"Aggression" towards the neighbor?

[bump]

Dog: 2.5 year old rescue rottie. We've had him for 1.5 years. Male, neutered, been through 2 obedience courses, agility and he herds. Well socialized. Good temperment, gentle with the children, soft on the stock, very responsive to voice command. Before this weekend, he has never shown any "aggression."

Situation: My wife had pulled up in her truck with kids, dog and groceries. Kids had taken their share of the bags in the house. All kids were in the house at this time. Dog had unloaded out of the truck and was waiting to go in with the wife. I was back behind the house replacing a window. New neighbors came over to introduce themselves. The wife had a box of heavier groceries, and the male half of new neighbors ran over to grab the box before it fell. Apparently, the dog interpreted him running at the wife as a threat because he went for the neighbor. He had him by the lower pants leg and was dragging him backwards and shaking his head.

The wife's "that'll do" got him to release and return to her side, but he continued to hackle and growl. I had heard the noise by this point and recalled the dog to me and into the house.

The dog never laid tooth to skin- he only had him by the pants leg. After everyone calmed down I gave the neighbor a handful of jerky and cheese and he made friends with the dog.

Question: I'm really of two minds about this situation. On the one hand I'm glad he acted to protect my wife. On the other hand, it's not his place to make that decision. What do you all think about the incident?

[Skuly]

Hi Bump,

A couple things came to mind when I read your post.
I think your dog did exactly what he was supposed to do, with regard to guarding your wife (A strange man enters your yard uninvited and appears to be lunging for your wife.) I have told all of my neighbors not to enter my back yard if the dog is out and we are not. Her instinct is to guard her territory. It may also be good advice to give your neighbor even if they have been introduced. My dog barks at people entering the yard unless she sees us greet them. This didn't occur with your wife. He did release as soon as he was instructed to, which is good. From my understanding, it is the rotties nature to guard and protect. I was told that even when our children are wrestling in the house or outside that she should be seperated from them as sometimes, they can not distinguish between what is play wrestling and what is a real fight.

I have a really really friendly rottie. BUT, I do have a rule that if I unload her from the car and we are not parked in the garage, she must have a leash on. I never want to take the chance that she jumps out of the car in the driveway and decides to go investigate the neighborhood or that there may be a child out in our yard etc.... This is probably something you should consider. Even the best trained rottie is still a dog with animal instincts ;)


*my disclaimer.....I'm not an expert but this is what i have learned from some very experienced owners and a lot of reading. I am sure you will get other very wise advice here.

[RottieGirl86]

re: "The wife's "that'll do" got him to release and return to her side, but he continued to hackle and growl. "

IMHO, dominance, your wife said it was ok, and dog insisted the neighbor was still a threat. Others can layout better here, but your wife's command should have been end of the matter and dog cannot say if a person is good or not, that's the owner's responsibility. Similiar stuff has been posted here in the past, I would do a search for it.

That type of activity says to me: 'hey, she's mine, you can't have her.' Unless your dog has done extensive bite work and somehow 'read' a non-verbal command via body language gesture?

[vshund]

Hi Bump,

I concur with Skuly's advice and interpretation of the incident. The fact the dog only had the pant leg is good, he wasn't going for the upper body or face. {Yes, that can happen with a less socialized and trained dog}.

I do think it's important to keep the dog on a lead as he exits or enters a vehcile. Mine are trained well but I still keep them on leads near cars. I don't want them to be so comfortable around vehicles without a human attached to their lead. I've seen well trained dogs wander into streets and we all know what can happen.

Please note the difference between territorial aggression and protecting a human being. It's a rare dog, Rottie or other breed, who is capable of taking on a human being. Most will NOT guard a human due to dilution of the type of aggression necessary to do that work. Your dog is fairly rare in that he would, though I've had dogs who did too without formal bite training. The dog was protecting her from an unknown territory intruder, which in my mind is good. However, let's be sure he won't do that with a kid or the wrong person, like a friendly neighbor. So work on the training to allow him to rely on YOU two to determine who to allow on the property and who is not allowed. Now that you know he'll at least grab a pant leg, work on making sure he focuses on you two when he's outside off lead.

I personally don't have a problem with a dog who'll give a warning like that to a stranger on my property. If no skin was broken, no foul. If it was, and the person was uninvited and hostile, then that's okay with me too. Today, too many home invasions and crimes go on in even nice neighborhoods. Mine is plagued with home break-ins, despite a lot of police vigil due to taxpayer outcries. I live in an area with many homes valued upwards of $1 million so they're given priority by law enforcement. But they can't catch every crook.