How to deal with dog protecting another dog aggression?

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JoSlater
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2016 8:42 am

How to deal with dog protecting another dog aggression?

Post by JoSlater »

I am hoping I may find some help here. My friend and I each have a dog and they are best friends. Bubba, a male English Springer Spaniel is 2 and half years old and Howie, a male Sproodle, is 17 months old. Howie is my dog. He spent a lot of time with my friend's dog, Bubba, as a young puppy, learning from him and socialising in the park with him. They spend holidays together (we join them as families!) so we are all close. In the last year, Bubba has undergone a couple of surgeries for cruciate ligament injury, his most recent being such 6 weeks ago. So he has had a lot of lead walking. When we are on the park with both dogs, Bubba has become quite agressive towards other dogs. This became heightened when Howie was around. My friend has worked hard on re-socialising Bubba, putting his agression down to first the pain before his surgery and since, the frustration at being on his lead. He is doing really well now and socialising nicely, that is until Howie is with him on the park. Any other dog that comes towards Bubba or Howie gets an aggressive reaction from Bubba. This is only now happening when Howie is around. One thing I have considered is that Bubba could be reacting because back in the summer, just has Howie turned 1, he was attacked by two Japanese Akitas, whose owner was not in control of them whilst on their leads. Howie was also on his lead but they had him pinned to the ground, and me against a wall. In the weeks after the attack Howie was rather nervous of other dogs on the park, although we went to a dog park the day after the attack so as ensure that Howie was not de-socialised. It took a little while for Howie to find his confidence and I wonder if for a little while Bubba was picking up on Howie's fear on the park and so thought that with his agression he was protecting him. However this protection of Howie has not subsided. I would be so grateful if you could help with any advice as to what to do to discourage Bubba's agressive behaviour, because as soon as he is allowed off his lead we are really looking forward to going on some great walks together which we would like to do without the concern of him being aggressive toward other dogs. Thank you so much in advance.
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