# Jeckle or hide



## Caroline e (Dec 17, 2010)

[/color]Can any one help. Our 18month viszla is causing me some concern as she is beginning to behave rather strangely on our normal stress free walks.if we see a dog that is more dominant than her she is great. Playful but very calm but if we come across a submissive dog (especially spaniels and black labs) she becomes v unpleasant Growling and running along side and being generally bullish.she doesn't do any of this if my husband is around. Normally she is fine at home and knows her place in the rank.I can't work out if she's playing or not.it's great with dogs that are above as her they will just growl if she gets too manic and she stops having been put in her place but with other dogs she literally tries to run them in to ground.awkward as I find spaniel owners very anxious,


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## Caroline e (Dec 17, 2010)

Not sure if I am posting correctly can any one see this , sorry new to this game


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## Mercutio (Jan 18, 2010)

Hi Caroline, you are posting just fine!

There have been a couple of posts on similar topics previously.

One thing that sounded familiar to me was that she behaves differently for you and your husband. I found that because I started getting worried about how merc was going to behave, he was worse for me than anyone else. If I concentrated really hard on not worrying then he wasn't too bad, but if I spoke or put any tension on the leash he was (is much improved these days) much worse. So perhaps, unknowingly, she is responding to you and maybe the other owners.

Can you find a good trainer that does group classes that can help with teaching good social manners? Mostly I think the dogs need to sort it out but sometimes it is difficult when it is your dog that is being pushy. If it were me I'd call her away when she started getting over the top with the other dogs, go somewhere else for a few minutes and do some calming exercises then try again when she has settled down a bit. At 3 years merc still sometimes gets so excited that he is a pain in the rear and when that happens I just leave where ever we are until I can get him focussed on me again.
Sorry, probably not much help.....


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## Caroline e (Dec 17, 2010)

Thank you that does help as this only happens when I am socialising with lots of dogs and owners. If we walk past dogs she is fine and friendly and her recall is great if I walk away from people and dogs.I find it interesting how they like certain breeds and not others. Bit like people I suppose


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## sarahaf (Aug 17, 2009)

I think dogs are upset by fear as well as aggression in humans or other dogs. They may instinctively know that another dog who looks fearful may become aggressive if approached, or just not know what their body language is about. I don't know, but Rosie always seems to know when a person doesn't feel comfortable around dogs (similar to your dog's response to dogs who don't feel comfortable around other dogs) and she behaves more aggressively toward that person. I agree with Mercutio that your tension level may make a difference.


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