Leap-Year-Dog

I voted Never because growing up, when I actually had a multi-dog household, there were never any dog fights. We had 3 dogs - a doberman, irish setter, and papillon. Now that I'm in a one-dog household, however, I've had some "fights" with my dog and other dogs. I'm not sure if it really makes a difference or not (since River has been more socialized than any other dog I've had in the past) but I do believe that part of the reason is she is an only dog/grew up as an only dog so she doesn't have the socialization of CONSTANTLY having another dog around.

Thank you, RDM and Julie. In terms of obedience, what specifically would you recommend? Like just getting down the core commands like Sit, Down, Stay, Come, etc. to where she responds on the dot, in any situation? Are there any commands you'd recommend working on that may not be obvious.... Also, in terms of obedience- she'll do anything indoors (and even when I teach her new things she learns them very quickly and will be consistently doing them within minutes) but like most dogs, she gets very distracted outside (ESPECIALLY at the dog park). Do you have any advice for keeping her attention outdoors/with distractions? She's not very food motivated (that's why the food aggression with other dogs came as a surprise to me) when there's an open field or a group of dogs near by - which is part of the reason it's hard to get her obedience down reliably at a dog park. Also, I took two previous obedience classes mainly for the purpose of working on the obedience with distractions/around other dogs and she was perfect in those - almost like she knew we were in "training mode" or something. Also, I'm in a beginner's agility class now and she's pretty good with basic off-leash obedience in there as well. So any advice on super good treats that might draw her interest, even with distractions, or on other techniques for keeping her attention? I've used the ball before as a reward, but even with that I only got as far as being able to get her to sit and lay down - she's do focused on the ball it's hard to get her to focus on what I'm telling her to do (but if a new dog were to walk in the park in the middle of that or any type of new distraction, that wouldn't work that well either).

This instance with the papillon was the first instance not over food (she had once in the past shown her teeth at a pit bull over a ball but I corrected her after that and she never did it again) - so I hadn't brought her to the park knowing there was a problem. I'm not going to lie though - I do plan on still going back to the park but now I know to be much more careful around small dogs and probably (at this point, until I can work with her and trust her more) leave the area if a small dog comes. I am trying to be responsible for my dog - which is why I came here for advice as soon as it occurred. Not going to the dog park at all would be the last possible scenario I would want to come to, though. I appreciate your advice about stopping the free feeding. I considered that but I wasn't sure if it would make a difference. Since you think it would help with her manners, I will try it. And for that - not sure if it will make a difference or if it matters, but would you recommend feeding her in the morning sometime before going to the dog park or in the afternoon or evening, sometime after coming back from the dog park? The dog park actually does have an optional small dog area. They weren't in it (which is understandable since the small dog area isn't quite as nice as the rest of the park - so I don't blame them for that). But yeah, for now (at least) I will definitely leash her/move to a different fenced area (there's a small dog area which no one uses and a separate dry dog area that I could go to if need be) if there are small dogs there when I get there or if any come. I do hope I will be able to get to a point where I can trust her around small dogs though - considering MOST of the time, she's very good and just wants to play. It's just that tiniest bit of aggression shown towards her makes her snap. And oh yeah, I do think Odin and River look much a like.

In the situation at the dog park there was no ball or food involved (to my knowledge - it happened very quick though). There was a ball, but not near River or the papillon. I forgot to mention - that the papillon's owner was arguing with someone else who was there over her dog's small ball. This lab had the papillon's ball and the lab's owner took it away because the lab could have choked on it and the lab's owner was going to put the ball away when the papillon's owner came up and asked for her ball back and then they were arguing over it since the lab's owner asked her not to bring those balls to the dog park since larger dogs can choke on them and the papillon's owner was saying her dog is too small to play with any other toys. So basically, the papillon may have sensed her owner's tenseness (if that's a word). I do not think I was tense, since I wasn't involved in the argument but maybe I was or maybe River just sensed the other peoples' tenseness. Either way, that may have been a factor. Thanks for the advice. I only really know a few people will small dogs but yeah - maybe I will borrow/work with my brother's dog more, since he lives in town, and ask some of my other friends.

