# bossy female dog - help!



## Daxi (Sep 11, 2013)

Hello,

Hope you can help me with solving my dog's issue. I have rescued dog, she is very well behaved, obedient and submissive to me and my partner, very loyal, happy playful dog, I have usually no problems with her but she is an alpha dog and almost always when she meets another alpha dog she puts her paws over him/her to show her dominance and it usually turns into a fight. She does not give up and fights. Last night she had a fight and thanks to my friend who managed to separate the dogs... She responds to commands, comes back when she is called but not when she wants to greet another dog - if I call her back quickly enough she comes back but not always. I do not know how to teach her to come back when she focused on another dog/dogs. She walks off the lead and on lead but I do not like her on the lead as this situations are not often when she fights - it is selectively with some dogs only. Mostly with staffs - I think she's staff crossed too; all other dogs are submissive to her so there are no problems...
I trying to find a dog behaviour trainer as I do not want this problem to grow and develop. If you know any in Manchester and around, please do let me know. I spoken to bark busters but they did not buy my trust... Or if you had similar problems with your dog please let me know what did you do to help them out with their behaviour? Please...
Thank you,

Daxi


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## Meezey (Jan 29, 2013)

Sorry to sound harsh here, but keep your dog on a *lead always*, if your dog approached mine and started a fight, it would not be pleasant for you, and I would be calling the police and giving you a bill for Vet treatment and also any training classes I had to attend to make sure you dog had not caused any long term issue for my dog.

If you know she has issue with dogs, why do you allow her to approach dogs, or dogs to approach her, it's nothing to do with her being Alpha or Dominance.

Hopefully someone here can point you in the direction of a good behaviourist to find out why she reacts like this to dogs.

Again you know she has issues so until you get help keep her on the lead.. One attack is to many in my book, you or your dog will get in serious trouble if you allow it to continue, she may bite off more than she can chew at some point and you could end up with a seriously injured dog


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## Canarie (Sep 4, 2013)

I will have to agree with Meezey...please keep your dog on a lead.So many times I go out walking and irresponsible owners see me and rush to get there dog on a lead,saying amongst other things,"did not think I would meet anyone" or " my dog does not like other dogs".Only last week a couple were asked to put there dog on the lead as my friends dog who was on a lead did not get on well with dogs.Twice they were politely asked....so friends dog lunged at there's and at the couple.So before they could say anything we said,"you were asked twice to put your dog on a lead and you chose to ignore our request"
if your dog attacks and injures,then you would be responsible for the vets bill if the other dog was on the lead....
Canarie


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## Sarah1983 (Nov 2, 2011)

If you can't stop her approaching other dogs then I'm afraid she should not be off leash unless you're sure there are no other dogs around. The more she practises being able to run up to others the more she'll do it. I have the same problem with mine, he can't resist running up to other dogs within a certain distance, so he's off leash where I can see other dogs coming in time to call him back and on a long line in places where I can't. We have had two occasions where I've not been on the ball enough to stop him but it's certainly not a regular thing. He's at least polite when he approaches but it's still not something he should be doing.

It's not just her rude behaviour (and going by what you've posted that is exactly what it is, her being rude and when the other dog objects it all kicks off) you need to worry about. What if the other dog is aggressive? What if it's elderly? Recovering from surgery? Afraid of other dogs? What if the other owner is extremely proactive in stopping your dog getting to theirs?

I've used Total Recall by Pippa Mattinson to help teach a solid recall. We're still working on it around other dogs but Spen is a hell of a lot better than he was.


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## Malmum (Aug 1, 2010)

She sounds as though she has very bad doggie manners to be standing up at other dogs and then causing a fight. For that reason alone she should never be off lead, its an accident waiting to happen and your dog could be in danger of being confiscated due to the dangerous dogs act if someone complains. You say you think she has Staffie in her - depending on what she's crossed with she could be deemed of 'type' many Staffie crosses have and many have lost their lives because of it and most were not even involved in an incident at all. 

Don't put other people's dogs at risk in this way and don't potentially jeopardise your dogs future either. Its just not worth it or fair on either dog.


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## Jobeth (May 23, 2010)

The dog that went for my on lead dog is still off lead. Thankfully I don't see her very often, but my heart sinks and I have to leave the park or walk back from the fields every time. I find it sad that people let it continue despite knowing what their dog can do. I'm just lucky I didn't have my 4kg yorkie at the time as she'd be dead. Please keep your dog on a lead until you have sorted their issues out.


