Sasha was hit by a car when she slipped her collar and was on her way to say hello to a dog on the other side of the road.
She broke her pelvis and is currently only being taken out to do her pees/poos.

Now the possible problem I think we might have...
She has only been taken out to an enclosed are in front of our house but the few dogs she has had seen further away has caused her to growl very deep throat growl...Very nasty sounding growl I have never heard her do before, tail up and the body language is very bolshy, over the top "come anywhere near me and I will show you"-kind...

She obviously has loads of energy as she spends her time in a crate and is a bit over the top because of this but I think she might have been traumatised by her experience and might now have a deep hate/scare reaction to other dogs as this is what she saw last before being seriously hurt!
She was walked/run with for minimum of 2 hours a day before the accident so there is a big difference to her normal level and now walking for about 10 minutes in very slow mode. I have tried teaching her tricks etc but it is not the same as physical excersise.

We will obviously not be able to really deal with this at the moment as she can not do any fast movements and is still supported under her waist when we go out.
She will have to be kept calm and apart from other dogs until she has healed so we will not be able to see how she actually reacts when closer to another dog etc.

What I wanted to get people opinions on is how should we be reacting to her growling now while she is getting better? Should we ignore or tell her off?
What I have done the few times she has spotted a dog is to position myself between her and the dog, holding her head so she can not see the dog...
We can not sit her down because of her pelvis so she will have to remain standing. Neither have I got hand free for treats as I'm holding her harness to keep her still and her collar to control her head and my other half is holding the towel to support her! I doubt she would take a treat in a situation like this seeing how tense she is...

I am aware we might have to bring in a behaviourist to sort out her problem but this will not be something we can really do untill at least 3 weeks time when she can actually walk herself without being supported and will be able to get little more excersise to sort out her over the top energy levels as I'm hoping this will sort out most of this problem.
Also we can not show the behaviorist how she is reacting as I would not want to introduce the situation on purpose as there is still a risk she will do a fast movement and pull the bolts in her pelvis apart. I try not to tense myself when I see a dog but knowing she can damage hersel by the situation does mean I will tense up even i I'm trying to keep calm (if that makes sense) and Sasha must also be reacting to my bodylanguage.

She has also started to bark at sounds outside which she has never done before and shows to me she is bit on a over load at the moment...
Being on her doorstep probably does not help her behaviour either as there might be little bit of guarding there too but currently we can not go any further than front of our house area!

Also, she has never shown aggressivenes towards other dogs before and was more submissive than bossy around other dogs.
She would sometimes get little too excited when she spotted a dog and jump and bark few times but would always be fine when allowed to go and say hello.
Any advise anyone?

Since she is still in alot of pain she prob just telling them not to come near which is understandable because she really can not help herself she is very vulnerable right now. Can you not take her into the back yard so she see's no other dogs? I would keep doing what you are doing by putting yourself in front so she can not see them.

When she is better then maybe see if you can take her to dog class where it is a controlled situation so she can meet other dogs- even if its just to sit in class and watch them they shouldn't have a problem with that- this way she can start interacting again but at a very slow pace.

If she is starting to bark I would praise her/treat/what ever but also tell her thats enough so she stops. You don't want to encourage it but you don't want her to think its bad either thats where you tell her good for letting me know but stop when I say enough.

I am sure she will come around and losen up a lil bit more once she can do things on her own and not in so much pain, I can just imagine how she hurts and they really can't say don't hold me like that ect ect cause that really hurts- give it time...

((hugs))

Like dollface I believe that she is probably frightened that she will be hurt and is trying to warn the other dogs off.
We had a rescue collie cross that came to our obedience that had had surgery on both hips. It wanted to kill all the dogs as it walked in. We got the owner to just sit in a corner with the dog and told them to tell anyone that let their dogs wander over to tell them to stay away. Week by week he came and each time came closer to the class. Eventually (approx three weeks) he joined in the class. The dog gained so much confidence in the fact that nothing was touching him so therefore we wasn't getting any pain from interacting with the other dogs. That dog eventually was dragging the owner through the doors to get into the class and got the six month trophy for most improved dog. One very proud owner and one happy dog.
Maybe you could try this if you have a good club that understands and doesn't push the dog too much. Probably better to do this at a controlled class rather than just with well meaning people walking their dogs as the walk will often heighten the excitement in the other dog.
Good luck, I am sure this is just a glitch as Sasha has been in a lot of pain. So pleased to hear that she is improving after her op.

