Dog Advice- Dog Got into it with Neighbors Dog

[pennylane]

Hi, I don't post a lot but knew you ladies would maybe have some suggestions that I haven't thought about.

Last night, my dog was home with my husband (I was out). We have a large fenced in backyard, so after feeding him (the dog) my husband let him out to do his business. Our neighbors have a pit bull and a german shepherd, our dog is a 30 lb. terrier mix. Apparently the dogs were all outside at the same time, and one of the dogs broke a hole in the fence between the yards. From my husbands account, our dog had a hold of the pit bulls leg and it sounded nasty. He somehow got them separated and brought our dog inside, who was not harmed. The neighbors dog is limping today- I've already talked to them so if it needs a vet visit or any treatment we will pay for it. I'm trying to figure out where we go from here... obviously we can't have our dog getting into scrapes with other dogs and causing injuries. He is territorial/protective and can be leash reactive which I've been trying to work on.

For now, our dog is not allowed out off leash. I have to get the fence fixed, and the neighbors dogs are outside the majority of the time. I'm going to contact a dog trainer that does private, in home training. She's well recommended and uses only positive methods. We do use NILIF for most things, but the dog is not good about coming if he's at all distracted. The vet has suggested doing pheromone therapy because of his separation anxiety related to me as well, but we haven't started that yet. I don't know if that would chill out his territorial behaviors at all.

If you were in my shoes, would you be doing anything else?

[Deleted]

Until the fence is fixed and you feel comfortable having your dog out there is it possible to take your dog out in the front yard? Obviously, this is a short term, temporary fix, but at least it keeps all of the dogs separated.

[katietornado]

OK so this might get really long. And first of all, good for you for stepping up and taking responsibility; it's hard to do that sometimes.

We adopted a dog (Australian Kelpie) from a shelter 6 years ago. We had no idea what we were getting into. After a few days it became evident that he had some serious issues with aggression. We turned to a trainer (we found her on apdt.com) who did a thorough evaluation of him. Spoiler: looking back on that report makes me cry, because he used to be such a trainwreck of a dog. Anyway, he was unable to even see another dog, at any distance, without losing his shit. Racing heartbeat, growling, barking, snarling, lunging, choking himself on his leash. And it took him over a half hour to fully calm down afterward. She recommended some exercises to get him used to seeing other dogs, if not being approached by them. It turns out that it's not that Cal is aggressive; it's that he is fearful. He misreads social cues from other dogs and instead of waiting for them to potentially attack, he just attacks first without any provocation.

All this to say that you need professional help. A trainer is a good start. A behaviorist could be better. We eventually took Cal to a behaviorist. She put him on meds (which we didn't keep up as long as we should have). Taught us a ton about how to keep him calm and even, rather than cycling between freakouts and calm. More than anything, she gave us hope that this dog was not beyond having a normal life.

Six years later, Cal is happy and pretty well adjusted. We run almost every day. He is able to see and pass by other dogs without hardly even noticing. Today on our run a little dog slipped his harness and charged after us. He was jumping all over Cal (in a friendly way) and I was able to quickly get Cal into a down stay while I grabbed the pup so his owner could come get him. It's seriously like night and day...it just takes a TON of work.

TL;DR: try a behaviorist and get your dog TONS of exercise. A tired dog is a good dog.