A new member of the family...

[rhianna2183]

Hi there! This is my first post and would like to say hello. However, I joined based on the recent behavior of my 2 year old Chocolate Lab, Bing. He is a very calm dog (now..it took us awhile!) and really enjoys being around kids. My brother recently moved in for a bit and has a 8 month pit bull/lab (half-half mix) named Diesal. This puppy is adorable! Very well trained, listens well and only seems to annoy you by his constant licking. The problem lies here.....whenever Bing and Diesal play, Bing gets very aggressive. He is not likew this with other dogs just recently since Diesal moved in. Bing seems to want to show Diesal that he is the alpha male of the house. When they play, Bing targets Diesal's neck and consequently Diesal mas many scratches and cut marks on his neck! They scab up and it looks terrible. I'm saddened to think my Dog can play so rough and the last thing I want is Diesal to pick up on this neck biting (since everyone is already deathly afraid of him because he is half pit bull). Help!!:msnsad:

 

[tigerlily46514]

Well, first off, congradulations on helping Bing become a calmer dog since you got him!! Good work!

Wow, aggressive dogs, this is tough. HOpefully, someone smarter than me will join in to contribute, or link you to a thread on this. I, too, have a dog who is aggressive to other dogs, and i am working on it with him.

ONe thing i have learned, is you gotta nip Bing's aggression the moment it starts up. Don't wait til it escalates to an actual bite. When you see Bing STARTING to show aggression, quickly distract him to YOU, and praise/reward this behavior of changing his focus to YOU.
Also, of course, make sure you are wearing out your dogs, walk them, get them to run full speed, play with them, teach them tricks, cuz tired dogs are better behaved in general.

There is good book on this that was recommended to me, "Click to Calm" for this problem.

Are you able to identify what is trigger for this fighting? Is it dinner time? Is it if soneone plays with the baby pitbull?