Every dog attacks my dog!

Synax_Injector

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I have no idea what or why, but i have a 9month bullmastif puppy, he's a big lad but ever so gentle he's grown up with my daughter since she was two and now three.

Every dog, literally every dog we meet attacks him, I've just moved to a new area, been here three weeks and over ten dogs have gone for him, he does nothing, he walks by my side and is as friendly as they come and every time the owner says the same thing "sorry he's never done that before" it's frustrating because I have to wipe the blood and look after him because horrible little dogs attack him for no reason, it's a range.of breeds, Staffie, Yorkie, Jack Russel...the worst, horrible things, that black and white working dog I can't remember the breed.any way I've never met a dog that will play and have fun with him, he's never never attacked or even retaliated. I wish he would, when a tiny dog attacks him I wish he'd give him a good bite back, make the dog and owner pay but he's too gentle and just takes it. I even knocked on a ladies door and politely said do you realise you spaniel reached out the gate and has ripped my dogs ear, i could report etc and she said he would never ever etc.....so I brought my dog to the gate and he again bit his throat and she was horrified, she said he's never done that.

But every one says that, but just today alone, I saw six dogs...all six went for him, I just don't understand it, I'm a bit worried he will in time become defensive rather than friendly... Advice?
 
Hi, it could be something that you have not observed in your dog`s mannerism, something that you may not have seen, a kind of dog body language. Obviously if your dog is large then other smaller dogs or even large dogs may feel threatened and behave aggressively towards him. I have owned large breed dogs for over 30 years and there is a need for them to socialize, to some this is a natural thing and others need time and exposure to other dogs. You could do one of two things, the first take him to dog training classes or if you know somebody with a dog, then perhaps the two could meet and your dog could learn how to act with another dog without getting bitten or worse.
 
Has he been neutered?

Sometimes neutered dogs get nervous around 'intact' dogs as they can sense the testosterone.

My dog used to get attacked a fair bit and we had him neutered and now he is left alone.
 
Have no advice on that, my brothers dog which I sometimes look after has the opposite effect, when he meets other dogs they just wants to play, never barks just runs around which I find weird, it's like he's a pacifist lol.

Hope it works out as your puppy ( a very big one albeit :)) sounds like a sweet heart and it would be a shame if this changed his nature.

OT: How big are his parents and his paws? That'll give you an indication of his full grown size.
 
Welcome to the big dog syndrome.
I use to have to walk Bruce on a lead if I was not in my local fields due to the same problem and he's been attacked a few times but never hurt badly.
The dogs he grew up with are all fine, we would have up to 15 dogs on a walk in the fields and it was great fun and very enjoyable.
You will find some dogs are fine, some are not and at some point regardless of he's a lovely chap he will react and you will be seen as mr bad guy.
The biggest mistake is to think he will not react in defence, just have your wits about you so you are not caught off guard. Bruce has reacted just once when 2 border terriers went at him. He laid down and one bit his ear and he reacted and it was not great. The owner admitted his dogs attacks others and thankfully Bruce was under control at the time.

What I would do is find an area to walk him in, meet up with other dog owners and get to know them. People are nervous of giant breeds, more so yours due to his looks but once you get a few friends you may find a more settled and enjoyable walk.

Don't be in any rush to get him nipped under there, let him develop into the dog he will be. A Newfie takes 2 years to develop and I had my boy done at 2 once he had developed and his bone structure was complete.
I've no idea about your breed but many Newfies don't get that nice big bone bear like face if done early, they look like they have a thin muzzle structure and just seem out of shape.

I would say join a breed forum and chat with other owners as I did. You get lots of tips and support on what's what from fellow mastiff owners.
 
Agree with what newfi has said. Ours is fairly big lab and he was the same we had him done at age 2.
 
wait... to prove your point you let the ladies dog attack yours again as a demonstration ?! :eek:
 
I used to have a Springer Spaniel (now sadly re-homed) who for various reasons wasn't trained properly in his earlier years. He was appalling with other dogs- either he would go for them, or vice versa. Some dogs simply attacked him on sight. Even dogs going past in cars would bark hysterically at him, as though there was something intolerable about him in canine terms. He was neutered so nothing to do with that, but to this day I don't know why his relations with other dogs were so fractious.

My only thought was his ill-discipline was detectable by the other animals and made him seem the equivalent of a 'delinquent', so other dogs couldn't tolerate him.

Canine psychology is something I'd love to know more about.
 
My son has a Dogue de Bordeaux, massive lad but a real gentle giant. He had the same problem as you. Once he got to 14 months or so he became more assertive in his attitude and dogs thought twice about having a go at him.

Two of my bitches, an Irish Setter and our present Cocker have been attacked by male dogs. The poor Irish was badly injured finishing her as a best of breed winning show dog. The Cocker was attacked by a Kerry Blue only saved by a swift kick in the ribs for which I make no apologies as my Cocker was on a lead in a public park and Kerries can do some serious damage.
 
We're seriously considering getting a dog (for the first time) next spring but these stories are now putting my off. Would hate for my Mrs to be walking our dog with another attacking it, scares the life out of me!
 
