What do I do in this situation?

[Saintgirl]

We are having a problem with Abbey (husky/shepherd), she is 2 and a half years old. The problem is she has gotten into 2 fights with other dogs in the past two weeks. When she was about a year old she had some issues with resource gaurding, but we managed to work that out. If she had a ball she would be snippy to other dogs, occasionally she would get into a tiff if the other dog refused to back down. With lots of patence and work she hasn't displayed any guarding aggression in about a year.

She is usually wonderful around other dogs. I have never had to worry about her and fighting, short of the guarding. Now I am confused. Last night she was smelling a tree and another dog came up to her and they seemed fine for an instant, and then she began to posture, I called her name to regain her focus and the fight started. It was a matter of seconds. Neither dog was hurt, and we managed to seperate them without with any problem. But I don't know what to do. I put her gentle leader on her imediatley and we left the park right away(as soon as I was sure that the other dog was fine). The first incedent was the same sort of situation but we were at a friends house in the back yard and she did the same sort of thing. She had met this dog several times before with no problem, however last night she did not know the other dog.

I absolutley will not bring her to a park where this could happen again. I am desperate for any suggestions as to how we should work on this problem, and what may have triggered this.

By the way, she was at the vets a month ago for her check up, and everything was clear there, so I am pretty sure that it isn't anything physically wrong with her, but if anyone could think of something here to check out, I would definatley appreciate it.

[Saintgirl]

I forgot to add that she is spayed.

[Saintgirl]

Thanks Tina. I am in touch with a behavourist, and we will see how it goes. I had just wondered if anybody else has had this sort of thing happen, and to see how they have delt with it. She is my little girl, so whatever we have to do... I just hope that it is something that can be corrected early on.

[Saintgirl]

Well, we may have an answer as to why our litte girl has been on edge! At least I hope this is the problem. We have had quite the summer. In July my hubby was hospitalized for a couple of weeks. He had a perforated bowel and had to under go an emergency bowel resection. Needless to I wasn't home very much during those couple of weeks, so we had to have family and friends care for the dogs while I was visiting him in the hospital. I was still managing to get the dogs out for at least an hour a day, but we were all on edge during this time. The dogs are used to us being with them almost all day long. And Abbey is very much Derek's dog, she worships him. When Derek was released from the hospital we had to be very careful with everything that happened around him (his operation left him with a scar from stem to stern). He was limited to petting the dogs and nothing else, he can't exert any physical pressure over ten pounds. Now he is away taking some courses for work in Vancouver (the other side of Canada from where we are). He still can't work but was going crazy not being able to do anything so it was the perfect time for him to go away.

So a long story short, we believe that Abbey has grown very protective of Derek. So now we have some excersises to stimulate her with and hopefully we can slowly begin to regain her comfort level about Daddy. Unfortunatley he won't be home for another week and a half. If this doesn't seem to be the case, it's back to the drawing board!

[Scootergirl]

That's very intuitive of you and kudos for exploring reasons WHY her behavior changed. You are an excellent dog mom!!

[Nicole]

God, it is so refreshing to experience people that love their dogs enough to explore their behavior! I know way too many people that would just give up on their furry kids. Good job, Saint girl!

[Saintgirl]

Thanks everyone! You got that right Tina, she is a daddy's girl! We are keeping our fingers and paws crossed that she will come back to normal soon.

[Icerotti]

Animals have such great intuition. My first rotti was always nice to my mom, but she was my big suck. One day she started to lay on my moms feet and put her head in her lap. About a month later she was diagnosed with cancer. She did this with my mom until she was in remission. Once  my mom was better she stopped laying at her feet.
I hope once your husband is feeling better her behaviour will get better too.

[Tippy]

Could it be a hormonal thing?

We have two adult female Saints, one neutered and one not who tend to start showing signs of aggression towards eachother during certain cyles of the latter.

Usually we have some forewarning - because they will stand very tall beside eachother - like they are facing-off or something.  So we call them down immediately.  Most of the time - they are best friends - but about a year ago - they were playing and running - and a fight broke out.  I was horrified, after knowing eachother for 3 years they were fighting!  By the time we could get them separated - and it took four of us to do so - we had some blood and owies. 

It hasn't happened again, and I pray it never does.  Now I am cautious.  After this litter - due in about three weeks, we are going to neuter the other female. Our vet said that would go a long ways towards permanent peace.

Good luck with your situation.