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## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

As said above, keep her on a lead. Her behaviour is your problem, it's irresponsible to let it become anyone else's as well.

You're right to be suspicious of barkbusters. Anyone can buy the local franchise, they don't have to have any significant dog experience or qualifications.


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## Daxi (Sep 11, 2013)

_If you can't stop her approaching other dogs then I'm afraid she should not be off leash unless you're sure there are no other dogs around. The more she practises being able to run up to others the more she'll do it._

Thanks for your reply ,
When I was writing the post I was in panic, things with myself settled down now. First of all she is not a mad dog who running around park to find a potential victim, she plays nicely with most dogs. She says hello, give a sniff here and there and we can walk off. I have been watching her for the last couple of days and it definitely a problem when she meets a stronger and larger dog than her. The bad dog manners start here. But she was not like that for the first months since i got her. I am trying to analyse what I have done wrong. I managed to find a dog behaviourist and the lady is coming to see us next Monday. She already told me a few useful things which already works better for us.

_I have the same problem with mine, he can't resist running up to other dogs within a certain distance, so he's off leash where I can see other dogs coming in time to call him back and on a long line in places where I can't. We have had two occasions where I've not been on the ball enough to stop him but it's certainly not a regular thing. He's at least polite when he approaches but it's still not something he should be doing._

Most of the times I can re-call mine but when I miss the seconds when she looks back at me to check if she can go or not it is a different story. And the same as yours she is polite when she approaches the dog - she does not charge on any dog with her teeth or to fight. It also is not a regular thing but it happens from time to time that when she finally approach the dog and there is a little hello that escalate into the dominant pose.

_It's not just her rude behaviour (and going by what you've posted that is exactly what it is, her being rude and when the other dog objects it all kicks off) you need to worry about. What if the other dog is aggressive? What if it's elderly? Recovering from surgery? Afraid of other dogs? What if the other owner is extremely proactive in stopping your dog getting to theirs?_

I started working on her dog manners, I am hoping the lady will put me in a right direction too. I am trying to be more strict with her also. She never acts like that when she meets an elderly or ill dog recovering from surgery or a smaller one - dogs can feel each others, I guess... the problem is when she meets a staffie or akita type dog... they are always bigger and stronger then her, healthy and fearless.... Most of the times I was on the ball but few times I was not.

We have the dog since May this year and she only started doing this about a month ago. We have a friend who has 10 months old doberman and he comes to our house regularly with the dog. Well... I have to admit his dog treats our house like a play ground, he is hyper active, constantly running around, destroying plant pots in my garden, smashing mugs, toileting in our hall etc... It is a bit of nightmare... our friend heeds to work really hard to make him calm for 5 minutes... Also the doberman cant live my dog alone when she is tired and does not want to play with him. He jumps on her, bullying her, takes all her things and runs away with them, snapping at her and she snaps back at him for as long as my friend stays at ours. I was ignoring this as I thought it is still a puppy and he cant do any hurt... Certainly he can as he is trying to take over my dogs place and position in our house. If I was my dog I would be pissed off with him and probably I would like any big dogs too. I am sad to say we did not do anything about this yet. I am waiting to talk to my friend that this needs to end and this kind of dog behaviour is not acceptable here any more. The dog behaviourist told me I immediately need to stop it as this can be the trigger for my dog when she meets another large breed dog.

Hope we can turn things back to how it was before.

I've used Total Recall by Pippa Mattinson to help teach a solid recall. We're still working on it around other dogs but Spen is a hell of a lot better than he was.[/QUOTE]


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## Dogless (Feb 26, 2010)

Daxi said:


> _If you can't stop her approaching other dogs then I'm afraid she should not be off leash unless you're sure there are no other dogs around. The more she practises being able to run up to others the more she'll do it._
> 
> Thanks for your reply ,
> When I was writing the post I was in panic, things with myself settled down now. First of all she is not a mad dog who running around park to find a potential victim, she plays nicely with most dogs. She says hello, give a sniff here and there and we can walk off. I have been watching her for the last couple of days and it definitely a problem when she meets a stronger and larger dog than her. The bad dog manners start here. But she was not like that for the first months since i got her. I am trying to analyse what I have done wrong. I managed to find a dog behaviourist and the lady is coming to see us next Monday. She already told me a few useful things which already works better for us.
> ...


