aggression through confussion?

My next door neighbours sons Staffy used to always come over to play with my other dog and normally gets on with any other dog. Recently the Staffy came and saw my new Boarder Terrier pup and didn't like him at all she growled at him for no reason. He did nothing at all to her he was in my mums arms the Staffy was over other side of fence. Could it be just that she doesn't understand why my new pup is here instead of my other dog that unfortunally I lost in car accident. In the Staffys eyes it would seem like the one she played with just disappeared and got replaced with this new pup.

I'm thinking its because of not understanding where my other dog is why she growled at my pup as they got another Staffy the 1st 1s daughter now fully grown and that seemed fine with my pup though didn't get close but showed no aggression and that one never met my other dog.

 

Many adult dogs don't like puppies and growl at them; very often because the puppy frightens them.

 

Yep, lots of adults aren’t fond of puppies. Many will tolerate them, but would prefer they stay away. Our Biko finds puppies generally gross and icky and unhygienic and would prefer they stay as far away from him as possible. About the time they learn some bite inhibition and potty skills he’ll start to acknowledge their existence.

Make sure to monitor interactions closely, you don’t want your pup to develop any negative associations with adult dogs (any dog). So if the adult isn’t in to puppies, leave it be. Remember socialization is about POSITIVE interactions with lots of different situations, you don’t want any scary incidents for the pup if you can avoid it.

 

Thanks for that the dog in question has had pups of her own last year so would of thought she was ok with them. Also I heard that dogs wouldn't attck a pup. Ok this Staffy didn't get close enough to attack but I wouldn't of trusted her to get close enough. This dog only comes next door a few days every so often but cos of its breed I wouldn't trust it not to hurt my dog if it got into a fight.

I'm hoping it will be friends with my pup next time as it is used to coming over here even when the owner is trying to stop it. Til now there has been no problem with it coming over but I don't want my pup to have bad experiences meeting another dog as we plan to get another dog maybe next year so need this pup to get on with other dogs. Up to now the few he's seen he seems more curious so up to now he's fine but will see more when he can go walks.

Next time this dog comes next door I'll try to get it to see my pup over fence again so it can see him but can't get to him just to see if she likes him any more. As last resort we may have to be out with him when he goes out when the Staffy is next door so if it did get over we could pick him up. It seems odd that out of the 2 dogs the 1 that played with my other dog is the one that growled at my pup.