fear aggression?? please help us!

[mollybear]

Hello, my name is Kandace. I want to introduce myself and my family before I go into my "problem". My house hold consists of my husband and my self, our 3 kids and our dogs. Both of our dogs are relatively new to us.

Molly (7 mo. old doby), we adopted from animal control about 2 weeks ago. They said she was a stray, and they didnt know anything about her. I fell head over heels for her, and shes perfect for us. Shes extremely submissive and overly eager to please and is an absolute doll. I have never in my life known a dog like her. I think she used to belong to another family as she knows a ton of commands and is awesome with my kids.

And then theres Bear. An 8 week old choc lab and malamu mix. We adopted him 3 days after Molly. We dont know much about him as he is only 8 weeks old. He is submissive when it comes to Molly, and loves to play. I cant comment on much more than his beauty, well theres his size, he is 15 pounds at 8 weeks and stands just under 12" tall. He is dominantly choclate with white toes and a white stripe down his snout. He has one sky blue eye and one greyish-green eye. He is breath taking. But Im getting off track.

Molly has ZEOR tolerance for the puppy. I have concluded by her behavior towards him that she may have a fear aggression problem with other dogs. I have tried to introduce them in different scenarios and places, and she still tries to attack him. Its not a playful attack either. She is violent, and Im scared shes going to hurt him. They are both kept in crates at night to sleep (the crates are side by side), as well as fed in them. When they are out during the day they are both kept on leashes, and are walked together for roughly 45 mins at a time, 3 or 4 times a day. She simply avoids him during the walks, but her behavior changes when we get near the house.

My husband and I are willing to do what it takes to fix this problem as we are total s**k for dogs, and even though its only been a few days, have developed a deep attachment to them both. Any input advice or comments about this situation are greatly appreciated.
Thanks-
Kandace, Molly and Bear

[elizavixen]

I don't have much advice but I was going to say that I don't think it is so much fear aggression as it is resource guarding type of behavior. She thinks she's got something great, a home/family/etc. and she doesn't want him to take it or share.

I went through something similar about a year ago. I adopted a St. Bernard to be a friend to the other St. Bernard I have. She was about 7 mos. She was an angel with me, very submissive, very calm, but she was very cautious about Indy. She didn't like him near her food or toys and then one day she just snapped and started attacking him. The place I adopted her from said she got along well with other dogs before so I think it was that she accepted me as her home and wans't going to share with Indy. I feel horrible for it but I had to give her back. I couldn't risk Indy's safety and being as though the whole point of getting her was so he would have a friend? She just needed to be in a home with no other dogs.

I'm sure there are alot of ppl here who have advice foryou.

[honeybears]

that is not a good situation to be in, I have no experience but just giving my 2 cents.

I think you need to give Molly back.
Explain why and see if they can home her with foster or someon else who has experience in this. I would be very worried not only for your other dog but family members as well as if you eve r want to go out with her and be around other dogs, people. etc.

Or youd could give Bear back, but then again I owuld be worried how Molly acts around any other dogs in other situations.
but to me it sounds like like she needs to be in a 1 dog home

You can also try finding a behavourist that deals with this, afraid. My stepdaughter wentt thru somethign similar, brought a dog home from the shelter, it attacked other dogs, so she returned it and found another dog there that is the sweetest dog. As hard as it is, sometimes, you have to think about this long term and what would be in the best interest of everyone.

hopefully someone else can help

[Jamiya]

I think you need a professional trainer experienced in this area who uses POSITIVE training techniques.