[GREAT DANE]

I have a Great Dane 18 months old de-sexed, we recently relocated to Weipa on the Cape York Peninsular. Today I took him to the lakes for a swim and a co worker bought her dogs too (2 mastiff x males not de-sexed) . Boof has had friends dogs around him from a young age and never shown signs of aggression. He has had a dog growl at him a few months ago at a friend's house and he rolled over. Today the dogs got out of my co workers car and boof jumped around and got excited like he normally does when other dogs are around. The other dogs kept their distance and he sat back down in the sand. Then when they had finished sniffing around they made a bee line straight for Boof where he was sitting in the sand and sort of stood over him and it was on. It was awful they were fighting and we were trying to pull them apart.
There was major damage to any of the dogs in the end but I was pretty shaken and Boof was really upset.
This is so out of character for him, he's usually good with other dogs but i'm not 100% sure he didn't start it, it was all too quick.
Can his personality change at this age? Is it likely to happen again? Should I not socialise him anymore?

I think the other dogs are taken pig hunting, I don't know if that makes any differnece to their nature? my co worker said they don't usually do that.

[lange]

Originally Posted by GREAT DANE

Can his personality change at this age? Is it likely to happen again? Should I not socialise him anymore?

Do you mean, can he become dog aggressive at 18 months old? Yes, although I wouldn't consider him dog aggressive because of this one encounter! Is it likely to happen again? It could or might not. It's a matter of waiting & seeing. On that same note, you can't think that it will happen again or your anxiety CAN rub off on your dog which will make him feel insecure & act out because of your apprehension.

You should most definitely keep socializing him. He needs more positive experiences so that this past one doesn't seal his opinion of other dogs.

If these other two dogs:
a.) came in a fast, straight path to your dog
b.) stood OVER your dog
c.) came at him together
Then IMO it's the other 2 dogs that started the confrontation regardless of who physically escalated it. Was there direct eye contact involved? Did you notice any other body language going on? Did they sniff each other first? How was your dogs head held? The other dogs head? Tails? Lip licking? Blinking? These are important indicators that can help you get a better picture of the mentality of each of the dogs. The dogs sniffing the ground first is also doggie language. They are using calming signals so then you would look at your dog to see how he reacted to their signals.

For you, I'd suggest picking up some books on dog behavior/body language & dog aggression. The book on dog aggression will be able to help you look for triggers in your dog OR (more importantly here) OTHER dogs. It'll also give you pointers on doggie etiquette introductions. If your dog was overly excited, it could have triggered aggression in another dog. Not saying this happened but again, giving an example of the endless possibilities. The key with the books is that the more knowledgeable you are the more prepared you'll be in any situation. Don;t let this 1 thing make you nervous about future interactions. Your dog needs a continued confident guardian on his side.