Sorry I am not able to offer any advice but I can say that I have experienced similar behaviour in one of my dogs following surgery. 

My Chow x Rottie boy has had 2 cruciate repairs and after each operation he started to lunge at other dogs when being exercised on lead during the recovery period.  Normally, he is not interested in other dogs at all and will pass most without a second glance.  I assumed he was feeling vulnerable and adopted attack as the best form of defence...not that he ever actually made contact with another dog; just lunging and a bit og verbal.  The behaviour lessened as his mobility improved and disappeared altogether when he was fully recovered.

Hi,

I agree with dollface. She'll be in a lot of discomfort and aware that she cannot move in the way she'd like to so much of her behaviour will be a "back off" signal to other dogs, particularly ones she doesn't know.

In addition, there may be an association from the accident, but I wouldn't get too hung up on the idea because it might not be the case that there is one. And, as you say, you don't want to add your anxiety to hers. I'd act as though there isn't an association until you have firm evidence to the contrary and you cannot put that to the test until she feels completely well.  For now, I would give dogs a very wide berth in general but look at building up her critical distance over time.

As an aside, my very laid back boy has recently hurt his paw and he is very growly round other dogs at the moment and generally more reactive and wary. He even growled at a person who brushed against him, so it just goes to show how pain can change behaviour- I guess the survival instinct kicks in.

Do you have any dog friends that Sasha knew well prior to the accident? Once she is a bit stronger and her pain control is properly in place you might be able to use a dog "friend" to reintroduce her to the canine world again and yes, you may feel that could be done with the help of a behaviourist if she is unusually reactive. Or, once feeling better, things may just slot into place quite easily.

I'm sorry I seem to have missed her breed. I just wondered if making her hunt for her daily food ration round the house and garden, large meaty bones to gnaw as well as some scent work, might help burn up some mental energy and tire her? You're probably doing all of this but just a thought.

Thank you everybody.
I think I might be reacting to this too soon, it has been such a shock to hear her do that and it got me really worried I have a huge problem on our hands as being 50kg Leo it will be very dangerous situation if she has decided she hates all dogs! Being worried and stressed about her anyway doesn't help...

We have started taking her out early in the morning and late at night so to minimase any possible sightings of dogs and also make it as quiet affair as possible as we noticed she is too busy looking around and not consentrating on doing her business when there are loads happening around us.
So I think we continue with this avoidance of other dogs for now until she is feeling better and then tackle any possible hung ups she might have.
I will continue hiding any other possible dogs behind myself so hopefully I do not have to react at all.
I suppose I am worried she will develope a habit of growling if I let her do it but on another hand if he is doing it out of being unsure I do not want to tell her off and make her feel it is wrong to give these signals when it is not.

I think you all might well be right saying she is unsure and vulnerable as her body language and sound effects really are over the top -keep away from me- signals including the really loud growl...
On a first look she doesn't look like she is but reading her and knowing how she is probably feeling it is all probably to do with this and add the lack of excersise I think I have the receipe of why she is behaving like she is behaving.

She has also been put on commercial food from nearly 100% Barf feeding so the food might have something to do with the change of behaviour but the vet recommended changing her food for now as I have to say I do not feel I have enough knowledge/confidence to offer balanced raw diet as I have only just changed her over to raw few months ago and now she is repairing a huge fracture.
She was not eating enough either so had to be on a very high energy food but we are slowly weaning her off this as she is now eating normal amounts of food.

She is currently crated so we can not hide part of her food around the house and she is not interested in working for it by using stuffed Kongs...
Also, We have not been able to give her bones yet as she has struggled to poo (just the physical pooing position having been painful) and has been constipated so "bone poos" is not something we have wanted to give her...
But the pooing side is now getting more regular and easier so I'm hoping we will be able to add bones in to her diet so she will have something to do while being rested!

On a more positive note she has seen the surgeon today and they are very happy with her progress, it is better than they were expecting so she will soon be allowed to walk around the house little bit more and the amount of walking outside will slowly be increased too :).
In next few weeks we should see much improvement to her ability to use the fractured side and pain seems to have decreased a lot already as the bones are setting...

Great news

Just from my experience my male Rottie had his cruciate operated on earlier this year and after the op when he was in the vets he would growl and not want any other dogs near him, he also started to get abit grumpy if people fussed him.  To be honest I didn't worry about it as he had just had surgery and was still in pain.  I kept a very close eye on him and once recovered he went straight back to his usual happy self....loves dogs and people.