7lb freddie growling at 75 lbs pitbulls!

Freddie

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#1
Today I was walking little freddie and a pitbull came up to us which was a big boy! He had to have been like 70lbs, I used to have a pitbull so I particularly like the breed. He was a nice dog, just wanted to play with Freddie but freddie began growling at him and standing up, and then they pitty got into a stance and I'm not an experienced enough dog owner to know what that means, but I didn't want to take chances, little freddie would have gotten mangled by him. Eventually one of the kids who found the pitbull and was keeping it came out and took it away.

That's just an example of the problem I"m having with Freddie, he growls at bigger dogs! The smaller ones he doen't have a problem with but the ones bigger than him he gets sooo agrressive like he wants to make up for his lack of size. I"m afraid he is going to get hurt one day. Any suggestions to correct it? Alot of people say spray him in the face or tell him no, but I dont have a spray bottle with me 24/7 and no doesn't really work with freddie, only thing i can do is drag him away but in this case, the pitbull had no owner and he would have just kept following us.
 

mrose_s

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#2
we have a little dog (smaller than our cat? and because her best friend is our other dog sophie who wighs a good 45kg (i think thats about 90lbs) she thinks she can tell off whatever dog she likes, but usually sophie is there standing behind her, so when the dog leaves, she thinks itwas her telling them off LOL
 

Doberluv

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#3
Just keep working on your basic obedience and especially on "watch me." Teach that dog to pay attention to you and look at your face on command. Eye contact=treat/praise. Do this away from distractions until he gets really good at it. Then introduce distractions from a distance and little by little increase the distractions. Don't expect the dog to be able to behave himself all of a sudden. This is a learning process.

Dogs don't seem to know their own size, I swear. You think your dog is running risks messing with a big dog. My Chihuahua mix boy, Jose ran a black bear off my property last summer. That bear actually ran for his life. (grrrrr not funny) Jose was lucky that the bear was a yearling and didn't turn around and swipe him.
 

Purr

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#4
OMG! Go JOSE Go! I would've been scared to death!! A black bear...imagine. They don't know their own size; Beethoven at 50 lbs, gets in my lap every chance he gets, and goes to sleep. Thinks he's a cat...LOL
 

smkie

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#5
Better tell that pit bull what my biology teachter told me..beware the little guys!
Your dog has a big brave heart!
 
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#7
Is Freddie neutered yet?

Aside from that, it's very possible that Freddie sees these big dogs as a threat to you and thinks he should be protecting you, or worse, sees you as his "territory" and is warning the larger dogs to stay away . . .

I'm kind of inclined to say that when Freddie acts like this, pick him up and take him home - walk over. He might get the idea that aggressive behaviour means an end to the fun.
 

mrose_s

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#8
Purr said:
OMG! Go JOSE Go! I would've been scared to death!! A black bear...imagine. They don't know their own size; Beethoven at 50 lbs, gets in my lap every chance he gets, and goes to sleep. Thinks he's a cat...LOL
lol, buster does that, he's 20kg (40lbs) he sits on your lap on chairs and everything, lol
 

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