Lis
Posted : 6/12/2006 5:15:07 PM
This is my first post so I'm really looking forward to hearing your responses. I have two dogs, both rescues, but right now I'll just talk about the larger one, Beau. He is a highly intelligent 4-yr-old black lab (120 lbs. and he is not fat) that I rescued at 14 months old and we're told that he'd been kept in his kennel, in a dark garage, wearing a muzzle a great deal of the time because of his barking for several weeks and perhaps months before he escaped to be rescued-- we just don't know for sure. As for his fear agression tendencies, Beau does very well with people and objects but not with other dogs except for my other dog, Bella. If he sees any other dog from the car window, from the front door, or on a walk or from anywhere, he goes a little wild. He barks crazily and tries to get at the other dog. There have been times recently that I think he's just trying to meet the other dog because his response seems more like curiosity and interest than aggression. He's started whining too in addition to the barking. But the truth is I really don't know for sure. To demonstrate that Beau is really a sweet, affiable creature, please note the following: On a recent walk we encountered a jack rabbit that froze no more than seven feet away from us. Beau just looked at him quizzically for about 30 seconds. When the rabbit finally took off running Beau half-heartedly tried to follow but quickly lost interest when he saw the next tree...
But back to his aggression toward other dogs... My grown son has two labs and when we got them together with Beau about two years ago, Beau quickly had the larger of my son's dogs down on his back in a submissive stance. Once that was acheived, Beau was fine. Last summer I had a couple of laborers working in my backyard and after being there several hours, they asked if they could let their dog out of their truck to get some exercise in my backyeard. I said, yes, as long as they understood about Beau. I held Beau while they brought their dog in and then led him over to the other dog to let him take a big smell of the interloper. He growled a bit but got over it with my coaxing. I finally let him go and he rushed up to smell the other dog again but after that he was fine until the other dog found one of his long forgotten bones. Beau was on him in a flash, snarling and growling, and again had the dog over on his back in a submissive stance in seconds. I think the important thing is that Beau didn't bite him and quickly retreated upon my command. I've also introduced him to my other son's dog, which is a very hyper, playful lab/pitt mix. Beau growled and did his stance but the other dog is so hyper Beau's postering just didn't seem to phase him. In fact, this dog, Anoki, absolutely runs Beau ragged when we get them together because he wants to play non-stop and his play centers around jumping on Beau's back with his front legs (sign of dominance?). This is my question: what do I do about Beau's reaction to all the other dogs in the world? Another post mentioned that it's frightening to see a big dog running toward you--well, let me tell you--I can't imagine what the people in my neighborhood with dogs have thought and felt when they've seen Beau trying to get off his leash to lunge at them and their dogs. He's a very tall, big boned, muscular lab with a big head and being black probably makes him look a little scarier.
lus his big white teeth really stand out because of the color of his fur. I'd very much like to prevent that from happening any more if I can. Currently, I walk him through a forrested area away from other dogs as much as possible to prevent any more incidents from occurring. My goal, however, is to be able to walk him anywhere without the fear of running into another dog--in fact, I eventually want to train him to stay with me by my side regardless of what he see's and regardlessof whether he's on a leash or not.
I'll post a picture soon... Thanks so much...