It is great that you have a behaviourist coming tomorrow. All I will say is "from time to time" is still too often to be starting fights. It doesn't matter to me when my dog is attacked or hand bags started whether it is from time to time - it just matters to me that my dog is the target at that particular time.

Please use a longline at least, don't allow your dog to practise this at all.

Hope the behaviourist is useful tomorrow and you're on your way to getting a handle on your problem!


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## sbonnett76 (Apr 6, 2010)

Your dog sounds very similar to ours, also a rescue female. We've had her for nearly two years and at first, she seemed fine with other dogs, but as we moved out of the honeymoon period, her true colours began to show, which might be the point that you have reached. 

Do you know anything about her history that could help you work out why she reacts the way she does? It may simply be down to a lack of socialisation and not understanding how to react around other dogs or she may have had a bad experience, been attacked maybe, which is making her nervous. 

I would really try and not use words such as alpha and dominant. We fell into the trap of getting really caught up in all of that when we first got Roxy, but through the support of a trainer and weekly socialisation classes, we've moved away from blaming Roxy's behaviour on her being a dominant alpha female and have accepted that she suffers from nervous aggression and being a Rottweiler, it's not in her make-up to back away from something. 

You absolutely have to keep her on a lead, no question. It is your responsibility to ensure that she isn't put into any situations that could escalate. Aside from the damage that she could do to another dog, every negative experience she has will set her back. It's great that you've found someone who can help you, which is the best way forward. We've had one to one training sessions and we also attend weekly group socialisation classes. We've had to accept that we're never going to "fix" Roxy, but the best we can do is to manage it by ensuring she has as many positive interactions with dogs as possible using only the most stable of dogs we know, not letting her meet and greet anything whilst out, keeping her on a lead and using really high value treats and copious amounts of praise whenever she shows a pleasant reaction. The "watch" command had been invaluable as has teaching her to leave. We still experience her lunging towards other dogs, but now when we see something approaching, we tend to take a step aside and do "watch" until the dog has passed. 

Something else worth remembering is that there's no need for her to greet any dogs. I don't understand anybody who assumes that dogs should be allowed to greet all dogs for some sort of happiness. It's not necessary and if you own a dog that is a bit temperamental, even more reason to just avoid those situations. 

She will be more reactive on the lead because she feels restrained and not in control so in those situations, I'd either turn and walk in the opposite direction or step aside and focus her attention on something else. Always try to work to the theory of setting her up to succeed and if you sense that a negative situation may be about to occur, take her away from it. 

Good luck with the behaviourist, fingers crossed things improve.


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## goodvic2 (Nov 23, 2008)

Staffy bitches can be bossy or dominant 

Her social skills are not too good and may not ever be if I am honest. Please do not fall into the trap that all dogs can be made to be social and have good manners. You can end up spending a fortune on behaviourists. Staffies generally are companion dogs and would rather spend time with humans as opposed to other dogs. Not always, but mainly.

As a rescue dog she may not have had the best socialisation and this maybe something which you cannot undo.

Wish you all the luck in the world but keep it real and don;'t expect miracles!

My website may help you understand that not all dogs want other dogs in their space.

Dogs In Need Of Space

ps - well done for going through rescue!


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## Hopeattheendofthetunnel (Jun 26, 2013)

Daxi, it's great that you are looking into getting professional help. Not familiar with your part of the country but hopefully someone from the Manchester area will chime in with a great recommendation for a trainer/behaviourist.

Odd as this may sound, dogs who fight with ALL dogs are MUCH less of a headache , in terms of treatment approach, than dogs who get on brilliantly with most but have a few select nemeses.

In your opinion, when fights do occur - do you perceive that this is due to an inept attempt to get the other dog to play, other dog responds grumpily, she then takes the huff ....and it escalates from there? Is is the fight serious, or just a lot of blood curdling noise but both parties walk away unharmed? 

Also, does your girl understand the command "stop" or "wait"? In my experience it is significantly easier to train a rock solid "wait" than training a 100% reliable recall. Stopping a dog from running in the first instance is infinitely easier than asking her to stop and return in mid-run.


