Please help. I don’t know what to do for the best. I have a 16 month intact Male staffie. He is adorable. He is very excitable around other dogs. Some dogs like this and they play, others do not and go for him. The trouble is, my boy has just started to retailiate. He got into his second fight today with a springer spaniel and the spaniel had no injuries but my boy has a bite mark on his head. I personally don’t blame either dog...they were both intact and this in my opinion is wha can happen. The trouble is, I am feeling really prejudged and bullied by a number of people at the park now and it’s becoming a pattern. I need to know if castrating him will help? Feeling desperate now ✌

now you know he is getting into difficulties doesn't matter the reason you need to keep him away from other dogs  and at a distance he is happy at least for now This may mean no off lead time or at the least a long line so you can recall him as needed. Good time to work on that too
with regard to castration most times this doesn't help and its down to more and more solid training until maturity. Infact sometimes  it can sometimes make matters worse .
I am sure he is a lovely  dog who needs some help in appropriate behaviour and responses I
Hopefully one of our behaviourists will be along with more advice

Thank you for your non judgemental and helpful opinion.

The effect of castration is unpredictable. If he's fearful (which sounds possible if he's "retaliating") then it could make him significantly worse.

Best thing you can do for him is find a reward based trainer for regular classes. I have two reactive dogs, and the reality is I can't control how other dogs behave but I can do my best to support a more positive experience/outcome for my dogs.

> He is very excitable around other dogs. Some dogs like this and they play, others do not and go for him.

This is the issue not his sexuality.

He must not be allowed to practice this behaviour, it is rude in canine etiquette. So more control around other dogs.   Meetings on lead to onoy a quick sniff and move on, or ignore totally while you offer a treat for focus on you.

Some breeds play hard.  This is where training classes are very helpful to help teach self control. It is very important that he learns a more moderate approach to other dogs, and to ignore them.  Once othr dogs retaliate then one of two things can happen, some dogs get a buzz from fighting and will like to repeat it, others will decide get in first.

Given the other dog was also an intact male hormones may have had some role to play in the interaction. Was the other male a similar age or very much older? It might have been a case of two young adult males get a bit OTT or a younger dog not minding his Ps and Qs around an older male. However, you do not want your dog learning to anticipate a dust up in the presence of testosterone and getting one in first. As others have suggested work on getting him into controlled situations around a range of dogs, including intact boys and teaching him to be calm.

The boy issue aside, your dog needs to learn a degree of self restraint around all other dogs and develop the ability to 'read' them and whether his attentions are going to be accepted or not. The fact that he is so excitable and probably very frustrated will be interfering with his ability to read the signals. Slowly teaching him to be calm is key.

In my experience SBTs can one of the breeds that is a bit more full on and too in your face for some other dogs and this can lead to crossed wires and tears! It just means you will have to monitor him much more carefully for now and I would focus on you being the one he 'plays' with, not other dogs. Thankfully SBTs can be trained to a very high standard of obedience so really work on his self control cues, like 'leave' 'wait' and of course, recall.

Yes this makes sense. I think my boy liked it, no sign of mental trauma but I think he would have enjoyed doing it again/not good and not what we want. I hope we have caught this early enough, he is still a young boy...any recommendations of how to find a good professional support. It seems everyone and anyone is a ‘dog trainer’ these days?? Many thanks

Freelanceukuk you speak a lot of sense. I think my boy was not minding his p’s and q’s with a more sophisticated 3-4 year old dog. My boy always used to back of when told off but he is way too in their face! I should have know better yesterday, he was acting a little feral in the build up...I am learning but don’t really want to make any more damaging mistakes. I need a decent behaviourist to help me-I know my limitations and I am at them!

>This is the issue not his sexuality.

Brainless is totally right with this.  The issue is over-arousal.  When dogs are over-aroused, behaviour tips over in various ways.  Some dogs decide to get very humpy and just hump everything.  Other dogs run in zoomies around the house, leaping on and off furniture or - with other dogs - initiate out of control chase games (leaping on other dogs' heads - not noticed cues from other dogs). 

And yet other breeds will tend to tip over into reactivity.  This is very true of the terrier breeds, bred to react first and think later.

Attaining calm control around other dogs is key to reducing reactivity and this probably means having an excellent recall and not allowing him to play with dogs which are not suitable playmates and which you don't know appreciate a rough style of play.

You do yourself and your dog a disservice to allow him to continue to get these responses from other dogs, because as you've noticed, sooner or later he is just going to conclude that other dogs are a threat and he's going to attack first and then you will truly have a reactive dog.

Not all dogs need to play roughly and slather all over each other's necks - in fact, a lot less of that and a lot more control instilled by the humans and we'd all be better off...

You can go to the website of the Animal Behaviour Training Council which holds a registry of qualified and assessed trainers and behaviourists around the country, including APBC and APDT members.

There are good trainers and behaviourists out there who are not members of this organisation but knowing how to find them can be hard, going the route above is some guarantee of competence.

You would also benefit by simply attending a well run dog training class with a knowledgable trainer. You could look for a class that does KC Good Citizens awards.

In terms of castration, be sure to read up on the pros and cons. Castration will not tackle the roots of your dog's behaviour, which is a matter of teenage lack of boundaries, over arousal and self restraint- you will have to teach him and this will involve lots of training and limited, supervised interactions with other dogs. However, testosterone can increase the intensity and duration of aggressive responses, once triggered, as well as increasing competitive behaviour with other intact males...which can lead to aggression and, as you have noted, some dogs may learn to enjoy fighting. Loss of testosterone can increase fearful behaviour..but it sounds as though your boy is reasonably confident.

In some breeds adult intact males can get along okay but in others there can be much more same sex intolerance, so this may be another factor worth considering.