Sudden Dog Agression

[Therottweilerlady]

I have a 17 month old male Rottie. He is unaltered (scheduled for next week), has been obedience trained, with plenty of socialization. I took him to a Pet show in my area and he started acting like "Cujo" the moment I went inside of the building. He wanted to chase the small dogs and didn't want anyone (other dogs) to come up and greet him. He would snap and lunge to let them know. You could just see the prey drive kick in. He was fine with people. Needless to say, we went home. I have never had this problem with him before as he accompanies me to the pet stores all the time. With three dogs, that's often. When we got home, I let him rest for a few minutes and then started a training session that lasted about 45 mins. We also had a long walk. I have also started NILF and I will be contacting his breeder to go back to formal classes to see if they can help with this problem. We had an incident about a month ago at my in-laws where their small terrier was aggressive with him. She ran at him snapping, growling in his face. I could tell he wanted to retaliate but I diffused the situation by putting her little butt back in the house. Could this have been the cause of his sudden dog aggression? Is there anything else I should do?

The Rottweiler Lady
Elsa (1991-1998)
Cody (1992-2002)
Buck
Brandy
Sheba
Maggie who lives with my aunt

[Rott-Wiley]

Hi and welcome to the forum. To answer your question, yes, it is possible that the bad experience he had made him think he should be the agressor the next time he met some other dogs. Best thing to do with him now is get him back into formal obedience classes around other dogs. You should expect to work with him at least until he is around 3 or 4 years old.

[Judi W]

I would suggest that it is more to the point that you thought you had trained him not realizing that the training a 12 month old recieves is not the end and that formal training with a male in particular must go on until the dog is at least 3 years of age and preferably more. You can't just stop because the dog knows sit and down. The learning must continue until it knows the work as an adult with adult responses and inclinations. Glad you took him right home.

Your solution is to continue serious training for a couple of more years. He'll be fine if you will continue on in class situations not just the at home stuff.

[rotticrew]

Hi I can totally relate with your problem. I have a 13 month old male that has been through training and was VERY socialized and about a month ago he started to be very dog aggressive as well. I contacted my trainer because I was very concerned and he told me that I did not need to worry. He told me to keep working with him on all the things he knows and to try to take him out places where there were other dogs.
I also got him nuetered 8 days ago and can already see a difference in his aggression. So now it is back to the basics. My trainer also said that between 8 and 18 months some males will begin to have "piss matches" with dogs as well as the dominant person in the home. He said it is kind of like a teenager trying come into their own, and testing to see if he can become head honcho.
Just a lil' bit of my same experience. Good luck!!!! And let us know how things go.
ROTTICREW