# Behaviour & aggresion



## honeyhil (Mar 6, 2012)

Hi, I wonder if anyone can offer some advice on my wonderful Vizsla's change in behaviour. We have 2 vizsla Bongo who is 19 months old and Occy who is 8 months old. They both have the same mums and are awesome dogs. Bongo has always been a loving gentle dog and while it took him a little while to get used to Occy they are now best of friends. About 3 months ago Bongo started to show aggression towards other dogs. They are both really well socialised and always play with loads of dogs on their walks which is why this behaviour seems so strange. They both have loads of exercise and get walked for at least 2 hrs a day usually on the beach and always running, swimming and chasing balls. Bongo can play with dogs for the whole walk then spots one his shackles go up he doesn't listen when we call him and then he just attacks. He never seems to really do much just noise but I don't think this is acceptable and as a responsible owner I feel he shouldn't do this at all and it isn't fair on other dog owners. He has never showed the remotest aggression towards people. I have read posts about neutering but again all seems a bit extreme. I was hoping that someone may have some advice about how to help him as he is an awesome dog, they both are and we just want him to have a happy life x


----------



## SerCopper (Nov 1, 2011)

The dogs he is getting aggresive with are they usually intact males? Or is it a mix, males/females, intact/fixed?


----------



## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2012/02/inter-dog-dominance-aggression.html

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2009/12/history-and-misconceptions-of-dominance.html

Hope this reading helps.

RBD


----------



## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

I had a read of those links RBD and agree with pretty much all of that. As for a solution, I wouldn't be embarrassed in front of another owner as long as my dog didn't bite the other dog. But, I would go back a step and rework my recall training till I had him recalling no matter what. 

While not aggressive, my Ozkar is much like RBD's Bailey. Happy to meet other dogs, but will not be dominated. He doesn't attack the other dog, but more defends his position. He squats his back legs, stretches his front legs and head so he looks really tall (He's really a short arse Vizsla though, not a terribly big boy, but built well for his height). He won't back down and when a dog has a go, he will side step and body slam it more than bite it. If it get's rougher than that, he will start biting down on top of the back of their neck. From there, I have not seen, as I haven't allowed it to get any further than that so far. (Mind you, there are a couple of dogs we come across that makes me wish he would   )


----------

