# Aggressive Neapolitan Mastiff, advice needed!!



## be.happy (Oct 28, 2007)

Hi everyone

A member of my family has a 9.5 month old Neo pup. He is over 100lbs

Normally he is a very goofy fun loving dog. I have never seen him attempt to bite a person in his entire life.

He is very friendly.

He has a bad barking habit, if he hears a noise he will bark his face off. This is not really a problem, after he sees its a person he is barking at he normally stops and gets very excited and happy.

Last night I had 2 friends over, they are fairly dog savvy and they were petting "Sam".

He was being his normal lovable self, trying to kiss them and being a goof. 
He went from one friend to another one, whom was seated. He was petting Sam and all was well, Sam seemed very happy and showed no signs fear, he was kissing the air and was very enthusiastic about life, so it seemed. 
Sam has met this person once before when he was much younger. He has had no traumatizing experiences since my family member purchased him at 18 weeks old. The following behavior is very shocking as he is an extremely lovable goodnatured dog. He has been to parades and out in the public with no problems.

Out of NOWHERE he tried to attack my friend!!

He leaped for his face snapping and barley missing. It was one fluid motion of barking, growling and biting. My friend pushed him away as best he could, Sams teeth shut literally less then an inch from his face. If my friend wouldnt have pushed him he definitely would have been bit.

I ran over immediately and grabbed him. He immediately submissed and started peeing everywhere when I grabbed him, he tried to laydown and roll on his back into a submissive postition. He showed NO FEAR until I went up to him. 

At this point his owner came out and told him "no and to smarten up" She was very upbeat and did not correct him at all! She said he must of been scared and made my friend pet him and give him a treat!!! He was fine, he showed no aggression and was back to his regular self.

She was adament that Sam was only afraid and continued to reassure the dog! At this point Sam was very happy again, wagging his tail and happy to have his owner present.

He was not scared!!! The only time that dog showed fear was when I went up to him and grabbed him.Sam immediately stopped the aggressive behavior after I grabbed him. He is no has no health problems so my friend didnt hurt him by any means.

I am not a novice with dogs, or even aggression for that matter.(I am pursuing ScH with my working GSD) But she didnt even give him a correction!

She said its part of the breed and when they get scared they bark and growl. Problem is, he showed NO signs of fear. His body language was completely normal and he was acting very happy. He did not shy away or make direct eye contact with my friend. The attack was unprovoked. If I would have seen any warnings signs I would have stopped the situation immediately. The attack was instaneous and completely out of nowhere, it was stopped without any issues though.

Because she was not there, I think she is taking the situation VERY lightly. She is being very naive about the situation. 


IMO I dont think this dog respects her. He is not very well trained and has no manners whatsoever. She does not dedicate every much time with training for him. I am worried that he will seriously injure someone one day. She loves him very much and it would devastate her to put him down. At this point in his life he can sit on command. He sort of knows how to do a down but he is not 100% responsive. 

Can someone please give me some advice.

Is this normal for a Neo? Or was this situation soley a behavior problem?


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

The dog shouldn't be put down just because it snapped at someone, my dog has done it before but I have been working it by getting him used to people touching his face. She did handle the situation good because if she punished him she could make it worse because then he would start thinking that he will get punished when he see's new people so he will try to scare them away by lunging at them and barking and growling so that he doesn't get punished then if she punished him again it would get worse and then she couldn't even take him on walks. I suggest that she get the dog into obedience class so the dog can be more confident and obedient. Thats what I did because my dog would be shy around other dogs but now he goes up to them and sniffs like a normal dog would.


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## Mdawn (Mar 3, 2007)

My first thought was that this person must have done _something_ that the dog did not like. You said that the friend didn't do anything to hurt the dog, but that doesn't mean that they still didn't do anything that the dog does not like. For example, I have an English Mastiff. He is very friendly and loves everyone, blah, blah...He would NEVER bite someone....unless they blow in his face. He hates it and will try to bite then. So you see what I mean? It could be something that wasn't hurting the dog, but still something that we would consider "silly", such as blowing in the face, that set the dog off. If it were me, I ask the person that the dog tried to bite to try to recall exactly what they did with the dog and where they touched the dog. I'd also take the dog in for a complete checkup at the vet. Just because he had no health problems before doesn't mean something new hasn't come up since his last vet visit. If doing these two things doesn't reveal what the problem could be, I'd definitely talk to the owner about going to obedience training and all that with the dog. Also, I'd keep a very very close eye on the dog around strangers from now on.

I'm not a dog expert by any means but these are just the first thoughts that came to me after reading your post. Hopefully, some will else will respond that can provide more insight.

Good luck!


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## be.happy (Oct 28, 2007)

Well putting him down wasnt really on her mind at all!

But really, he didnt do ANYTHING to provoke the attack,not onething.
I was sitting watching the whole thing go down.

Sam showed NO signs of fear or aggression. My friend didnt do anything unusual or pet him in any sensitive area. He didnt do any dominant gesture. Not even petting him on top of the head.

It was an attack out of NOWHERE. I have never seen a dog react this way!

We are really dumbfounded. He has never done this before. 

My friend really didnt do anything. Sam showed no signs of fear as far as body language goes. He didnt make eye contact, he didnt growl first. He just attacked.

The owner thinks it was because of his facial hair. But Sam has met him before and seen men with beards.


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## Curbside Prophet (Apr 28, 2006)

Are we sure it wasn't a play gesture?


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

Oh yea, I forgot that it could be that. My dog has done something similar where I would be teasing him with a toy that is just above his reach and he jumped up and was doing a play growl and he bit my hand because he missed the toy.


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## Dogstar (May 11, 2007)

There's just too many factors to make a determination from a distance on this one- truthfully, on most aggression or potential aggression issues. If you've got concerns about the pup's stability, I would recommend asking your family member if she's got a trainer she's working with or how she is handling the issue in general- not an internet board.


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## OC_Spirit (Feb 6, 2007)

I refuse to adress aggression issues via the internet because its way too easy to misunderstand something resulting in something else going horribly wrong. You need to seek the help of a behaviourist that can come to the house to evaluate the dog. However I did want to mention that licking the air and licking lips is a sign of uneasiness, NOT happiness


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## Lonewolfblue (Oct 28, 2007)

OC_Spirit said:


> However I did want to mention that licking the air and licking lips is a sign of uneasiness, NOT happiness


I have to completely agree with this. Just because he "Seems" happy to humans, doesn't mean that they are and don't have fear. A happy dog is one that is calm. Like others mentioned, the dog needs training, as well as having a behaviorist look at the situation.


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## FilleBelle (Aug 1, 2007)

The fact that he wet himself when you came over to him is another sign of serious uneasiness. Even when a dog has done something wrong and knows you are unhappy, it is not a normal reaction for that dog to pee on itself or the floor. The dog sounds unstable. Whether it is a lack of training, the dog's personality, or something upsetting about the situation would need to be evaluated by a professional.


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## cascabel (Sep 25, 2007)

If you really think the change in behavior was sudden, as it seems from you have described then:

1. First see a vet and get a complete examination of the dog. Often sudden changes in behavior are the result of an underlying health problem. I have seen this first hand in a friend's dog who was subsequently diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. The first and only symptom they saw was aggression. 

2. If everything checks out health wise, _then_ seek out the help of a behaviorist. I mention this second, because any good behaviorist will require a full vet check on a dog anyways before proceeding.


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

This thread is more than five years old.


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## Curbside Prophet (Apr 28, 2006)

Relevant or not, the forum rules need to be read, newbie or not.


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