Hates one specific dog?

[RSQRottweiler]

My almost-3 year old Rottweiler (neutered male), Sebastian, gets along great with other dogs. I take him to work with me, where my boss has a neutered male Lab -- they pretty much ignore each other, but play occasionally. At the farm where I board my horse, there is a small Lab mix and an even-smaller TFT mix. They all get along beautifully. When I go to visit my parents, they have a female Rottweiler (spayed) named Gretchen, and a couple of the neighbors have Labs (one black, one chocolate - both spayed females). It's not uncommon for us to stop and talk, and the dogs just lie in the grass without any aggression towards each other, and without having to be in each other's face. In obedience classes, the trainer's Border Collies are always used as "distractions" or obstacles during training -- never a problem with that. Various other experience with dogs of all sizes, shapes, colors, breeds/mixes, and training levels (including one RottStock in 2001). No problems there, either.

Now here's the problem: there is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi in my parents' neighborhood that, for whatever reason, Sebastian hates. I have no idea why. They have never "met" and the Corgi is very quiet and well-behaved. However, on Sunday night I was visiting my parents and my mother and I had the dogs out for a walk when we stopped to talk to the two Lab owners. All the dogs were flopped-out on the grass (still on-leash). A couple of rollerbladers went by, right behind Sebastian, and he didn't even move.

THEN the lady with the Cordi came by, and Sebastian went off -- barking, lunging, growling -- like I've never seen him before. The Corgi did nothing to provoke a fight -- dog and owner were on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. I took Sebastian out of the way and did several minutes of heeling exercises, partially to calm him down, and partially to calm myself down. After that, he returned to normal and relaxed with the other dogs. One of the Labs even crawled over and licked his face, and Sebastian just wagged his tail.

What could have set my dog off like this? He's never done that to any other dog but that Corgi. I don't think it's a size issue, because he's been around dogs smaller than the Corgi without any problems. I don't think it's a gender issue, because he's been around intact and neutered males and females.

And ideas?

[Judi W]

A possibility is that he was with his "gang" and saw the Corgi as an outsider. Doesn't excuse him particularly, but I would bet that is what was going through his little pea brain. "hey, who are you walking down OUR street" "you'd better get out of here"

[MontanaRott]

We had a dog a few years ago we ended up placing in a only dog home after she decided she had to eat one of the pugs. We had this dog since she was 8 weeks, and never had a problem with her. After she had TPO surgery and rehab, she started stalking one of our pugs, a 12 year old female.She never bothered any of the others. We worked with a trainer and her breeder for a solid year and the hatred she developed towards the pug just got worse over time, soon she moved from stalking to attacking, finally the trainer and the breeder both said sometimes it is a simple as they just do not like another dog and for all concerned the best we could do is to place the rott. So we did and she is doing fine. The folks that got her have a dog that we put tons of obedience work into is well adjusted and well behaved. They love her and she is crazy for their 2 boys. It is odd but I guess there are some dogs that just take a dislike to one another. We had a cat at the time and she never bothered it either just this one particular dog.

[Apamaria]

Well, are you sure the corgi wasn't being silently obnoxious? All it takes is a certain kind of look from the corgi, some very subtle moves or changes in posture etc... that said, i very much agree that some dogs just do not like each other. I guess it's like sometimes a person just does not like another person, like instant dislike.
Dogs don't even need to ever get in close proximity of the disliked dog to hate them. In our old place there was a couple of dogs QB instantly disliked without ever having been nose-to-nose with them. Could be they were sending out signals, could be there was just something to them that QB did not like.
Go figure!

[rottie597]

I had that happen with Cally in obedience class
One of the other trainers ( not my instructor) would bring her GSD occasionally just for a bit of practice. We would only see this GSD (a smallish female...very quiet and unobtrusive..she never paid attention to the other dogs) only about once every other month or so. However, despite this animal's wonderful temperment and very rare appearances, Cally would go ballistic when she was in class and COULD not concentrate because she was staring holes into that poor dog!! Cally ignored all other dogs( male and female) in the class...even ones who were aggressive to her. I never figured this out nor did my trainer.

[Jaegergirl]

there are dogs in our obedience class that jump up on their owners (the owners let them). also, there are some dogs that behave badly. when one of the dogs is jumping or being bad, maverick totally breaks out of the training mode and acts like a freak. he doesn't have a problem with any of the other dogs in class, just the ones that are "acting up."

[RSQRottweiler]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I haven't seen that Corgi do anything to provoke Sebastian. . .for whatever reason, that dog just drives Sebastian up a wall. I feel kind of bad for the Corgi's owner. . .the Corgi is a good dog and I feel bad that Sebastian has such a reaction to it.

Again, thanks for the replies!

Audrey

[rottsnroses]

Reno never met a dog he didn't like, no matter how big or small, except for one. The lab down the street drove him nuts. He HATED that dog.

If we were out walking, the fur on the back of his neck would stand straight up. If the lab approached (this lab was always off leash ), Reno would show teeth and growl. This particular lab was very aggressive, so maybe that had something to do with it. Maybe Reno sensed a threat from this dog. This is the only dog that Reno ever encountered that he took an immediate dislike to, or acted that way towards.

This dog used to run loose in the neighborhood, and whenever he would come in our yard, Reno would go absolutely berserk. I really think if given the opportunity, he would have tore into that dog.

[MontanaRott]

WOW! That must have made walking interesting. Nice of the lab owners not to leash an aggressive dog.

[rottsnroses]

You have no idea what a moron this guy is. This dog has bitten at least two children that I am aware of in the neighborhood. My husband went to talk to him about it because he was getting sick of picking up his dog's crap in our yard, and sick of him aggravating Reno in his own yard. Of course, I was getting sick of his dog charging at us when we would walk by the house.

Believe it or not, he actually told my husband that he didn't want HIS dog crapping in his own yard!!!!! Said he didn't have the time to clean up after him. Somewhere in his stupid little brain, I also think he thinks it's cool that his lab is so "tough".

Well, they exchanged some heated words, and I don't quite know what my DH said to him, but the dog has not been out since.:D

[MontanaRott]

OMG! 2 bites on kids and he is still around? Good grief! Well I wish my dogs would not poop in my yard either, BUT, being a responsible dog owner, I keep them in their own yard, we poop scoop our yard, and when we walk in the woods, we take baggies and poop scoop there too!
Sheesh owners like that are so scary! Not to mention frustrating. Thank God he does not have a rottie! He sounds like the kind of macho stinker that would have wanted one!
Sounds like you can have a peaceful walk now, thats good! Pepper spray is an option if the dog makes another appearence. Harsh, but the bad press our breed gets, it would be the rott that got the blame if there were a fight, not the lab!

[rottsnroses]

OMG! 2 bites on kids and he is still around?

Yes, unfortunately in both cases, the parents did not notify animal control, and apparently the physicians didn't either. If his dog had been a rottweiler, you know what would have happened.

Pepper spray is an option if the dog makes another appearence. Harsh, but the bad press our breed gets, it would be the rott that got the blame if there were a fight, not the lab!

How right you are about that. Actually I carry a horse whip when we walk. His dog is the only dog I have ever had to use it on. Worked quite effectively too I might add.

[MontanaRott]

A whip! GOOD FOR YOU! We have to do what we can to keep our selves and our dogs and kids safe!