Hi
Can anyone help me. I have just adopted (3 weeks) a 7 year old dalmation dog Bailey.The owners found that they could no longer care for him properly, he was very lacking in exercise.He is very overweight which I am addressing with a prescription diet.He is a pleasure to have in every way Except: when walking he will SOMETIMES attack others dogs.It does not matter if he is on/off lead the size of the other dogs , if there is 1,2 or 3 others together.If I call him back he always responds and he never really hurts the other dogs (some have been very shaken+ owners).He will even partly walk past another dog then suddenly turn around and attack.Other days he will be the perfect pet and no incidences will occour.I am at this time getting up to walk him for 6am so I encouter less other dogs and walking in isolated places in the evening.I walk with my sisiter and her dog(Sam)some evenings and most times Baliey will attack Sam briefly then I recall him they walk around together reasonable happily.I have tried a muzzel but Baliey made his face bleed getting this off PLEASE does anyone know how to overcome this?

what exactly do you mean by "attack"?

As morgan asked, what exactly does he do?

And in the meantime, keep him ON the lead - even if he attacks on leash, at least you will have control over him - he may have a good recall, but better safe than sorry.

Hi Nikita
I do tend to keep on him on the lead,but I dont feel he gets the right amount of exercise on a lead. He does not play! he does not know what a ball or a stick is! Since walking with Sam he is more active as he will follow Sam around and covers more ground.He has so much weight to loose he 47kgs and should be 27kgs I want to encouge more off lead activity.
Julie

Very few dalmatians play with balls - and please, never throw a stick for a dog, they can cause serious injury, and can even kill. :( If yyou can't let him off the lead (and it's unwise to let any rescue dog off the lead for a couple of months - try jogging with him. :)

Hi Jeangenie
Thanks for the tip but I might die if I had to jog!!!Would last about 10 yards i think!

:D You and me both

Dalmatians are a breed that need plenty of mileage (I have four of them at the moment), ideally at their trotting speed. They're ideal jogging companions, but will also go nicely (after training) with a bike - although that can't be done on public roads. I know he's heavily overweight so can't do that yet - how much exercise (distance and time) are you able to give him at the moment?

Hi Jeangenie
half an hour over fields in the morning.  1x 20min block walk . 1- 1.5 hours in the evening over fields during the week and an extra half hour on weekends.

Hi Morgan
He aims always at the necks of the other dogs but never uses his teeth ?

As the others have said, keep him on a lead until you can trust him. I use a 20' long lead similar to a lunge lead that are used for horses. The dog can get more excercise but you still have control. My dogs don't attack other dogs so it isn't a problem I have to deal with, I just have a youngster that doesn't always come back!  ;)

How expereinced are you with dogs?  I was wondering if he was actually playing (in an unacceptably boisterous fashion) but was wanting to interact with the other dogs.

If you were to see mine playing with eachother you would think they were murdering each other.  Of course they do not play like this with strange dogs, not unless they ahve gotten throughly introduced and invited to play, and then only once they know each other really well.

As adults they don't bother with more than a freindly sniff with other dogs, but pups will want to play with anything that can be persuaded to, so this is where you ahve to teach them to have manners and not interfere with other dogs.

I would take him to a training class and ahve an expereinced person assess his behaviour with other dogs.

You say you walk with another dog and he attacks him, but does this other dog feel he is being attacked (I can't see the owner wanting to walk with you if that is so), or just mugged playfully.

Yes I have wondered if its play, however sometimes I dont think it is others it could be. I walk with my sister and her dog Sam. Bailey now only lunges for Sam and is instantly pulled back then thats it they are ok.
I had a border collie for 16 years and a cocker spaniel for 15 years (also rescue dogs)and I never had this problem with either, the border needed loads of exercise I usually managed this with a ball and lots of outings and I even took her to work with me.
As Baliey is alredy 7 years i am at a loss of whats best.

thats pretty much what was going through my mind, i thought a real attack was a serious thing and resulted in blood etc, I would reccommend getting somebody with experience to observe his body language when one of these "attacks" occur. my dog if allowed plays very hard and could be misunderstood as similar, not every dog or owner wants that and thats where the training comes in i think.

Thanks will look at that.

Can anyone give any trainers name and contacts numbers who would be willing to come and look at baliey on his walks and not charge the earth?in the north lincolnshire area.