We have two dogs...one (MAX) of which is a beagle mix who didn't get much
socializing growing up. She was attacked by another dog as a puppy (some
insight). When she meets a dog, she'll usually wag her tail...run up to
them...sniff eachother and then all of a sudden snip at the other dog...for
no reason as if she's in fear of being attacked.
Our second dog (BEAR), a 2 year boarder collie mix (with what we're not
sure). When we take them to the park, Max often runs up to a dog,
sniffs....and then snips at the other dog, then Bear runs up to protect Max
and attacks! It can get real ugly. Anyone experience this or have any
suggestions??
Thanks!
Allen

"Banks2070" wrote in message
...
We have two dogs...one (MAX) of which is a beagle mix who didn't get much
socializing growing up. She was attacked by another dog as a puppy (some
insight). When she meets a dog, she'll usually wag her tail...run up to
them...sniff eachother and then all of a sudden snip at the other
dog...for
no reason as if she's in fear of being attacked.

This sounds more like a kinda meeting, greeting behavior than "I want to
kill you." I'm not a dog behavior expert by any means, but my dogs will not
infrequently nip at each other in play. Often, they don't even connect.

True "attack mode" would have Max looking more like head down, growling,
hackles up, tail out straight behind. Head up, very alert, tightly wagging
is more of a "meeting new dog" thing. The next behavior in the sequence, is
the mutual butt-sniffing, still very alert. And then one of them will "bow
down" and want to play with the other. Or possibly bounce and nip, not
connecting or connecting very lightly.

I may be wrong here. You're gonna have to learn to read your own dogs
grin.

Our second dog (BEAR), a 2 year boarder collie mix (with what we're not
sure). When we take them to the park, Max often runs up to a dog,
sniffs....and then snips at the other dog, then Bear runs up to protect
Max
and attacks! It can get real ugly. Anyone experience this or have any
suggestions??

Is Bear a male? If these dogs are unspayed/unneutered, Bear might be
defending his "girl" against all other dogs. It's also not impossible that
Bear will be possessive of Max, thinking of Max as his "property," even if
they're both fixed, same sex, whatever.

You really need to spay/neuter your dogs, if you haven't done so.

If one of the real experts in here will join in, you'll get a more
knowledgeable response. And DO quit taking Bear to dog parks, at least for
now. It's my personal opinion that dogs aren't the equivalent of
four-legged toddlers, and dog parks aren't like kiddie play groups with a
different species.

flick 100785

Thanks!
Allen