Grrrrr...9 months old

[JazzNScout]

Layla has been socialized, socialized, socialized. She goes to doggy day care (although, admittedly, we've been slowing down a lot with that).
Recently she has taken to getting aggressive with specifically large-size puppies. Luckily (?) she has done this at training, so we're working with it.

I'm not getting what she's doing. Her trainer said she has noticed the two large puppies she's gone after are not properly greeting Layla. Ok. But I can't see myself throughout life saying, "Your puppy did not greet my dog appropriately." Heh.

Have you heard of this before? My old girl, Morgan, would let it be known she didn't appreciate being rushed up to and jumped on without a formal greeting, but this isn't the case with Layla -- no one "rushed" her.

I've got to curb this behavior. It isn't acceptable at all.

I'll read more of the posts in here and appreciate suggestions. Thanks.

[MaggieRoseLee]

Instead of allowing your pup to be in the lead and be part of an inappropriate greeting..... best if you can try to manage the situation better for the next few months. Placing my body BETWEEN the dogs is a huge help (just use the leash to keep your dog on your off side from the other dog).

No doggie day care for awhile.

It may just be overwhelming for your pup currently, and many of our pups go thru different fear stages the first year or so. So you being the LEADER in all these situations so your pup knows you have her back and YOU will control the situation so she doesn't have to is a big relief in 'scary' situations.

If you aren't SURE the oncoming dog will be ok, then don't allow it to come up to your dog, period. If you have to be close, make sure your dog is on your other side and you are calm and happy and showing your pup by your tone and body that everything is ok!

[Good_Karma]

I can totally agree with MRL on this one. We did puppy classes with Niko (and daycare) in an effort to get him liking other dogs. Our trainer did not make the above suggestions, and we were supposed to let Niko fend for himself and three lab puppies chased him behind our legs and under the chairs as he struggled to get away. It made quite an impression on Niko, and now he's very dog reactive and has not made a single doggy friend other than Rosa, who he's lived with since we brought him home at 8 weeks.

If you protect your dog from the impolite greetings, then she won't feel that she has to do it herself!

[dawnandjr]

We dont allow dogs to socialze with eachother at training.That is not what we are there for. Dont get me wrong, they are allowed to sniff a little bit, but not play. They are worked in close proximity with eachother when they are older and need distraction training. You might be seeing protectiveness. Yoko started that at about 1 yr old. We always had a private lesson before our group lesson at my trainers. She would try to protect 'her place' when the group members started to arrive. At that time she was trained with her choke collar on. I would tighten the choke until she calmed down. If needed she would come off the ground (just her front feet/not hanging her or strangling her). This only took about two to three seconds to do. She learned that it is not approritate to growl or bark at other dogs. We go to obedience trials and it would be very bad for her to be dog aggressive. Not to mention how annoying it is to have a dog barking like that in a small enclosed training building. She learned and we moved on. The key to training like that is to release the pressure as soon as the desired outcome is achieved.