We're seriously considering getting a dog (for the first time) next spring but these stories are now putting my off. Would hate for my Mrs to be walking our dog with another attacking it, scares the life out of me!

We got a dog for the first time last month after putting it off for years. Its been an amazing experience and bought lots of fun to the house. Our 5 year old daughter instantly bonded and has a new best friend!
 
As already stated, your Dog is a Gentle Giant. It's biding it's time....A lot, it seems :)
Soon, it will explode, in a..Hmm, kind of a nasty..Way!

Trust in your Mutt. It will (eventually) own all Mutts. Mate, seriously, You'll be fine, it just goes this way sometimes...Patience...You will see . ;-) Trust in the Mutt. It will sort it out :thumbsup:
 
My son was walking his dogs in a park once, and from nowhere a black lab attacked his bullmastif. The owner came walking over slowly as if nothing had happened. At this point my sons other dog,a staffie was also attacked.
When the staffie went back at it, he went crazy blaming my son and started kicking the staffie.
Long story short, the lab and the owner came off worse.
If your dog can't be trusted off a lead, keep the bloody thing on it.
 
It's nice to see that alot of you understand! I mean the stereotype is a bullmastif is a nasty dog etc etc. But as most of you say he is this massive gentle giant...laying across my daughter as I type this, someone mentioned that they'd like a bullmastif but would be concerned if it was attacked, but you have to remember that it's the dogs that attack that you should worry about, silly small dogs such as terriers, Russells, i suppose he does suffer big dog syndrome lol, its horrible because if you tell him off he wees himself and runs off yet when he's being good and walking with us he just gets attacked, to me he's not big, would he be considered big at 9 months and 45kg
 
We got a dog for the first time last month after putting it off for years. Its been an amazing experience and bought lots of fun to the house. Our 5 year old daughter instantly bonded and has a new best friend!
What breed out of interest
 
As already stated, your Dog is a Gentle Giant. It's biding it's time....A lot, it seems :)
Soon, it will explode, in a..Hmm, kind of a nasty..Way!

Trust in your Mutt. It will (eventually) own all Mutts. Mate, seriously, You'll be fine, it just goes this way sometimes...Patience...You will see . ;-) Trust in the Mutt. It will sort it out :thumbsup:
I don't understand what your saying:,he'd finally give up and defend /attack or just Take it? I'd like him to tell yappy dogs to fo but at the same time I love his patience
 
I think he's saying your chap will flip in the end.
Don't take this wrong, I'm the same as you with Bruce who's a gentle giant but I've seen Bruce flip on one and just one occasion and trust me when I say while he is a gentle lad that one time was both scary and upsetting.
He's a pup, he's learning his way but and I mean this with respect, don't ever think he will never retaliate if he's injured ot latched on to.
Dogs tend to make noise and show a bit of teeth in the don't push me around way and that happens. I've seen Bruce get told off by small dogs and he hangs his head.

Just be aware of the dog you own, the power they have and just never take take it for granted he's never going flip.
 
As an owner of a huge German Shepherd (he's old, and poorly now, but weighs around 8 stone), I can sympathise with the OP and others that have had their dogs go through this situation. I've made this point in a few dog threads, but owners need to stop humanising their dogs. You cannot apply human logic or reasoning to behaviour which is exhibited by a species of animal in no way similar to humans. Dogs don't attack or bark at another dog because they don't like the look of them, it's just not what they do. A dog, if well trained in a good home environment should walk with it's owner as subservient to the human. The human should take the role of the 'Alpha' in the pack (the boss essentially), and a dog that knows it's place within the pack will want to be protected by the Alpha. One of the multitude of reasons that dogs attack others is that the small yappy little dog that is fed before it's Alpha, walks through doors before it's Alpha, and leads the walk (a dog views a walk as a hunt) becomes confused about it's position in the pack. This dog that is confused about it's postition will then take it upon itself to 'protect' who it views as it's own pack (the human moron running after his dog across the field yelling) and will then attack nearby dogs for what we see as no real reason. To us, there is no reasoning, because we aren't thinking like dogs (well, it's more like instinct, they don't stop and have a 'deep and meaningful' before hanging off of another dogs ear!).

@Synax_Injector, if your dog is not retaliating, it is in all likelihood because it is well trained, and knows that you are the Alpha male in his pack, and it falls to you to protect the pack, feed the pack, lead the hunt (walkies), and so on. You have obviously done these things well if you dog is not attacking others. But, to reiterate what @NewfieDrool has said, your dog at some point WILL become impatient with ongoing, repeated attacks on itself, and may well retaliate - it won't be pretty when it happens. If your dog does decide to fight back, don't panic, shout, or scream (it's similar to giving encouragement if you shout). Firstly, let go of your dogs lead, and tell the other owner (if it's on a lead) to do the same - dogs fight to protect their pack or territory, dogs (as in males) never fight to the death, one will run away. If they stay in the same area, and you can, take a coat/ jacket off and throw it over the fighting dogs heads (chances are it'll be over quick, dog's don't brawl in the street for 10 minutes!) if they can't see, they stop.

