What makes other dogs bark at mine?

[simhauu]

Because of the accident with the rottie in my neighbourhood, I don't really let Ghost off lead unless he has a playing buddy and even then whenever I spot dogs, he gets on lead.

Since then we are more and more often greeted by other (mainly) unleashed dogs who excitedly come to Ghost at first. I can see their tail swaying sideways, interest in sniffing etc.

Then the situation changes. In 8 out of 10 cases, the dog comes, sniffs Ghost and then starts to snarl at Ghost, bark or as already happened a few times snap at him).

I've had an issue with Ghost previously that he'd greet the smallest dogs with crazy barking to provoke them (a gift from one shitzu in our building) since then I've got him to ignore most smaller dogs but I can't stop them from coming to us.

The owners, usually couple of meters away or walking away, don't hear their dogs. Majority of them because they have smaller breeds, don't care about their dogs snarling/barking/snapping at mine. They can see my -__- look but they ignore it. I can hear Ghost trying to snarl back at them but usually I try to get him away from the other dog because I'm afraid it'd get ugly.

I worry that Ghost will pick up his "crazy provoking" again if they don't stop.

But anyway my concern is 'Why do they do it?'. What is in Ghost that others see him as a competition/rival?

I can't change the owners I know that. I know that some dogs react differently to dogs who are off lead and on lead but whyyy.

It usually makes me sad that another dog doesn't like Ghost and that he could get aggressive with them.

I hope I wasn't too confusing...

[Removed #5]

While several things come to mind - the first, nothing more than just a dominance stance - it'd be a lot easier to comment somewhat intelligently if you could take a vid of him when it happens. *His* body language is going to say a whole more than you trying to explain what you see.

Yes, a picture really can be worth thousands of words!

[simhauu]

Problem with me is I rarely take phone (afraid of Ghost accidentally pulling me to water). Ghost's stance is usually guard hair up, tail swaying excitedly sideways (times ten when it's a female). I could think it'd be the dominance but really, almost all dogs we meet?

[Removed #2]

Are you walking him in a park or neighborhood or is it a dog park? Why would you ever have him off lead? I see he is nearly a year old, and in a few months may not choose to stay by your side when off lead as puppyhood ends. Not sure the reasons for the whys, except as Al said, dominance...

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

The thing with huskies is the way they hold themselves they walk proudly ears up and forward tail up and alert to dogs these can be signs ov a 'dominant' dog so other dogs go to defence straight away

Only thing I can thing ov is when u see a dog get him to lie down sideways on to another dog as this will make him seem submissive rather then dominant even if he isn't the dominant type

Sent from my ST18i using Forum Runner

[Removed #5]

Thanks, @BingBlaze'n'Skyla that's what I meant by a dominant stance. It's not that he's trying to exert dominance, it's that the way he holds himself the other dog thinks he's trying to be dominant.

The description that [MENTION=6960]simhauu[/MENTION] gives makes me think that he has a confidence that the other dogs perceive as dominant even when they don't have any thing to worry about.

Personally, I don't see that this is something that she can correct, it's not her dog that's the problem. Causing him to appear submissive is very apt to send the wrong signals to the other dog. The best solution that I can see, since the other owners ignore the situation, is to get him out of the situation with as much of his dignity intact as possible - and that might not be possible. If he feels that he has to "give ground" anytime someone growls at him then I think he might, eventually, decide to take the first step first.

All in all not a good place to be ... for either Ghost or Simhauu ....

[Elyse]

I think its a dominance (or as Al said: Confidence that is mistaken as dominance) thing - Ghost's stance sounds similar to what Suka does whenever he sees a dog (offlead or onlead) :

Hackles raised

Ears forward

Whole body stiffens/tenses

Stands on 'toes' to make self seem bigger/stronger

Head raised high

Tail tightly curled - up against back.

If the other dog 'postures' back, then Suka or the other dog gets growly and snarly.

Whenever I see any of those signs (before the growling) - I just avoid the situation. Either by turning around and walking the other way, or crossing to the other side of the street. Avoiding the situation usually works for me.

I found that if I try to make Suka seem more 'submissive' (by making him sit/lie down/etc), that seems to make the situation worse (snarling, pulling towards other dog/Suka, and ready to duke it out) than if I were to just avoid and get the other dog out of Suka's line of sight. I find he's more 'dominant' like this towards males than females - go figure.

[simhauu]

Thank all, this makes it much more clear to me now! At least I know that what I am doing isn't bad, the taking him away.

I'll try to get his attention more with tastier, more meaty treats (I accidentally confused him on Saturday that if I say "Catch" he'll come/do the "To me" command:rolleyes:) That's what I get for bringing finer treats to a dog meet.

[MENTION=2509]HuskyHijinx[/MENTION] I usually walk him at a dog park but the other dogs bark at him even at a place like the front of a supermarket. On Saturday we were in an enclosed area with many dogs, together with him a couple other huskies off-lead. Besides that one instance I rarely let him off lead nowadays. Only and only in cases when we meet his dog friends at a place I know he can't run away from. As soon as I see him lose his interest in the other dog, we continue our walk. Some of our dog friends already know that I'm not keen on letting him loose, so while theirs run around us, Ghost is on his lead.