Okay - so I've read a few posts on here about reactive dogs, etc - and some of them are similar to my situation but not exactly the same so I'd like to describe the specifics of my situation and I would appreciate any advice. A month or so back I posted a thread looking for advice on my dog's protectiveness of food around other dogs. Well, that situation (around food that is) is still where the aggression is the most prevalent but there have been some signs/events elsewhere. So my border collie (River - female) is 8 months old now - and starting about a month back she began to show extreme aggression towards my brother's Jack-Russell whenever there was dog food present. Honestly, since the dog was a Jack-Russell I thought it probably got even worse than it would have since the Jack-Russell wouldn't back down. After this 'fight' that happened, my brother and I were careful to pick up our dog food bowls (since we both free feed) whenever we went over to each other's places. When I went home two weekends ago, my mom and I were preparing the dog food and I went outside with River and Zoe (our golden retriever at home) and Teddy (the fearless maltese) stayed inside. When I came back inside, I was not aware that my mom has set down Teddy's food bowl so I just let the dogs (River and Zoe) in with me and River immediately ran to Teddy's bowl and since Teddy was standing at it - she went after Teddy. We had to break up the fight and we saw she had actually bit him (she never bit the Jack-Russell in the previous fight, to our knowledge at least). Now, she didn't do any serious damage - but we know she bit him because there were small skin abrasions. Needless to say, we were extra careful the rest of my trip home to watch River and ensure there were no more fights. I worked a little with giving Teddy treats in front of her (I made her back up and sit and wait while I gave Teddy his treats and then after she had waited, I gave her some treats as well) and she was very good with that - no problems. Also, I would like to note that River never minded when Zoe came up to her while she was eating. This appears (at least so far) to only be a problem with smaller dogs (I guess ones she knows she can take in a fight). Well, these two instances occurred with pets of family members and also there was no serious damage. The other day, at the dog park, however, she got into it with a very small papillon mix. We broke the fight up immediately and to my knowledge, the papillon was not hurt. The owner of the papillon was very upset but her friend that was with her informed me that the dog was fine. In terms of traumatizing the dog, the owner's reaction was probably 10x worse than the fight. I'm pretty sure (from what I saw) what started the fight was that the papillon kind of went after River first and then River reacted. Either way though, River could have very easily hurt that dog and we're lucky she didn't. From this instance, and some previous instances with smaller dogs (but not quite as extreme) I'm pretty sure the problem is that River will NOT back down to a smaller dog. So if a smaller dog does anything even remotely aggressive towards her, she will fight back. Let me give a little background - I have been socializing River since I got her at 8 weeks old. She went tons of places with me (anywhere I could bring her), she been getting socialized with other puppies since 11 weeks (in her puppy class) and has been going to the dog park (and thus socializing with all sorts of dogs) since she got her rabies vaccine at 14 weeks. River's two favorite activities are going to the dog park and playing with other dogs. A close third is playing fetch with the tennis ball and frisbee. River loves all dogs (she always wants to go meet news dogs, even small dogs) and even after her previous 'fights' with other dogs, she immediately wants to start playing with them again. Since the dog park is River's favorite activity and also since it's the best way to get her her exercise for the day, I do not want to have to stop taking her there if I don't have to. Thus, I want to ideally be able to 'fix' her aggression and not have to worry so much about it. So any advice on how to do that would be wonderful. But since I'm not sure if that's possible and since I do want to be able to keep bringing her to the dog park (especially since I think if I stopped the problem would even get worse due to lack of exposure) I guess I will need to just bring her and just stay very close to her, keep a very close eye on her, etc when a small dog comes OR I guess leave or go to a different area. Obviously if the situation gets any worse (like if River just starts spontaneously attacking other dogs rather than reacting to something they start or something like that) then I will have to stop going (and figure out some new fun activities for River). Any advice on the entire situation would be much appreciated.

