Hi,
I have a wonderful dober girl who is almost 10 months old,except for guarding her toys and food at the dog park she is very playful and social with adults and older pups but she shows big dislike towards puppies,once or twice she interacted quite well with them and she even let the pup jump up on her and "hug" her,but now when she sees that pup or any other she will attack,she will sniff at first but when a pup approaches she immediately shows aggression,it confuses me so much so I'd like to hear your opinions,she came as quite a fearful puppy so it wouldn't surprise me if puppy body language and jumping makes her scared in a way? Also to mention that after her yesterday's attack she laid next to that same pup and even licked him? But as soon he tried to approach her and her face she started growling again
Thanks for your time
Your phrase "except for guarding her toys and food...." tells a lot. You really need to research "resource guarding". There is a lot written on the subject.
Until you get a handle on this, lose the dog parks. No puppies unless she and the pup are tethered. Feed her separately from other dogs.
The bottom line is that even a 10 month-1 year old Doberman can do tremendous injury to another dog (or person for that matter) in a matter of seconds.
I am sure, that members here will chime in on appropriate literature.
I agree with 4 x 4, stop going to dog parks if it's stressful for her. My guess is because she was a fearful puppy that she's not ok with puppy behavior (which is typically an "in your face and around your ears" type of playing and jumping). It sounds like she was telling the puppy that she wasn't ok with it's behavior. Although I think a lot of puppy's need to be taught what's acceptable, many owners are far too stupid to understand what's going on and they think you're dog's attacking their puppy. I also don't think it's your dog's job to train a strange puppy behavior modifications. If she's aggressive around food and toys then don't take them to the dog park. If you want to keep taking her to the dog park then modify who she plays with. I've been taking my dogs to parks for well over 15 years with zero issues. But then again I walk around with my dogs and keep my eye on them and the other dog's behavior and I ensure their recall is as close to 100% as possible. I CAN'T STAND the owners at dog parks that stay on their phone and pay Zero attention to their dogs! Drives me nuts!
I also think some dobes aren't programmed for dog parks, they are far too nervous and bitey for them but that's up to you to decide for your dog.
Not all dogs like puppies! Imo taking food and toys to a dog park is asking for issues.
Please don't continue to put her in a position where she is that uncomfortable. It will only make things worse and worse as time goes on. Your better off having her in training classes where she can experience dogs in a controlled environment rather than a free for all where she is tell you she is not 100% comfortable with what's going on.
Thank you for your responses,I'm not taking food and toys with me but she often finds a tennis ball or something and that's what I reffered to when I said toys,just to make it clear I don't go to a dog park and since I live in Croatia we don't have real dog parks as there are in US,I have a lot of green areas in my neighbourhood and that's where I walk,so we meet like 3-4 dogs in our usual 2hr walk and she's comfortable with them as long as there are no puppies near,but if I spot she is uncomfortable in any way we immediately walk away from that dog but that's rare because she knows almost every dog and they are polite and behaved.
Puppies are bitey jumpy little creatures. Most are just learning manners. They have sharp teeth and no inhibitions. If your girl was having a nice walk with Mom, and then a little monster ran up and starting biting her, well its no wonder she doesn't like puppies.
Unfortunately, most people don't pay attention to what their dog is doing. Enjoy your sweet girl and keep an eye on any dogs approaching her.
My last girl hated puppies--the minute they got in her face and looked like they wanted to play, she would jump them. Aggressively--very embarrassing. We just kept her away from puppies.
Sounds just like my girl!! Seems like we're going to avoid puppies and work on proofing her recall so I can call her when I spot a puppy.
Thanks once again
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