hi, I would very much faviour any one who could help me with my dog and his behaviour. When I take him for a walk of his lead, in a field, when a dog comes up to him he justs runs away. He is a Labrador male aged 2 thankyou

Bit of an obvious question this, so I apologise in advance, but has he been attacked ever by another dog. sorry its obvious but its just so we can eliminate that cause.

yes he was,by a fully grown masstiff , when he was six months. Is there anything that i can do to bring back his trust with other dogs

There can be many reasons or one SARAHMARTIS.

It might be to do with his history, it might not, but at 2, how long has he been like it?

Certainly it is a genetic predisposition, most but not all dogs have a predisposition for it, goes back to the wolfs survival drive, the degree is what differs in dogs.

Other unknowns are things like,does he run from all dogs,some breeds, males or males and females, size, dogs running at him or any dog in any situation?

You need to give a more complete, detailed, historical picture.

All dogs go through a critical period which finishes at 16 weeks, most opinions are satisfied it starts at the time when the brain is developed enough to produce mature memory cells capable of memory retention of smells, noises etc, estimated at around 2 to 3 weeks.

Can you find out from the breeder if your dog was allways held back when the rest played, or other things, maybe (just an example) an older dog frightened it accidentaly...anything along those lines.

he mainly runs away from large dogs but he can somtimes run away from smaller ones. he DOes not bark at all at the dogs. He dosnet like it when people run up and stroke him. somtimes he becomes at ease if he comes in contact with labrador male or female, is there any training or treatment to get rid of his nervesness. At home he is very well behaved and trained. When the door bell rings he'll bark PLease help

ever since he was attacked in the park with a masstiff when he was 6 months. Before that he would go up to people and go up to dogs tthe attack has ruined his life with other dogs

We have only one dog in the family, would it help to get anther dog (puppy)

Hi,
Well you gave a good history, I can give you a few simplified facts.

All dogs are trained on their drives, drives have thresholds, both are geneticaly determined and when animals 'learn' they cannot learn beyond the genetic threshold.

The drive which concerns your dog is the fight and flight drive. Some dogs, not very common, have a geneticaly low nerve thershold and will run from other dogs regardless of any learning experience or in total absence of any bad experiences with any other dogs.

You have rightly observed that the cause in your dog’s case was an attack by another dog. On the positive side your dog 'learned' that other dogs could be a threat, it also learned that it is larger dogs which are the greater threat.
The fact that his response is learned means that it can be de-conditioned and ‘learn’ again that not all dogs are a threat.

I do not usually give any training tips in writing but this sort of thing is a different area of training, this is a specific problem and ‘retraining’ is drawn out but simple depending on what facilities are available to you in your environment.

Your dog will be able to re-learn to trust most other dogs for the simple reason that before he was attacked his nerve threshold was stable and calm around other dogs (at least you have implied that was the case).

The positive re building block is the fact that he is less nervous of other Labs.

I have no idea what type of environment you are able to access, it might be a city park, which means it is a negative environment for him at the moment, full of dogs etc which reinforces his flight response and makes the habit more ingrained and his association that dogs are a threat more real to him.

What he needs immediately is to be kept away from areas where there are lots or even one dog which give him a flight reaction and change it, if possible, to a quieter environment which does not have this stimulus.

Much of what can be done is totally dependant on how much you can structure his environment, so to start with can you try and make arrangements with other Lab owners to walk him with them when they take their dog out? That would be a VERY important beginning.

It will be much better if you stay well away from the area he was attacked, he will probably be nervous in that area as it is associated with a threat.

If you can make those arrangements to start with other Labs then let me know and then maybe you can start a more structured program. What I will say is that this will all take time and precision, maybe in a year or less he will be as good as ok with the severe reaction you describe decreased or eliminated.

What is really important at the moment is for you to assess what is available to you in your environment e’g. are there quite times with no other dogs around, are there times when you know someone methodically takes their dog into a park walks and a certain circle, if there is you could take your dog in at the same time, walk on the opposite side of the park and over a period of time gradually close the distance. THAT IS AN EXAMPLE, don’t take it to literally as yet, do you have access to countryside.

My opinion, and thats all it is, is that getting another dog at the moment is not a good idea, maybe later.

thank you very much
do you or have ever owned a dog and which breed did you have 2 or 1? Have you ever com about this problem before. I have herd of a pill/ tablet/vitamin for nerves would this also help
and when wouls you suggest getting anther puppy or not getting one at all
I live in an area were there all both busy and non busy area wear i could take him with anther lab

This might seem funny but are from usa

SARAHMARTIS

Admin Edit

Do not get another dog until you have him happier around other dogs. If you got one otherwise you would have to walk them seperately until he has this problem mastered, as you could end up with two nervous dogs, or worse two together may learn to get thiers in first!

Marti my dog will be 2 in July once his fear has been overcome do you think that i should get a female for him or a male for him

If i GOT HIM NEUTARD WOULD THIS CHANGED HIS PERSONALLITY EG HIS NERVESNESS

YES THAT A GOOD POINT

BYE

:~}

Oh Saramarits, I have only just realized your ** YO, I don't really think I can say much except maybe you can make arrangements with other Lab owners, who's dogs yours feels comfortable with, to walk your dog with them.

I don't personaly think it's a good idea to get another dog, good luck.

Admin Edit on age

Sarah,
I realize this is off topic and I hope you don't take offense. I'm only thinking of your safety. Please, please don't post your last name, age, or area where you live anyplace online including even here. It is just not safe to do this.

This is an open forum and anyone can just surf in here and gain personal information about you without even having to register. If you have any doubts about my advisement, please check with your parents or local police and they will likely support this caution.

Good luck with your dog.
Sara aka: Toodles

Many thanks for this advice.

I have arranged with my dad to remove the email address in my profile, and I will make sure I do not give out any personal details on this messageboard.