Yeah, I don't want to allow it. I want to stop the behavior. I'm just not sure the most effective way to stop it - since it's a new behavior do you think consistent correcting of it should work? If so - I can only really work on that at the dog park but since I go there often enough it should still be pretty consistent.

Hey all, I have a recent issue that's developed with River, my 7 month old pup. Basically, in the last week (although it did happen like one time when she was around 5 months old) she's started to get very protective of what she considers "her stuff" (ie food mainly, certain toys, and sometimes even the water bowl) from other dogs. I don't have any other pets so she only gets the chance to show this at my brother's place (he has a Jack Russell, who of course isn't going to back down to an imposing threat) and at the dog park. Last night at my brother's River got the chance to get to my brother's dog's food bowl which had food in it still when I got there (this was partly my fault because the one time it happened when she was around 5 months was over food between my brother's dog and River, so we usually try to pick the food up when they're in the same room together). She started to eat it and when Hannah (the Jack Russell) came up to her, they got into a little spat that could have ended with Hannah getting hurt, since River has like 30 lbs on her, but luckily they were both fine. Then this morning at the dog park, River was protective of the tennis ball with a pit bull. When River showed her teeth to the pit bull, the pit bull of course didn't back down and they got into a little spat as well but the pit bull's owner had very good control over his dog and he was able to just call her off and no one got hurt. Since I normally free feed River, when I got back from the dog park I stuck my hand in her bowl and such while she was eating just to make sure she hasn't developed any aggression towards me. I'm also going to check to make sure she's not aggressive towards any of my friends while she's eating since I haven't really noticed it developing towards people but I also free feed her, so I rarely check. So anyway, I understand that protectiveness is kind of a natural behavior for most dogs and I realize it's not AS MUCH of a big deal when it's towards other dogs as compared to people but I still don't think it's an acceptable behavior and I would like to be able to stop it, especially since I don't want it to ever escalate to where either River hurts the other dog or where she gets hurt. So I'm looking for any advice on this situation since I don't have another dog at home to work on it with (the only time she's really around other dogs is at the dog park which is still pretty often, though, since I go nearly every day). Thanks for any advice you're willing to offer.

Yeah, there are some other border collies that show up the dogwood one but not too many. Do you ever go to the Dogwood in Gainesville?

I was wondering the same. I hope it wasn't to me/my post If it was - that's a first, most of my friends tell me I "spoil" River with how much attention I give her/how much time I spend with her.

