Mixed friendly/aggressive signals. Help?

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Maude
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Mixed friendly/aggressive signals. Help?

Post by Maude »

Hi all,

I'm the owner of a new chow mix, Maude. She's on the small side-about 35 lbs and around 6 years old, but doesn't seem to have much training. She's probably mixed with a keeshond or similar. She has adjusted so well at home and I don't think there's any reason to worry about her when she's just with me. However, I am having some mixed reactions when meeting other dogs and want some advice.

She likes to approach other dogs on her own and is very friendly. Wags her tail, no physical signs of aggression or defensiveness. Right now, I'm teaching her not to pull and approach other dogs calmly, which she is doing very well. When she meets the dogs, she likes to sniff them for a while, and they are very quiet and friendly. Suddenly, however, she will jump or lunge on them without any warning and start a fight. Our leashes will get tangled and I don't know how quickly I should pull her off, or let them sort it out. Usually the other owner or I pull away before it goes for more than a few seconds.

With some dogs, she's totally fine. We've sniffed dogs of all sizes and she can get along with them. However, I know it is not the other dog causing the fight/aggression when she's meeting them. She always is the one to jump first, and usually there is no playing beforehand. It goes straight from sniffing politely to jumping up to "attack." Maude never barks, does not snarl or bare her teeth at me, and has an overall friendly demeanor. She is shy around new people, but when we meet other dogs we keep the owners' interactions to a minimum. We enrolled in a group obedience school class and she didn't cause any problem, but we also stayed back from the other dogs because she was the only chow/spitz in the group and I had mentioned her approach to the trainer beforehand.

Please let me know if this is common and if you have any ideas. I have friends with dogs and would love for her to play with them, and really want to take her off leash at the dog park soon! I think I'll be ok if we're always avoiding other dogs at the park, but that's not ideal.
linhnguyen2210
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Mixed friendly/aggressive signals. Help?

Post by linhnguyen2210 »

My Chow does that too and my trainer said that she just wants to play. Sometimes she would do the play bow and you know for sure her intention is good. I recommend you to take her on short lead when approaching other dogs so that its easier to control.


Amy's mama
Linh Nguyen
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