A 1-year-old female Presa Canario was tied up and abandoned across the street from my house about three weeks ago. We are in SPCA obedience classes and she stays in a crate when no one is home, because I also have an Italian Greyhound and my roommate has a Shih Tzu.
The first week she was here, she was a little unruly, but she mellowed out pretty quickly when she had a schedule and after she was spayed. After that first week, I found out that a neighbor had owned her and had just left her in the yard and never trained her. Then that neighbor gave her to a homeless man (!?!?).
Fast forward to now, and we have been going on walks and to the dog park. On a leash, she gets really excited when she sees other dogs. At first, she acted scared, but now she gets excited and pulls towards them. She also lunges towards cats that she sees. Our obedience school instructor said that she thinks they are prey and that unfortunately, it's a natural reaction. At the dog park, she has been fine up until this week, she showed aggression towards a Pomeranian and a pit bull puppy. With the Pom, I wasn't sure if it was aggression.
With the pit puppy, I was POSITIVE it was aggression. I have never seen a dog behave that way before and it was scary and threatening. She basically stood over the pup, growling, and if it moved she would put her teeth around his neck.
The third incident, I think WAS NOT her fault. There was a man sitting on a stoop with a Boston Terrier that literally flung itself off the steps on to her neck, snapping and biting. My dog responded aggressively. We walked away and told the other dog's owner we were going to the dog park and they needed to be separated. The asshole owner FOLLOWED US and cut over in front of us on the street to walk in to the dog park where my dog went after the Boston aggressively.
This behavior is so strange to me because my PC lives with two small dogs, one of which is very barky and definitely snappy when she gets too close. I DO NOT want her to behave this way. We've been working on "watch me" and "sit," but when she gets excited about another dog, that dog turns in to an OBSESSION and she won't listen to me at all. After each incident, I have immediately put her back on her leash and left the area.
I do have to say, she is getting better about not being so obsessed about where she has seen cats in the past, so there had been some improvement. I really don't want the aggression towards small animals to continue. Any suggestions are welcome!
The first week she was here, she was a little unruly, but she mellowed out pretty quickly when she had a schedule and after she was spayed. After that first week, I found out that a neighbor had owned her and had just left her in the yard and never trained her. Then that neighbor gave her to a homeless man (!?!?).
Fast forward to now, and we have been going on walks and to the dog park. On a leash, she gets really excited when she sees other dogs. At first, she acted scared, but now she gets excited and pulls towards them. She also lunges towards cats that she sees. Our obedience school instructor said that she thinks they are prey and that unfortunately, it's a natural reaction. At the dog park, she has been fine up until this week, she showed aggression towards a Pomeranian and a pit bull puppy. With the Pom, I wasn't sure if it was aggression.
With the pit puppy, I was POSITIVE it was aggression. I have never seen a dog behave that way before and it was scary and threatening. She basically stood over the pup, growling, and if it moved she would put her teeth around his neck.
The third incident, I think WAS NOT her fault. There was a man sitting on a stoop with a Boston Terrier that literally flung itself off the steps on to her neck, snapping and biting. My dog responded aggressively. We walked away and told the other dog's owner we were going to the dog park and they needed to be separated. The asshole owner FOLLOWED US and cut over in front of us on the street to walk in to the dog park where my dog went after the Boston aggressively.
This behavior is so strange to me because my PC lives with two small dogs, one of which is very barky and definitely snappy when she gets too close. I DO NOT want her to behave this way. We've been working on "watch me" and "sit," but when she gets excited about another dog, that dog turns in to an OBSESSION and she won't listen to me at all. After each incident, I have immediately put her back on her leash and left the area.
I do have to say, she is getting better about not being so obsessed about where she has seen cats in the past, so there had been some improvement. I really don't want the aggression towards small animals to continue. Any suggestions are welcome!