Dog Fight

[rasmy]

Johnny doesn't have a lot of doggy friends, but he has a Neapolitan mastiff male friend about his own age (14 months), they used to play nicely, although sometimes very rough but all that was play, last time they have met wa about 1-2 months ago.

Yesterday the owner came along with his dog to my house so as to let the dogs play, Johnny started to bark and growl at the other dog (sometimes they play like that, Johnny is very vocal) and Johnny started to mount the other dog(He laso does this sometimes and the other dog won't mind) but it turned to a horrible fight, it was short (1-2 minutes) but it seemed very serious none of the was injured, thank god.
The Neo was very tolerent but at somepoint he couldn't bare it anymore and they started the fight.

I know that this is the age they are maturing, but Johnny is not dog aggressive at all, he just tries to mount everydog, I know this is dominance but it wasn't a problem before! does this mean that he can't be trusted around other dogs anymore???

Is there anything to be done to stop this behaviour?

Oh, both are intact.

[Judi W]

Well, I would say it is more than time someone taught him some manners. Your saying that he does this all the time to every dog indicates that you have just left it go thinking it was harmless. He is no longer a baby and rude behavior will no longer be accepted by other dogs as it might have been when he was younger. You need to start stepping in (should have nipped this in the bud) and letting him know this is not acceptable. It is outrageously rude and sure to start more fights.

Let him drag his leash and the minute you see him getting ready to put a foot up, or hanging his head over the other dog's withers, correct him off and tell him no. Keep doing this until he gets the message. The problem with not teaching him good doggy manners is that some other dog will and he might not get off as easily next time.

[Hope]

My sister and her significant other used to think it was funny when their mix would try to mount my male when he was younger, you know, funny that a little mut tries to mount a great big rottweiler. Correcting was almost futile since they thought it was funny and I new that in my absence the corrections were not kept up. They stopped laughing the day we went to the park, bailey mounted my boy and my Mondo promptly turned his head, sank his teeth into Bailey's neck, whipped the dog around to the front and proceeded to drill Bailey into the ground. Luckily my sister was fast in tearing Mondo off of Bailey (took a little bit of time, maybe 15 seconds) - so now Bailey only has black spots to remember his puncture wounds. Dogs will take this only up to a certain point, and just as I don't allow my intact male to mount, it is wise that others respond with the same respect. A neo mastiff fight could easily mean the demise of your dog, so I would start correcting immediately.

I have to say that mounting is a problem that I only had to correct twice or three times in my dog's life thus far, and he is still intact, a male of 3 years plus. The corrections were harsh enough that he got the idea. We are three women in a home with an intact rottweiler and there is no way in this world that my dog would even think about wrapping his leg around anything. He tried it once, never again.:D

[Carina43]

I'd say that Johnny can still be around other dogs once he learns that attempting to mount them isn't acceptable! You're right, it's a dominance move, and he's just being a silly teenager ...but that move could get him in big trouble with a less tolerant dog than the Neo.

Daphne attempts to mount Cooper & Dutch sometimes - Cooper will tolerate it to a point, then just move away, but Dutch will not - he'll whirl around with a roar and pin Daphne to the ground with a big show of teeth. If a male dog tried that with Dutch, I don't think he'd stop at just a threat...!

[mickeymichellie]

Think of it as a little kid running around hitting people. At first, when he is little, it is accepted even though it is irritating. As he gets older the adults get less tolerant, and since the parents never told him not to, eventually a friend grabs the kid and yells "Knock it off or next time you will be in real trouble!" I say, good for the friend!

[miriam]

My Bruiser used to do the same thing. At doggy day care he was known as the humper, very embarassing for me. They would squirt him with water from a spray bottle whenever he would try to mount the other dogs and it's worked very well. I havn't seen him try since, even at the park where there are no squirt bottles around. Some people say this is cruel, but I disagree, and I've found it to work so well. We've tried it for biting too. Good luck, I know how embarassing it can be to have an over 'friendly' dog.