My big friendly giant went for another dog today :(

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FinkleyAlex

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Hey everyone, I own a 2 1/2 year old alaskan malamute bitch. We've had her since she was about 4 months old, and she is a complete big friendly giant when it comes to other animals, even the house cat walks all over her. She is incredibly social and loves to play with dogs in the park, so is always the dog to make the first move and see if another dog wants to play. Sadly about three weeks ago we took her to the park and let her off the lead as usual (her recall is pretty good for a malamute), she was having a great time playing with dogs and then she saw a small dark dog a short way away and went to investigate. Now that dog was supposed to be on a lead (it is now understood) but the owners daughter had accidentally taken it off the lead as it has a history of basically going for other dogs. So my mal went up to the dog to see if it wanted to play and the owner went crazy and tried to catch her dog who had by now started chasing my mal (who was running away yelping) and trying to go for her neck. Had it not been bitesized it would have done a lot of damage - it was really going for her and it took three of us to get it off her.

Since then she has been out in parks with other dogs, but we recently came across another small black dog in the street. We let them sniff each other and they were being friendly untill the dog jumped onto her face (not in a threatening way - sort of just hugging her face) and my girl began to growl which she never usually does. We took her away as we worried she may have developed a dislike of small dark dogs due to her previous incident.

Today I found out when my mum walked her that she went up to a really tiny dog - possibly a chihuahua X JR that was obviously petrified of her size and pelted behind its owner yelping. Apparently my girl chased her growling and was basically being quite aggressive towards her.

I'm really stuck in a predicament now - she has never EVER showed menacing behaviour to a dog in her life, but I cannot risk her attacking any other dog after this incident. Is there anything I can do to help her, it seems that it seems to be small dogs that bother her, but this one was light coloured. My dad wants to muzzle her when she goes on walks and whilst I realise in the interests of safety this is the best idea, I really don't like the idea of her needing a muzzle for the rest of her life when she's always been so sociable. Is there anything I can do to get her over her fear/aggression towards small dogs?
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Do you know anyone with a small dog? That you could perhaps borrow?
If you do I would muzzle your girl just in the interest of safety and socialise them together.
If you have her clicker trained I'd use that too - providing she is not food aggressive - you could click treat her for showing interest/trying to play in the little dog - and ignore any growling/standing over/etc of said little dog.

The problem you are going to have is from the outside it is going to look like a big dog terrorising little dogs to people that don't know her. So ideally you need someone who is willing to work with you to get her used to scary little dogs in a controlled environment, then get them to come out on walks with you as well.

I have always thought little dogs are more aggressive generally than the bigger dogs and they are allowed to get away with it as they are small - the behaviour I have seen from some little dogs that no one even suggests is wrong - if that came from a big dog or even a collie type - they'd be told to have it muzzled at all times
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I hope you can help your Mal as as you say would be such a shame for her to have to be muzzled from now on
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I am interested in replies to this too as we have a similar problem with our 3 year old GWP bitch. She was attacked at under a year by an Old English sheepdog and as she grew up has become more and more defensive with other dogs particularly small ones. This weekend she went for a little border while we were out and ended up getting a good kick from its owner who then went on to kick our puppy as well though she had done nothing.
We went out and bought a muzzle but to be honest, I darent take them out now so they are getting exercised in our own field.
Our bitch seems to be completely fine with some dogs and some she takes an instant dislike to, I think they must give off a vibe to her.
 
Thats naff isnt it, especially as Mal's often have a rep for being "agressive"....
its a shame this bad experience has effected her so much!

I agree with marley to try her with a friends small dog (with a muzzle at first for safety) and get her confidence and friendliness back with them!
In her defence it is defending herself against another attack so you can't get mad at her for it! (not saying you are...) But as I say its a real shame!

Maybe then when you do take her out keep a muzzle on at first, and gradually introduce her to more small dogs, as she gets better maybe give her more time with the muzzle off (but on the lead) and build her back up to normal..... I don't know if this would work but I think this would be my approach (whether thats right or not, no idea!)

I am sorry its happened to you though!
 
My boxer hates JRT, having been attacked 3 times by a neighbours dog (once in our own garden).

The neighbours dog is know to be nasty having gone for a few local dogs and people. However it is my much bigger boxer that everyone is frightened of, despite the fact that he is a big softy.
 
Could you take her to some dog training? It would get her up close & personal with other dogs in a controlled environment, bound to be little dogs their & the trainers should be able to help you.

I had a problem with my GSD when she was a puppy, she appeared evil to other dogs & went beserk in close company but never actually did anything if you know what I mean.

The training class I was in however wasn't very good & didn't help but I took her somewhere else & couldn't believe the difference. She loves all dogs now.

It was well worth me getting outside help but I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea.
 
My dad has actually wanted to take her to training classes for ages - being a mal she can be quite stubborn (but is also pretty clever) and she will sit and lie down and comes to call but that's about all the training she knows! Perhaps this will persuade him to finally take her. We don't actually have any friends with dogs, so this may be somewhere ideal for her to get used to small dogs. I did find out that before the attack on the little dog, she was actually playing with loads of other dogs in the park, including small dogs which makes the whole situation even more confusing! It's such a shame as she's the only mal in the area and is very distinctive - I'd hate for her to get a bad name as an aggressive dog or something.
 
Some great replies above and not much to add apart from she sounds exactly like my girlie (the friendliness etc) I think the training classes would be great for her so hopefully your dad will take her along

Oh and when your back in Norwich if you ever feel the need for a mally and sibe fix give me a shout the pack love shedding their fur over others
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I def think some more training and socialising again with other dogs will help. Teaching the 'leave it' command can be useful but I am no expert with malmutes so don't know how easy they are to train.

The worst thing you can do though is to tense up in a situation where you feel she maybe gets a bit anxious/aggressive so you need to be aware of what your body language is. Again, further training and help will be good for this. I think this is fixable she sounds like she just needs to build her confidence again really.
 
this happened with our boreder terrier, a woman was walking her 3 legged border, and her dog just went for our dog, although was on the lead, it wass one of those extendable ones, it locked onto our dogs chest, by this time my mum was kicking this dog, as it was not getting off and the dogs owner would not do anything
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in the end my mum kciked in the head, sounds harsh but had to be done, our dog had to be stapled back together! from then on he was very aggresive towards small dogs, we then got our labrador, who for some reason understood that he had to make sure he took all the interest onto himself, and away from our border... it meant mum could walk past without any chance of our border getting agressive towards the dogs..... not really a useful answer but if you got another dog or borrowed one it might help? but our labrador is truely an exceptional dog... saved someone from drowning in a very fast flowing river
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she obviously feels insecure and to hide this she comes across as aggressive, i would avoid small dark dogs out on walks until she is confident again....
 
My small Lurcher was the same as she was attacked by various GSDs so therefore every time we met one, she'd kick off and go for it to get in first (classic fear aggression), or so she thought in her eyes. Some of my friends then got GSD's which was the best thing for my lurcher, we all went out walking everyday and she became de sensitised to GSDs, it's not the dogs that are at fault or the breed but the idiot owners who have no control over them and unfortunately you don't realise there is a problem until it has happened by then of course, the damage is done.
I also had to learn to relax and not get tense or worried she may get attacked every time we met a new dog, she would sense it otherwise and it would make her kick off. I now have a happy friendly lurcher who likes to play with other dogs as long as they are not too rough!
 
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