I don't care how silly the ideas, I have a silly dog, so they might just work
Thursday, Alfie meets a young puppy, it jumps all over him, licks his face, gets under his feet and nips him. He's an angel, tolerant and calm
Saturday, Alfie meets an extremely nervous rescue dog. He's an angel, calm, gentle and allows the dog time to sniff his most intimate parts.
Friday, Alfie meets an adult black lab, makes such a fuss that he gets attacked by said lab
Alfie has been harassed by several black labs in his life with me, but one of his best buddies is a black lab, he also has one we meet that he ignores and another who is 14 who he is gentle with.
I used to leave him off lead with them, but he has got so silly by jumping around and doing little barks at them that it had become obvious that he was getting himself into trouble and more or less forcing the other dog to react.
He doesn't bite (unless they bite him) but his behaviour is getting out of hand. Nothing distracts him. I'm not sure if it is a nervous reaction or he feels that I need protection.
If you saw him you would just think that he was a bully.
He sometimes does this with other breeds but not often, it the black labs that are his target.

It might be worth having a chat with a behaviourist. Has something bad happened to him that he associates with black labs?

I know my eldest wolfhound is terrified of Dachshunds and that is because one attacked her years ago. She tried to dodge it and knocked my oh into a reservoir - but I shouldn't laugh

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cats - Larkin & Runyon
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When Sammy see's another dog and he is off the lead, he can make a bee line for them at what feels, 100MPH!

Obviously this is not acceptable and can terrify other owner and dogs.

What works for me, is I take his special toy out. Fingers crossed, this has not failed to get him back yet lol (in actual fact you recommended this toy for max and lilly, but Sammy loves it!)

Is there absolutely nothing like that, that will work?

I know what you mean about them switching off. Sammy does it with horses, and now I wouldn't even chance having him off the lead with horses around. They can get into that zone where nothing works.

I guess it is just about you pre-empting when you think he will react and getting in there before he does.

x

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He doesn't go toward black labs, I can get him to put him on lead, but once the dog is close he acts like a loon.
Trouble is, everyone sees this lovely Goldie that couldn't possibly be a problem and leaves their dogs off lead, as happened yesterday. Alf was on lead, "friendly" lab off lead comes up, Alf does his silly thing and lab attacks him

I don't think there is much you can do. If you can get him back on a lead, then I guess all you can do is walk the other way. Hopefully the owner will recall their dog.

Failing that, I don't really see what else you can do. Of course you can see a behaviorist, but it is a lot of money for a problem, which is managable.

x

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Lilly, Max, Henry and Sammy. The joys of my life!

www.rescueremedies.co.uk
www.staffierescue.co.uk

I dont really see what the problem is - Alf is not agressive, hes a bit excitable hes not nervous and hes good around other dogs.
The only problem that I see is that his playfulness sometimes gets him attacked by other dogs? is this right?
If thats the case then he'll probably learn to cool down when he sees other dogs if he gets snaped at in the future. You should try and take steps to cool him down before meeting other dogs - things like slow or steady will have him listening to you before he tries to goad the other dog, once hes with the other dog - try to get his recall down so that he only interacts for a few seconds? Anything that will break his concentration on play and focus it on you.
Sounds like you have a select choice of dogs around you though - id just take it and leave it really, other dogs arent predicatable - best you can do is make yours so.

He doesn't want to play James, he has had a couple of bad experiences with Black labs and is now in their faces trying to bluff them into thinking that he is dominant.
It gets him into all sorts of trouble.
Recall isn't a problem, but when a Lab insists on entering Alfs space, he reacts
Oh, and if something bites him, he bites back

Ahh, you need to train him out of any reaction to other dogs - if his leave is strong then id use this - if its not do some big time indoor training with it: food on the floor for 10 mins - playing with his favorite toys any and all reactions get a leave (obviously said before hand). Ask him to sit or go down whilst your doing this. When your out on lead with him follow this to a leave when approaching other dogs, try typical doggie walks times (4:30-5:30) so there should be a number. Id use lead corrections - with basic commands - leave, as your walking past. Any looks or tugs towards gets a command and then correction good boys when he walks straight.
This should be a routine for a good 2 weeks everyday after that see if you can trust him off lead with a leave, it sounds like the early stages really, at least its not developed into a full attck without reason.

I could leave him all day with food in the house, he would not touch it, he is 8 years old, done all that
He can walk past any other dog and ignore them completely, even those that want to play or want to attack him.
He would never willing bite another dog, the only times that this has happened is when another dog has been literally hanging off him and he has had to defend himself.
I'm grateful for your input James, but I think the answer is going to be something out of the ordinary and not down to any kind of basic training methods.

Im not talking about saying leave to stop him from biting - im talking about using leave to use as a cue to stop him goading other dogs, which is what I thought the problem was?
If another dog attacks him he probably should defend himself, but being able to get him away always helps.
Anyway, whilst hes walking past other dogs not reacting - reinforce this with a leave so that hes at least used to it in situations.