[♥Me♥MyDog]

Our dog Zaida seems to have a problem with aggression. We adopted her from a local rescue group who didn't have too much information on what kind of life she had before she was found by them. We do know that she spent 9 months at animal services before going to a foster home. The foster family taught her some tricks-she is a very fast learner- in the 3 months they had her. They realized that sometimes she gets aggressive with other dogs and suggested we muzzle her when introducing her to dogs.

A couple days after bringing her home we introduced her to my parents Jack Russel Terrier. We put on her muzzle and waited in the backyard for Cash to come out. They sniffed eachother and she seemed very apprehensive and tried to bare her teeth through the muzzle and her hackles rose. We weren't making any progress so I took the muzzle off and the tousled a little and then started playing with no further issues.

In an attempt to get her socialized we started taking her to the near-by off leash dog park. She was doing well for the first week or so even without the muzzle on, maybe a little timid but being calm and obedient. Now almost every time we go she gets aggressive with other dogs, its usually ones her same size or a little bigger. This happens over sticks when other dogs try to take it from her. But also, when she starts sniffing new dogs, her ears are always straight up and her tail is usually up as well, (rarely do her hackles raise unless we have her leashed at the time) they seem to be getting along then all of a sudden she jumps at them and goes for the back of their necks.

I don't get the impression that she is doing any of this as a protective action for myself or my boyfriend. It could be she is insecure from her time in the kennels and not being around other dogs, but as I said, she was fine for the first week or so.

When she does this we put on her muzzle and let her walk around off leash, she gets very timid when we do this and sometimes wont even come back to us.

If we try to walk her on the leash and other dogs approach her she is even worse and snaps at them and growls.

Any information on how to deal with this behavior more affectively would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[german sheep]

When two individuals meet they don't have a family pack situation.
They are strangers and every strange dog is a rival who eventually endangers the own health or maybe tries to get resources the other wants of its own --> stick

As long as the human does not clear the situation between them, the dog has to do it of its own and can only resolve the problem like a carnivore --> using aggression

The first week your dog was dependent to you and had to wait if you were a leader (her hero) to clarify the fearfull moments for her, something she needed so badly, but then as nothing happened and it was getting too hot, she had to make decisions of her own to safe her survival.

She didn't want to doubt your leadership now she knows that she has to find a solution for herself. When you put the muzzle on you are taking her the last possibility to protect herself IF she would be attacked, on the other hand she can not find safety by her humans.

So she has nothing as a background and therefore she will get worse. She isn't able to help herself and does not know if the holder can help her, protect her from other rivals, so her fear grows and dogs who have a lot of fear will use aggressions more often and with stronger intensity.

You need professional help to get her out of this, to give sureness by you so that she has no need to use her teeth ever again against another dog, but to come to you when she has a growing problem...