My pup is growing up, not sure if i have a problem.....

[marianna]

Hi all, it has been awhile since i have posted.....

My girl is 16 months today and I have started to notice one thing with her, not sure if this is or will be a problem.

Here goes:
She seems to be a very dominent(for lack of better word) girl towards other dogs, she has never been aggresive but will not tolerate any "crap" from other dogs and she does not care if they r older and or bigger. She simply refuses to stand down.

She is very well socialised, has good manners and obeys me completely.I never take her to dog parks but in a regular week we meet about 5-10 dogs that we know well and she just loves to play with them all. I am very active in the icelandic rottie community and if some1 has a dog that needs socialising with a safe dog to learn better manners ect, they often talk to me cuz Röskva is one of the most freindly and playfull dogs u will ever meet.
Thing is I have noticed that when we meet other dogs, if they r intrusive to her space she will start posturing (or if they really get out of line she will snap at them), they will then sometimes do the same and no matter who the other dog is, however old or big she will not back down. Of course she does it as soon as I tell her.

For instance today we met a 2 1/2 yr old rottie girl for the first time today who a friend of mine is fostering. This girl has been poorly socialized and does not really know how to interact with other dogs. Things were fine until the older girl got to intrusive sniffing Röskva and Röskva went on to "tell her off" of course the older 1 was not to happy and they got into it (nothing serious but still)

Basically my question is this: is this behavieur that i should be worried about and if so what is the best way to tackle it. I am asking now before anything gets out of hand, if this could become a problem i want to nip it in the bud.Is it normal that such a young dog does not back down when faced with older dogs?


Röskva is a rottie mix but all of the rottie ppl that know her nickname her a rottie in disguise due to the fact that her temperment seems to be pure rottie lol
She has been thru puppy classes, klicker classes and will be starting ob classes in june to get a ob title that is similar to your cgc. (the titles here all have diff names than yours lol) This is an ob title that mixed breeds can earn. I have had her since she was 8 weeks and we train at least 30 min every day. She will be spayed this year also.

I have never had any real problems with her, the few times that she has gotten into a scruff with other dogs it has been the other 1 that starts, she is never the instigator but if provoked she doesnt back down wich sometimes worries me, one day the other dog will be stronger and could injure her.

[SABELLESMOM]

She sounds like a very confident dog. That is not necesarily a bad thing. You see, if she's getting intrusively sniffed, (some dogs are quite rude about it, actually) she has the right to ask them to stop.

Dog speak dog very well. There is a certain protocol to how greetings are done between off lead dogs. For instance, it's not fair to snif and not allow the reciprocal snif. It's contrary to the doggy manners rule book.

The foster, you said, has been poorly socalized. Roskva told her that. Being poorly socalized, the foster felt threatened instead. Thus the problem.

Now, if Roskva isn't allowing the reciprocal snif back...then, she's breaking the rules. That would make her less well socalized than you think.

If you see a potential sniffing proceedure coming on, be nearby to ward off trouble. Call her to you and distract her with play.

I have one very dominant girl. Her breeder lovingly called her "the Enforcer" in her litter. She was not the biggest nor strongest pup, either. But she had attitude.

She's still the same. Size doesn't matter. She won't back down from either a male or female dispite the size. She has a sense of "fairness," shall we say. It gets her rspect. She just puts her apron on and that's that. When other dogs see she's determined, they give in. There has never been even 1 situation that escalated into more than raised hackles.

[marianna]

She allowed her to sniff back but the other one wanted to sniff longer and more than Röskva wanted. She will let dogs that she knows go farther than ones she doesnt.

Yup, attitude is probably a more apropriete description tha dominence, she never bullies or anything and if a dog is bullying one of "her dogs" she will go inbetween and bark at the dog. She will actually go between if "her dogs" are getting into any kind of scruffle with each other...... I always call her the diplomat cuz she is always tryin g to keep the peace!

[Jaidann]

You might find this link informative. It's one of my favorites regarding dog vs dog behavior.

He Just Wants to Say "HI!" Article on rude dogs & dealing with aggression by Suzanne Clothier

Hope you enjoy it. The article starts about 1/4 the way down the page :)

[marianna]

Thanx for this article....... It sorted things out for me.

I just could not for the life of me understand how she could be showing aggression. Of course i have made mistakes just like every1 else but this was just beyond me.

Althou I do not post much here I do read everything here and try to incorpurate what these good ppl with all this experience are saying and my girl is a dog that gets praise and compliments everywhere we go.....(I say thanx to these forums lol)