# Help! Why do other dogs hate my dog?



## MeganVictoria (Apr 8, 2011)

I have a 2 year old lab / husky mix. She definitely has the personality of a lab and has a lot of energy. We go on hour walks most days which keeps her calm... until she sees another dog. It seems like every other dog hates her and she only gets along with puppies. Every time she encounters another dog she gets very excited and wants to play non stop. From what I have observed she does not show any signs of aggression or dominance to other dogs, she always does the playful bow with her front paws. I do notice when the other dogs start to show signs like they want to be left alone. It is almost like my dog just ignores them and tries to play with them even after they have snarled and growled at her. She has been nipped pretty hard by one dog, it didn't faze her and she still tried to play with him.

So now I have rescued a very timid six month old german shepherd. They are both females and are about the same size. My lab is spayed but the german shepherd isn't. The dogs will sniff each other out and be friendly for awhile then my lab will try to play or chase her and the other dog will growl at her. Also the german shepherd gets along fine with my friend's chihuahua (whom also hates my lab) that both dogs see almost every day. I always intervene between my two dogs and other dogs when the growling starts. Should I let my german shepherd put my lab "in her place" and only intervene if it gets really nasty? By the way, my lab is well behaved around humans; it just seems like she has bad manners around dogs because she is so excited. Any thoughts?


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

Firstly and most importantly, do NOT allow the new GSD to put the labmix in her place. Being that she is new to you and timid she needs to know that YOU will step in if the labmix is being a pain in the butt. You do not want a bitch fight to occur. Ever. They often do NOT forget these kinds of fights and this makes life very difficult for all involved. 

Secondly, dogs don't hate your dog. They don't like her behaviour. They don't like her lack of response to their requests to back off when they've had enough. Your labmix is like that really nice and not badly intending pita person who follows you around chatting all the time, even when you are obviously trying to do something else. She needs to learn to respect other dogs signals and to do that YOU must get involved in it. Just because she is very nicely offering a playbow does not mean the other dog wants or needs to play with her..kwim? 

Teaching her a leave it, removing her at the first sign of discomfort or calming signals from the other dog and then rewarding her for coming with you away from the other dog will help with this isse. This means you watch the other dog for head turns, slight stillness, lip licking or yawning. Head turns are usually the first clue. You then cue the "leaveit' and remove her, get a nice sit and reward it. Basically what this accomplishes is the head turn will eventually become a CUE to YOUR dog that it is time to move off and go to you. 

You should also look into getting a copy of Control Unleashed. Great exercises for teaching impulse control.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

You got it! Sassy was the same way and Max hated being her toy. She needs to learn to back off. If she is so naive she still pesters a dog after being nipped you can try to teach her to be polite. I would try by having her on leash, letting her see the other dog, put a cookie in her nose and remove her telling her how great she is. Once she can turn away easily at a distance [+100 yards for Sassy] let her get closer before calling her away, then greeting for an instant, a few seconds, perhaps a play bow and on and on. Best to do this with one dog at a time and with many different dogs. You need to interrupt the annoying behavior long before it gets to be a growl fest. Watch the victim for signs of annoyance and then remove your pest. The very best way would be for you to somehow find a large calm dog with very good manners so she learns how to stop without having to get yelled at. Those sort of dogs can teach better than we can. He would freeze when she is annoying and play when she is being appropriate.

Also some dogs think everybody is a friend on sight and some need a while to trust another dog. Max doesn't play instantly, he needs to know humans and dogs for a while before being comfortable. When you encounter another dog just visit for a while so the dogs calm down and get to know one another, they don't have to sniff butts and play right away to know one another. Once they are ignoring each other let them meet. Taking an obedience class will help with this. Choose a class taught outside or in a huge room so you can work her far from the other dogs and move closer once she learns how to calm herself. This isn't exactly an unusual problem, any instructor has seen this often.

I was super impressed with a puggle at the dog park this week. Max cannot stand dogs putting paws on his back and this puggle was very persistant. Max did the growl and charge after he had had enough. The puggle stopped jumping and continued to try to engage Max in play. You could clearly see his front feet leaving the ground but NOT jumping on Max. He remembered Max's correction! Max ended up feeling comfortable enough to actually run with the other dogs, first time since he started going back to the dog park in January.

I would not let them work it out. Your pup would be learning really bad manners and dogs will learn to hate one another and very bad fights can be the result.


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