I have a Jack russel who is 4 a bitch, and a english bull terrier male who is 2, both dogs get on fine, Samson he is an absolute sweetie in the home gentle with the grand children and he loves cuddles with us and with millie the jack russel. He is very different when out for his walks he is not too keen on other dogs and makes a strange noise when he sees a dog its not a growl just a high pitched noise, we are not sure how to deal with this as he was attacked by a dog and he obviously retaliated and we now are very wary of other dogs. We know what we are doing is wrong because we are not allowing him to greet other dogs but are fearful he may bite them, we tried him with a muzzel but then everyone avoids you so he still doesnt get to meet other dogs, can any body put us straight on this problem. Thanks

Hi Carol v,

Hmm this is tough, we have a Golden Retriever who was attacked too, and began with this sort of behaviour! I dont think there is a cure, in essence, all you can do is make the dog feel a little more comfortable about what they perceive as a threat!

Here's what we did...we did not go the muzzle route as his reaction was not aggressive and you are right about people's reactions to muxxled dogs! His thing was that he would go to snap, but he would lower his body and growl! What we did was to make a point of not removing him from the scenario, but walking him where we knew there were dogs fenced in, so he would get the confidence of being on the other side knowing that the other dogs couldn't get to him, so that he could start to get some confidence back!

Then, we used a 'lead' dog, our second dog who is confident we would always walk by the side of him, and when another dog came to greet, we would send the confident dog off to meet the dog, sending the message to scaredy cat that all was ok, if he growled, we would tap his nose, and then when we walked on praise him! It took a long time as I think he just kept thinking he was going to get attacked, but now he will mix with other dogs fine!

Point to note...do not involve food..or toys! Any dog is going to get aggressive/change behaviour as they want to prove their pack order, and show off to you!

The dog will sense from you too, if you tense when you see another dog, that travels straight down the lead, so try not to change your mood/behaviour, and make the whole experience fun!

ALSO...if you're going to try him greeting other dos, shout to the people that he is not confident, then if they should have a dog they know is 'funny' thats not the dog to try him with! My Cairn is very sociable and if someone shouted to me they had a nervous dog I would have no problem with hanging around to give the other dog confidence!

Hope some of that helps, not a sure fix, just a suggestion.

Hope this advise helps

Try and find a good training class or puppy socialisation class this way you can introduce him in a controlled enviroment.

If not try and find someone who has a dog that's bomb proof. I used to have a dog that other dog owners used to like using to introduce their puppy or nervous dog with because he used to ignore them and would play around them with out paying attention to the other dog. The puppy could then without being forced to interact go up to him in their own time.

Distraction training may also be another route. Have with you something that will make a loud noise eg Keys, rattle, pasta/rice in a bottle or training disc's as soon as he shows any reaction to the passing dog make the noise this will distract him and make him look at you. as soon as his attention is on you praise and reward

Let me know your feedback if you try any of this