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## sbonnett76 (Apr 6, 2010)

Hopeattheendofthetunnel said:


> Daxi, it's great that you are looking into getting professional help. Not familiar with your part of the country but hopefully someone from the Manchester area will chime in with a great recommendation for a trainer/behaviourist.
> 
> *Odd as this may sound, dogs who fight with ALL dogs are MUCH less of a headache , in terms of treatment approach, than dogs who get on brilliantly with most but have a few select nemeses.*In your opinion, when fights do occur - do you perceive that this is due to an inept attempt to get the other dog to play, other dog responds grumpily, she then takes the huff ....and it escalates from there? Is is the fight serious, or just a lot of blood curdling noise but both parties walk away unharmed?
> 
> Also, does your girl understand the command "stop" or "wait"? In my experience it is significantly easier to train a rock solid "wait" than training a 100% reliable recall. Stopping a dog from running in the first instance is infinitely easier than asking her to stop and return in mid-run.


I have to say, as an owner of a dog who 8 times out of 10 is fine, I completely agree with this. I'm sure that if she was horrible 10 times out of 10, I'd be at the end of my tether, but at least there's never any surprise. As it is, you always have to be on guard and assume the worst just in case and that gets really tiring!


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

Daxi said:


> Hello,
> 
> Hope you can help me with solving my dog's issue. I have rescued dog, she is very well behaved, obedient and submissive to me and my partner, very loyal, happy playful dog, I have usually no problems with her but she is an alpha dog and almost always when she meets another alpha dog she puts her paws over him/her to show her dominance and it usually turns into a fight.
> 
> ...


There are plenty of good dog trainers in the Manchester Area, I can thoroughly recommend Lynda Edmondson.

Meanwhile why not put the health of your dog and that of others first and keep her on a lead?


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## Guest (Sep 16, 2013)

Daxi said:


> Most of the times I can re-call mine but when I miss the seconds when she looks back at me to check if she can go or not it is a different story. And the same as yours she is polite when she approaches the dog - she does not charge on any dog with her teeth or to fight. It also is not a regular thing but it happens from time to time that when she finally approach the dog and there is a little hello that escalate into the dominant pose.


Please forget about dominance for now. Dominance is not a personality trait. It's a descriptor of a relationship between two dogs in very specific contexts. There is no such thing as a "dominant" dog or an "alpha dog". There are rude dogs, there are bully dogs, there are pushy dogs, there are obnoxious dogs, there are dogs who are all of the above. But it doesn't have to do with dominance, rather poor dog skills. Staffies do tend to be rude, pushy, and obnoxious, and if they don't take correction gracefully, yep, you do end up with a fight on your hands. I have to agree, for all the reasons already stated, you're playing with fire here. I know you say she's not an out of control wild dog, but you really need to consider not letting her off leash AT ALL until you have a much better handle on this behavior.



Daxi said:


> We have the dog since May this year and she only started doing this about a month ago. We have a friend who has 10 months old doberman and he comes to our house regularly with the dog. Well... I have to admit his dog treats our house like a play ground, he is hyper active, constantly running around, destroying plant pots in my garden, smashing mugs, toileting in our hall etc... It is a bit of nightmare... our friend heeds to work really hard to make him calm for 5 minutes... Also the doberman cant live my dog alone when she is tired and does not want to play with him. He jumps on her, bullying her, takes all her things and runs away with them, snapping at her and she snaps back at him for as long as my friend stays at ours. I was ignoring this as I thought it is still a puppy and he cant do any hurt... Certainly he can as he is trying to take over my dogs place and position in our house. If I was my dog I would be pissed off with him and probably I would like any big dogs too. I am sad to say we did not do anything about this yet. I am waiting to talk to my friend that this needs to end and this kind of dog behaviour is not acceptable here any more. The dog behaviourist told me I immediately need to stop it as this can be the trigger for my dog when she meets another large breed dog.


Why would you allow your dog to be bullied and harrassed in her own home - or yourself for that matter? 
And yes, absolutely, allowing your dog to get riled up and over-stimulated will just make it easier for her to get over-stimulated in the future. IOW, she will reach that point of no return faster with less provocation. Practice makes perfect and all that... 
I hope you get some good guidance with this behaviorist.

This article might be of interest too:
Bonnie the Bull Terrier and Porter the Pitbull: Dog Park Pals or Not? | Animal Behavior and Medicine Blog | Dr. Sophia Yin, DVM, MS


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

As a side issue ALL dogs are DINOS, not just the few. 

I look forward to the day when ALL dogs are wearing yellow......................... or NONE.


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