Indicator Of DA?

So my neighbors kids were showing a female toy dog (I seriously can't even tell what kind it is) to my kids, and my daughter was holding it in her hands (in the backyard, neighbor's kids were on the wall). I brought Smokey over to 'meet' her, and the little dog started growling. Smokey started wagging his tail really fast and kept attempting to sniff her, but my daughter kept her at a distance. I noticed Smokey's hair start to stand up at the withers area, so I grabbed him quick and pulled him away, and told my daughter, "get that dog out of here, now!" hahahaha just wanted the other kids to understand the possible danger.

So, with the hair sticking up on my boy's back, do you guys think he will not get along with other dogs?

well sounds to me like the other dog started it, she was probably just backing herself up. Also with toy dogs sometimes its hard to tell if its DA or prey drive since they look like little snacks lol.

If you are curious about him getting along with other dogs I would try it with a dog his size.

:)

NesOne wrote:

So my neighbors kids were showing a female toy dog (I seriously can't even tell what kind it is) to my kids, and my daughter was holding it in her hands (in the backyard, neighbor's kids were on the wall). I brought Smokey over to 'meet' her, and the little dog started growling. Smokey started wagging his tail really fast and kept attempting to sniff her, but my daughter kept her at a distance. I noticed Smokey's hair start to stand up at the withers area, so I grabbed him quick and pulled him away, and told my daughter, "get that dog out of here, now!" hahahaha just wanted the other kids to understand the possible danger.

So, with the hair sticking up on my boy's back, do you guys think he will not get along with other dogs?

Don't ever let a wagging tail fool you into thinking the dog isn't about to fight. One of the common things many people don't realize is that they actually enjoy the combat.........hence the wagging tail. I'd say you did the right thing. No need for fluffy to be scattered all over the yard for the media to slam our breed again!

Thanks for being responsible and recognizing a clear warning sign when some may have ignored it!

Yup, i use the same signal. The hair standing up=collision...
I learned early on the the tail dont tell you anything with these dogs..

LOL little snacks, good one.

About the wagging tail, I learned that at that moment, meanwhile having the "Tim the Toolman Taylor" expression "hhhuuuuhhhh" when I saw that his tail kept wagging throughout the whole time.

Boomer has had a run in with a chi dog. he went up to sniff and the dog started growling and raised her hair, yep, Boom had to be taken away. but he has also done great with other small dogs, but they did the whole sniff sniff, then play thing. sometimes it can be the other dog, but good for you on recognizing a problem before it happened.
NEVER EVER think a wagging tail means they aren't going to attack!!
you have to be aware of where the tail is held, what the dogs body is doing, what the other dogs body is doing, the dogs focus and so many other factors. if you know your dog and they know thier dog you should be able to read them and know what they are thinking, ignoring the tail.

I don't think this necessarily means your dog is too be labeled "DA" although he may be. I think in this case he was challenged and wasn't going to back down. So smart move seperating the two. I mean APBT are prone to be DA, so he may be, but I don't think this situation should label him as such. He, like any other APBT, should be supervised with anyother dog, you never know when some other dog might step on his toes....

I agree with Sydney. He was reacting, not acting. Had he been lunging towards the other dog I would say you have a DA dog on your hands. But I think he was just reacting to the body language of the other dog. Dogs don't think in terms of size, they just know that that other dog was challenging them and he was standing his ground.

I do however agree that you did the right thing by removing him from the situation. Toy dogs generally don't have very good manners and will pick a fight with any dog, regardless of their or the other dogs size. Smokey would do a lot more damage to that little dog than the little dog would do to Smokey. Good thinking.

Wagging tail up usally means "ready to go and overwhelmingly excited to do it". Add the hair standing up and the next attempt to sniff, I'd say the little dog was going to strike and Smokey was going to strike back with devistating consequences. Seen it a hundred times. The only mistake I would say that was made by you was a sudden reaction. Sure it did prevent the possible tragedy, but by doing that you showed him that the situation caused excitement out of you, his boss. I've learned that the best way to diffuse a situation like this is to act as calm as possible and show your dog how to walk away and ignore the other dog. The persistant interest coupled with the aggressive signs out of Smokey set this dog into a "fear aggression" mode and can spark a domination instinct in Smokey. Some dogs would be happy with a show of subission, but bulldogs tend not to recognize sumission and decide to destroy anything they percieve as an opponent.

LOL .. well thankfully pedee is easy to read the first thing he does when he sees an outside dog is growl LOL ... That was the first indicator for me .. he does a short growl followed by silence and then he does a monster growl LOL ... And he will bark non stop ...

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

And Buz, that's excellent advice I'll have to make that adjustment the next time this type of situation occurs

If you bring your dog around one his own size be real careful My pit won't hurt a small dog even if it growls he ignores it but he attacks anything close to his size. Out my 4 game bred dogs none growl they tend to get real stiff and have an attitude that they see nothing but the other dog.

In my house, the stiff wagging tail + hackles can go either way. It either leads to a round of furious play, or it leads to a fight. I just have to look at which dog is doing it to whom. There's always that 2 second space where everything freezes before all hell breaks loose.

You're right Lindsay. You gotta know your dogs. I find it best to just avoid the situation but I know some like to socialize their dogs. I know mine well enough to know that it ain't gonna work. It's not even about DA to her, she just enjoys that crap. Must be Irish. lol

bahamutt99 wrote:

There's always that 2 second space where everything freezes before all hell breaks loose.

You got that right, been there done that, and the problem is that it's not that fast to take them apart.

********UPDATE******

I found a dog park really close to me, within approx. 15 miles. Well I took Smokey this past Saturday to see how he would do with other dogs, and he is not DA at all. Some big furry lab looking type of dog challenged him, and Smokey submitted and laid down on the ground. So I guess I don't have to worry about that, for now at least.

Hackles, growling, and other signals like this are ways for a dog to avoid a fight. They are warning the predator. This doesn't mean the dog will back down if the threat continues, but it is a way to "look" mean without having to engage in physical contatct.

The ones you have to watch out for are the dogs that get extremely excited when they see another dog. Loud "puppy-like" yipping and wagging tail. You think they are excited and want to make a friend, but I feel sorry for the dog that falls for it.

I feel sorry for that dog too. lol

Yeah, Rocky wont put up a front, You know he means business and most other dogs know he does too. Had a Great Dane run up to us one time and luckily was smart enough to stop and turn around..

Yeah pedee will charge full force he growls and barks there are no supirses he started off with that overly excited behavior like Smokey Joe said .. that soon turned to the growling and barking

For the record, raised hackles are a sign of insecurity.

Smokey is still a puppy and hasn't acquired that 'wise old dog' overall confidence yet. The situation sounds like this: Barking, growling aggressive little dog is raising hell and all Smokey wanted to do was meet him, but is then made unsure of what would happen if he did meet the little dog since he is putting out threatening signals.

I would not have let the little dog down, however, as he could have gone after Smokey and your dog would have more than likely reacted negatively because the situation was already tense.

Cleo_APBT wrote:

For the record, raised hackles are a sign of insecurity.

That's intresting. I have never heard that..