aggression against submissive

[lukeijn]

Hi guys first post for me and not a good one my cane corso (Aurelius) is a loving and affectionate boy. He wants to spend all day cuddling me or my girlfriend. He is great with kids and never had a problem with adults / strangers when he is introduced. He is 6 1/2 months old.
When he meets other dogs big or small if they are confident they can play together and everyone is happy. If that dog changes his attitude and becomes scared and submissive its game over. Aurelius will want to rip his throat out. Make the most hellish growls and will attack. This has made me stop taking him to the park and letting him play with other dogs because I am quite scared that he will do serious damage.

He has no real obedience training appart from puppy school. He is booked in to do basic obedience in a few weeks but im scared for the other dogs lol. This cant be a normal trait to the cane corso is he just flexing his authority? I thought he would do this to dominant dogs not submissive ones? Maybe he was bullied by his brothers / sisters and he was submissive but they didnt stop? Has anyone encounted this? Would it be possible to fix or am I doomed to have him stuck in my yard forever.

 

[Ron Ackerman]

1. Keep him out of dog parks, bad things will happen there.
2. Get in the obedience class asap.
3. Keep him out of dog parks, bad things will happen there.
4. Socalize him with on-leash dogs from your obedience class.
5. Keep him out of dog parks, bad things will happen there.

 

[jersey girl]

When you say attack, has he ever actually done damage to another dog? I am only asking because my female CC plays very rough and LOUD. She sounds like she wants to kill the other dog...growling, play biting, but she will also show the other dog she is playing, such as a puppy bow or rolling on her back.

 

[musicdeb]

I agree with Ron and jersey girl. Titan growls and is very loud growler and barker when he plays. Learn your dog's body language to know the difference between playful growl and I mean business growl.

IMO, dog parks are dangerous for any dog because most dog owners do not have a clue about their own dog and their body language to know when something is about to happen with another dog.

 

[STEVSH]

Dog park ruined my Topaz as a pup. She learned to go absolutely nuts with other out of control dogs, play very hard, and have no manners what so ever. I hate dog parks.
Plus she has a jealousy issue too. We bring her to our friends land to run with their dog. They are fine until they both want attention from the same person or if there is a toy they both want. Topaz will then start growling and licking obsessively down our friend's dog's mouth, and then launch herself at the dog. Weirdest thing I've ever seen. But it has to be jealousy or something similar.

 

[CeeCee]

Zeek went through a stage when he was about a year old where if he was approached by an unstable dog (over excited, cocky, or extremely submissive) he would go on the offensive - it looked and sounded scary, but he never connected with them or bit them.

I don't think you are doomed. I think you need to start controlling his meets. With Zeek, I learned very quickly to control them. For a while he wore a muzzle (and sometimes still does) and he is on a long lead line. When we see dogs coming, I call Zeek to me. I gauge the dog and Zeek's reaction to the dog. If there is any tension, stiff bodies, or hard stares, we don't meet. Instead Zeek remains in a heel as they pass by and I praise (and treat) for remaining calm and watching me. (If there is tension, I will move us away from the dog accordingly.) After they pass, we walk on our way. After about a year of working on this and Zeek maturing and grow his skills, the muzzle is coming off more and more and even the lead line is starting to become less and less.

It's gonna take time and structure, but I think you pup can learn how to properly cope with weak or unstable dogs.

 

[jersey girl]

One more thing to add...since he is 6 1/2 months old I would get him in a training class for sure. I don't think you are doomed at all, but it will require work.

 

[lukeijn]

Umm when I play with him (wrestling / tug of war) he will growl but its the friendly playful softer growl. When I have to pry him fr submissive dogs its a demon spawn gurgling growl of ill rip your jugular out. He has not done damage as such but I have removed chunks of fur from his mouth after I tackle him to the ground. He is booked into his training class at the end of feb so hopefully I get some results.

Yhe whole dog park thing ... I had an am-staff before Aurelius and he was never socialized so he was funny towards ALL dogs. I just wanted to get him used to other dogs so I thought dog park. But yes I think this has done more bad then good. Thought it was the best thing for him but just picks up all bad habbits.

I suggested muzzle to my partner she is against it says its cruel but I think its the better alternative to him hurting something. We will see after obedience training. Maybe some special one on one training also will yeild results.

Thanks for all the ideas / comments

 

[DennasMom]

Dogs don't like unstable energy... sounds to me like he's taking their instabilities personally.

Hopefully with some classes and other confidence boosting activities (lots of on-leash socializing - find one new thing to visit/investigate every day) he'll stop worrying so much about how other dogs are behaving.

Try not to anticipate him behaving badly.. instead, try to picture what you want him to do - if you see a scaredy-dog approaching, tell him to "leave it... it's not worth you worrying... it's not your problem... let's move on" or some other nice, calm, confident conversation (the words don't matter, your nonchalant attitude is what will help him).

And, don't worry about what caused it (it could be any or all of what you mentioned), just expect him to get past it - dogs live in the moment, so when he sees how much nicer life is when he doesn't worry about dealing with other unstable dogs... he'll be much happier, too.

 

[lukeijn]

Thanks all, sounds like training and keeping him out of the dog park is the plan. He is a lovely dog, he hasn't attacked, but that's because we have judges his behaviour and have intervened before anything detrimental has happened. We can tell that if this happened and we weren't there, because of his size other people wouldn't go near him and damage would be done. The growl between playful and aggressive is definitely very obvious. I like the comment about passing other dogs and rewarding good behaviour; Aurelius wont become stiff but he will start jumping at passing dog. Loves cuddles and kisses, playing, going for walks etc, just a concern around submissive dogs. Thanks for pointing us in the right direction, and giving us hope that this behaviour with work can be changes (or controlled). Thanks from Australia

 

[musicdeb]

Keep us posted on Aurelius' progress.