DA or something else?

Laurelin

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#1
Two incidents with Mia that actually happened a few weeks ago. I've been thinking on them and watching her to see what comes of it and so far nothing has happened since. These happened within 2 days of each other.

#1. We were at Petsmart and there was a PP Chinese Crested a ways down the isle. All dogs were on leashes and the Crestie was probably 5 feet away. My dogs are usually very good and will just stick right by my leg. The crestie was extremely nervous acting (I talked to her owners a bit and they said she's really scared around other dogs). She was just very fearful and hiding. I was looking at harnesses and did not see anything happen to be honest. The crestie was still quite a ways away. Mia very suddenly lunged out at the crestie, which scared the crap out of it but she hit the end of the leash and it bolted so nothing more came of it. I apologized profusely and especially felt bad because they had JUST been talking to me about how their dog was afraid. I felt awful, it was totally out of character for her.

#2. This one was the next day at flyball practice. Everything was going ok. Mia was a bit unsure about the amount of hyped up dogs at class. One of the ladies had an Aussie, BC, and a cav and decided to let her cav come meet Mia. There was little I could do because I didn't know it was coming. The cav ran up to Mia and promptly tried to hump her. She went ballistic at it and we had to pull the two apart. It seemed to be all noise, no marks on either dog, but she was MAD. That was more understandable (for me) since he just rushed her when she wasn't looking and started humping her (and he was 2x her size).

Since then nothing has happened and it's been a month or more. The 1st situation I still haven't figured out what happened. Any thoughts?
 

Dekka

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#2
She's being a normal dog? Esp with the second one.

Maybe the dogs nervousness was upsetting her?
 

Laurelin

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#3
Well yeah, she's being normal. DA falls into the normal dog range too. I'm just trying to think if it's something worth paying any attention to at all. She's 2 and has always been reactive but never the instigator (unless you count in household bullying). The first one is the one that I've thought the most on as the second was completely justifiable to me.
 

Shai

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#4
Sounds like she was overreacting in stressful/overstimulating situations.

When I think of DA, I tend to think of a dog who given a chance will attack other dogs with no/little provocation, usually with intent to do real harm.

ETA: At risk of sounding odd, I would work on modifying her emotional state in highly charged situations.
 

Kat09Tails

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#5
Honestly she sounds a little sharp to me. It's not a bad thing and not uncommon in papillons especially the ones with a ton of drive. Basically she's very aware of the stuff going on around her and when something is amping her up with nowhere to go it leaves her hitting threshold and nowhere to go with it. Some dogs spin, some lash out, some bark endlessly, some teeth chatter, it's just part of the dog's character being expressed. You could have brought her focus back to you prior to the threshold by simply saying a command she was aware of like ball? or Mia? or perhaps teaching her a formal heel.

You can work on threshold and coping behaviors however much in the way you can manage ADHD to a point without medication.
 

Laurelin

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#6
She is sharp. Probably the sharpest pap I've personally known. Hyperaware- that's another check mark too, lol.

She's very drivey as well. She ramps up and excites easily and has sometimes issues controlling it or settling. Usually it leaks out as screaming and has occasionally been redirecting at other dogs. Spinning- she went through a phase as a pup. Teeth chattering- she does all the time. Barking when excited- yep, thought it's more often screaming. I've usually treated things as they show up and eventually something else will pop up in it's place. She went through one phase where Beau was on diet and every time we let him out of his kennel, she'd redirect onto him.

I re-found my copy of control unleashed so maybe we should revisit that. She has a heel but it's pretty loose and I've slacked on her training lately. She absolutely lives to train and think so maybe I just need to focus on making outings less fun and more structured. Lately we've been doing the off leash walking or just plain walks and a lot less self control and obedience work. In January we're starting rally classes since agility is not fitting my schedule right now.

I know I made her sound awful, lol. She's really not a hard dog, I promise. ;) Just excitable.
 

Dekka

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#7
She sound EXACTLY like how Kat was. Kat was normally fine with other dogs, except in really stressful situations. I just monitored her when things got exciting or tense and was ready to redirect her attn back to me.
 

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