Try to explain what I witnessed today...

[Anthony8858]

Try to picture this scenario:

2 dogs playing nicely in a small dog park / pen. No other dogs in there. One dog was a golden retriever about 70 lbs, the other looked like a wire terrier mix about 40 lbs.

Along comes a very excited GSD about 15 months about 70 lbs. She enters the arena. The GSD and Golden go into an immediate play bow, and start roughing it up. The GSD starts to get too rough, and the Golden seemed to get annoyed and correct the younger GSD.
Immediately after being "corrected", the GSD turns around and attacks the terrier, while avoiding the Golden that just brushed it back. Suddenly a bad dog fight, with the GSD getting very aggressive.

I witnessed the entire incident. Kira wasn't with me. My wife was jogging with her on the other side of the park. I stopped to say hello to the golden owner.

Why did the GSD suddenly turn aggressive on the smaller dog, after getting corrected by the Golden Retriever?

Just curious about your thoughts.

[Mary Beth]

Redirection? The GSD was corrected by the Golden, so took out his anger on the smaller dog.

[robk]

With out being there my guess would be the dog was establishing rank. He was rebuffed by the golden so he felt the need to assert him self over the terrier to make sure his position as middle ranked dog was established. Again, just a guess.

[x11]

Originally Posted by robk

With out being there my guess would be the dog was establishing rank. He was rebuffed by the golden so he felt the need to assert him self over the terrier to make sure his position as middle ranked dog was established. Again, just a guess.

+ 1

[selzer]

Redirected aggression maybe.

I had a couple of bitches at my place that would have killed each other. They would fence fight, down and up, and after coming away from the fence, the one would grab a squeeky toy and squeek and shake the heck out of it. Once she grabbed a young male pup -- not hers. I was right there and she let go immedieately, but at that point I realized the fence fighting had to stop and put up a large tarp so they could not make faces at each other.

I think it was misplaced or re-directed aggression.

[Anthony8858]

Originally Posted by Mary Beth

Redirection? The GSD was corrected by the Golden, so took out his anger on the smaller dog.

Yes, I saw the redirection. My dog does this when I used to correct her biting (as a pup)at home. She would immediately turn to a dog toy, and take out her frustration.

Originally Posted by robk

With out being there my guess would be the dog was establishing rank. He was rebuffed by the golden so he felt the need to assert him self over the terrier to make sure his position as middle ranked dog was established. Again, just a guess.

I suspected this as well.

I found the behavior very interesting, and I wanted to learn more.

[Nigel]

Poop rolls down hill

[Anthony8858]

Originally Posted by Nigel

Poop rolls down hill

True..
But how in this case?

[Nigel]

Originally Posted by Anthony8858

True..
But how in this case?

Just a guess, but if the GSD is a social climber, he may want to retaliate, but knows the golden is the dominate, so he turns to the terrier instead.

[msvette2u]

Originally Posted by robk

With out being there my guess would be the dog was establishing rank. He was rebuffed by the golden so he felt the need to assert him self over the terrier to make sure his position as middle ranked dog was established. Again, just a guess.

Yep, pecking order.

I scolded my Pebbles (pscho Dachshund) the other day and as soon as I did, she snarked at up the "newbie" dog to our house, Meyer. He's fairly laid-back and really likes her, so he tolerated it without return snark.

But it's like...all doo-doo runs down hill?

LOL

Originally Posted by Nigel

Poop rolls down hill

I typed my reply before I saw yours...