Females will normally go for males that are sniffing round them, and are generally speaking more agressive and protective than male dogs. It's worth finding out before your dog meets another what sex it is. My dog has been attacked by more bitches than I can count, and a male dog will never fight a female back.

Good luck. My boy is too old, arthritic and has cancer now, so I don't take him for walkies anymore, he can't do it :( but I can pretty much guarantee, if I took him to the park now, I'd have to protect him from a Yorkshire Terrier, bloody things :)
 
We have a 6 month old DDB (French Mastiff) puppy, very confident lad but gentle ‘soon to be’ giant. He has been to socialising classes since 9 weeks old and was socialised with the breeders other breeds i.e. Boarboals. Our pup hasn’t backed down yet to another dog but he also only wants to play.


The worst offending ‘nasty’ dogs have been the ankle snappers (which he just ignores..lol) and collies, which here are renowned for being nasty. Maybe your dog would actually be better off the lead when these dogs attack, my mums Boxer was aggressive on lead but off would just play otherwise. If it were me and I had my dog on the lead and it was still getting attacked I’d be having some harsh words with the other dog walkers. I wonder if these other dogs would attack if he was off lead?

Do not get him chopped until at least 2 years old, he is still growing up until then!
 
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The trouble with a dog off a lead is that it's not seen as under control so an incident could rapidly turn out of your control and both you and the dog could be worse off under the law.

You get to know when they can be off lead and when they need to be on lead.
 
The trouble with a dog off a lead is that it's not seen as under control so an incident could rapidly turn out of your control and both you and the dog could be worse off under the law.

You get to know when they can be off lead and when they need to be on lead.

Agreed but it might be worth ago the once to see if they behave differently, beside he will be off the lead one day and has to be prepared and preferably at ease with being off the lead with other dogs around. We put Wilson on the lead to prevent him from being over confident and wanting to play all the time when others dogs don't but he\we are also comfortable off the lead to
 
Walking a dog off lead is great but you really have to make sure you've done enough distraction training and their recall is 100% regardless of the situation. We've finally got Rhaegar to recall away from other dogs but it's taken months of long line training.
 
The trouble with a dog off a lead is that it's not seen as under control so an incident could rapidly turn out of your control and both you and the dog could be worse off under the law.

You get to know when they can be off lead and when they need to be on lead.

How situations are viewed by others is a large problem imo. We were advised when living in Germany that signage on our property that was 'badly worded' could lead to potential problems if my dog were to protect his property from intruders. My example is:

A sign saying 'Beware Guard Dog' could, if read in the wrong way read as ' Beware Maniac Dog Out of Control'. If my dog bit a burglar, a decent lawyer would be able to successfully show that by my signage, I had admitted and to and shown that my dog was dangerous. Therefore, any blame for injuries would lie at my door, as I have already admitted to owning a dangerous dog.

The same went for signs reading 'Large dog loose', 'German Shepherd loose', and so on. We settled on 'Watch out, German Shepherd about' which had a caricature of a GSD. This was deemed as safe...What a load of toss, just to please others.

The one sign that I loved (but alas, could not have), had a picture of a GSD, with the words:

"I can make it to my front gate in under 2 seconds. Can you?" :)
 
The human should take the role of the 'Alpha' in the pack (the boss essentially), and a dog that knows it's place within the pack will want to be protected by the Alpha.


Thats generally considered a little bit old school these days, the problem with making the owner the alpha or pack leader is that the dog may think he's second to the owner and may attack other family members when the alpha is out or, in worse cases, may even attack the alpha leader if the owner is ill or sick and the dog see's it as a chance to become the pack leader.

For the most part its generally encouraged to train your dog with positive reinforcement to create a much stronger bond based on respect for its owner as opposed to being put in its place.

Its worth a look at Zak George's videos on youtube ive been following quite a bit of his stuff and its making out relationship with our aggressive rescue dog stronger every day. He's becoming incredibly obedient and is learning what is ok and whats not... Not to mention that at times he's like a crazy puppy which is just too cute (is it ok for a 37 yr old man to say that?)... :)
 
Thats generally considered a little bit old school these days, the problem with making the owner the alpha or pack leader is that the dog may think he's second to the owner and may attack other family members when the alpha is out or, in worse cases, may even attack the alpha leader if the owner is ill or sick and the dog see's it as a chance to become the pack leader.

For the most part its generally encouraged to train your dog with positive reinforcement to create a much stronger bond based on respect for its owner as opposed to being put in its place.

Its worth a look at Zak George's videos on youtube ive been following quite a bit of his stuff and its making out relationship with our aggressive rescue dog stronger every day. He's becoming incredibly obedient and is learning what is ok and whats not... Not to mention that at times he's like a crazy puppy which is just too cute (is it ok for a 37 yr old man to say that?)... :)

That's interesting info. Cheers, :smashin: I do enjoy finding new ways to train dogs, even if mine is too old to learn new stuff (no, really, he is!). When I got him nearly 13 years ago, it was considered old school to punish animals, in particular dogs with pain, and was generally frowned upon, yet 20 or 30 years ago it was probably fairly ok to hit your dog. Now though, thankfully, things have moved on (for the most part)
 

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