it get up.
The more I keep her away from dogs, will. this get worse.?
The only dog she has never done it with are greyhounds, very strange but she loves greyhounds and every one she has met, never one growl from her.
She plays with a staffy boy too. He is 6 years, is owner said dont worry about the growling, and eventually she stopped, as he just walks away from her is she does this. So she does not get a reaction from him.
Can someone advise me, maybe I am not doing the correct thing. I am taking her on holiday in July to a hotel, and i am starting to worry if there are other dogs in the hotel, what am I going to do, I dont want her to look like a bad girl, when this is her only problem.

Any advise would be appreciated.
Thanks Wendy

Mattie,
Thanks for that, at least i am doing the right thing if a dog comes running over.
The problem is with her body language, she seems to be friendly and want to say hello, but then she can suddenly turn, and people are shocked. Maybe i am not reading it correctly

The strange thing is with all the dogs she likes and plays with, when she sees them, she lies in a position like a sheep dog would do herding sheep, then eventually after about a minute will run up madly to be with the dog she likes. This happens with all the dogs she is allowed to play with. Have you any ideas why this is?

She is not a dog that barks when she sees another, she will quite happily walk passed, her problem is more loose dogs off lead, is it good to tell them to go away?

How long did it take for you to start introducing your Gracie to others, did you do it with dogs you knew that were ok? If introduced and it starts getting out of hand, how am I suppose to be with Kai, obviously I stop the play/fight but how should I treat her, if she has started being nasty.

Sorry for all question Mattie, bet you wishes you hadnt answered. I just really want to make sure what I am doing is correct as behaviour is a lot different than just training alone.

Thanks

Mattie has given excellent advice.

 

Just wondered if this would be of any help to you:

 

http://www2.aspca.org/site/DocServer/CanineBody_Language.pdf?docID=6521

 

 

Thanks for that Mattie, I deffinately need to learn more about the body language. Also thanks Alison that is a very good link, very informative. I will let you know how we progress.

great link! thank you

Just thought Id carry on this link.
Had a bit of a set back today, Kai playing with Greyhound Lilly and Staffie Sadie, all of a sudden her hackles went up and I tried to get her back on lead, she jumped on Sadie and threw her down, lots of growking going on, but no biting, but who knows if they hadnt been dragged of each other.
Next minute they were both leashes and licking each other faces, as if nothing happened.
She has been doing so good lately, but do you think over excitement makes her attack? she knows both dogs well. Last night she played with a whippet rolling around and play fighting for ages, no problems, I had previously stopped her playing with this whippet as they used to get too rough, but they seem to be fine now.
This only seems to go on with Staffs.
Any advise appreciated, is it better not to let her off lead with Staffs? as I really am upset about this as she has had so much fun lately with other dogs and dont want to put a stop to her playing with others.

ive been in a similar situation{identical really} best thing i found was to only let my lennox be around nice dogs and in time he seemed to put attacks behind him and got a lot better! not 100% but much better. they need to be able to relax and have fun with other dogs not be tense. i think mattie mentioned it but they need to feel completely safe around other dogs. sounds to me like youre doing the right things but you may have to tell owners of other dogs that dont seem so nice to jog on...

Thanks for both replies.
The dogs were only together for maybe 2 minutes, when it turned rough, maybe both dogs were having an off day, as other dogs owner did say his girl had had a row with another staff earlier that day, which is very unusual as Sadie is usually so good with any dog, thats why I let Kai play with her.
I suppose these things happen, as like you said Mattie it was more handbags, do you think its best to keep her away from this girl now, as after it when they were leashed, they were licking each others faces. Maybe that was because Lilly the greyhound sat there giving them both bad looks, you could tell she was not happy with either of them.

nothing wrong with keeping your dog out of trouble by physically avoiding other dogs. i have 2 females that can be quite reactive to dogs but i've worked on desensitizing them. they're not bobm-proof with strange dogs so i often shoo a dog away if it approaches. there have even been times that i've physically prevented other dogs from approaching.

i agree its not the ideal situation to shoo another dog but its a good last resort before my dog potentially takes a bite out of them. with my dogs theres only so much desensitization that will work, if another dog makes contact and they are not welcoming of it, there will be trouble. i'd rather I get in that trouble than my dogs.

Thank you all for the advise, much appreciated. She was fine again last night, thank goodness