I can't keep to a rigid schedule since each day I have a different schedule for myself depending on my classes or work for that day. I will try to sum up an average weekday though. Generally, we wake up sometime between 7:30 - 8:30 (depending on when class starts/how tired I am/if River let's me sleep in longer or not). River gets a good 5-10 minutes worth of petting/snuggling before we get out of bed. Then I take River out real quick (just to go pee). I come back in and change so that I can take her on a longer walk. (I used to do this because she used to not be able to hold it - since she has more bladdar control now, sometimes I change and all that before I take her out). Then I take on anywhere from a 10 to 20 minute walk, usually. Some mornings, if I wake up with enough time, I will take her for a morning run - it's usually just a walk, though. Then we come inside and River usually says hi to my roommate or just lays down for a bit while I eat breakfast/get ready for class. Depending on how much time I have, after getting ready, I play with River indoors for a little bit. Then she goes in her crate for about 3 1/2 hours or so while I'm at class. My roommate and I get back around 12:45 and that's when River gets a whole lot of loving from both of us for probably at least half an hour, haha. She goes outside for a quick potty walk. Then I eat lunch while River, generally, chews a chew toy (sometimes she's not that perfect, though, and tries to get into trouble instead). Then sometime in the afternoon or early evening (depending on my work schedule for the day) we go to the dog park for anywhere from 1/2 hour to 4 hours (usually closer to 1-2 hours though, but I have stayed for 4 hours before) - also depending on how busy/my work for the day. At the dog park we do a variety of activities, from fetch with the tennis ball and/or frisbee to playing with other dogs and swimming. When we get back, River finds a good spot and goes to sleep, while I do homework or watch TV or whatever. If I have work that day, she instead goes in the crate for 3 1/2 hours or so (3 hour shift, plus travel time). In the evening, I usually do some training sessions (5-10 minutes each, but generally at least two every evening). I do homework, usually, and River is either good and gets to stay out and just entertain herself or play with my roommate or if she's being a hassle, she get's some crate time. Same thing goes for when I'm eating dinner - but she's usually pretty good and entertains herself with her toy basket. I also take her for a 30 minute to an hour long walk in the evening, usually an hour or so before we go to bed. She usually sleeps in the bed with me. Most of the time she sleeps the entire night until the next morning. Occasionally I've had her wake me up to let her off the bed/out of the room to get to her water. I would just leave her water in the room for her, but I do not trust her enough to leave her loose in my room while I sleep. I only trust her not to do anything bad while she's on my bed. And that's my best attempt at describing an average weekday - but they do vary a little from that depending on the exact day. The weekends vary a lot as well - but they usually involve more sleeping (for both of us) and less crate time for her and maybe more than one trip to the dog park or just the park, in general. Also, trips to my brother's place and hanging out over there with his dog and random things like that. I'm moving a week from today (and classes end a week from Friday), though, so my average day will change a lot in about a week or so. And then when Fall classes start, it will change again.

She's so cute. I love tri's....I don't live in Jax But I do go to Dogwood - the one in Gainesville, unfortunately. I hear the Dogwood in Jacksonville is amazing, though - so I do plan on eventually taking a trip there just to use the dog park, heh.

I was curious about this too since this puppy (see attachment) is supposedly a tri-color and I was wondering how she knows. Maybe the base of the tail thing? Or...is there some brown that I'm just not seeing?

Looks like a border collie/pit bull mix to me (border collie body, pit face). But I am, by no means, an expert on dog breeds.

Thank you guys for the advice! Yeah, River knows (and when I say knows - I mean she knows what I want, I'm pretty sure, but she doesn't listen consistently yet) Right Paw, Left Paw (basically shake, although she likes to do them lying down if I let her), and high five. She's starting to do "hold hands" as her "Go-To" trick now (since I've been working on it a lot lately) so I think I will, hopefully, easily be able to teach her "high 10." Also, I haven't started working on "Wave" yet, mainly because I always forget too.

So River is about 4 1/2 months old now and I've been working on a variety of obedience commands and fun tricks. Because of something cute River did the other day with my roommate, I've decided to try to teach her what I'm calling "Hold hands" - which is basically giving us both paws while she's sitting. The strange thing is, she'll only do it when we're sitting in a chair or when we're standing. When I sit on the ground with her, it's like I'm not high enough up and she won't do it. Anyway, the reason for this post is that it seems to me that River has very bad balance while sitting. I've noticed, while doing this trick, but also in general that River falls over a lot when she's sitting. Like, she'll sit when I tell her to but then as soon as I give her the okay, most of the time she falls/lays down immediately. Also, when doing this "Hold hands" trick she tends to loose her balance/fall down a lot before she even gets close to giving me her second paw. I'm just wondering if this is normal for a puppy this age and if her balance will get better as she ages? Because I was hoping to be able to teach her "Sit Pretty" but at the moment it doesn't look like that will happen due to the fact that she can't balance like that. Or if it doesn't sound like a balance issue, then what do you think it may be? I can tell you one thing - she never acts like she's in pain or anything like that (it doesn't seem like it hurts her to sit) - but sometimes it does seem like she lays down just due to...."laziness" (I by no means think she's lazy, just the most appropriate word I can think of at the moment).