About 5 years ago I rescued a cat from the RSPCA, Peter, then about three years ago I moved from my flat to a house and as I was working 3 minutes away from my house I decided to get a puppy. Mya is a female staffi x German S (20 months old now), I have to admit it was not easy, she is a very clever dog, can open doors (Doors that to open you have to pull and lock with a round door handle), open the freezer and the draws inside, she opens and empty the washing machine but only after the cloths have been washed, etc... (Luckily this behaviour has now stopped)
She has always loved other dogs and to play with them (Mainly chasing), she is good at recall (there are exceptions were she chooses not to listen but they are minimal and they happen in the park were we always go, when we go to new places she will stay near me at all times), and she will always stay in sight when she is off the lead (I do tend to hide a lot and make her look for me when she doesn't keep attention of were I'm).
Overall I think she is a good dog but a bit spoiled, also, she is indifferent to new people in the park, inside the house she will accept women and kids, but for some reason she is not very keen on new man.
As I mention before, she loves the company of other dogs so on July we decided to look for a companion for Mya, we look around and found Max, an 8 month old Collie x labrador (he is now 1year old), the family I got him from had to let him go because could not afford to keep him, he was very loved and has a very nice nature and when we visited him with Mya they got on straight away.
Max integrated very quickly in to the house, him and Mya develop a very strong bond, there are no fights between them (also they ignore the cat except when Peter wants to go out, they both follow him outside as I have a dog flap, but the three of them will happily sleep together in the bed, and they leave his food alone) they respect each other at feeding times, we give them bones, treats and no fights, my guess is that Mya is the dominant one (she has also calm down since Max is in the house, behaving a lot more mature).
Outside, Max was also the prefect dog, very affectionate and submissive towards people and playful with all other dogs, his recall was perfect every time.
About two months ago he started to bark at other dogs that were playing a bit to rough with Mya or jump on me (regardless if they were male or female dogs), I tried to stop him by saying no and ignoring him when he got near me, but he didn't stop, actually got worse, he started meeting all other dogs in a dominant manner and if they didn't go submissive he will try to nip them in the neck, so every time he tried that I would put him on the lead for the rest of the walk, again, this made things worse, now it gets to the point that I keep him on the lead when in the park and if another dog comes near he will wait until they are near enough and attack them.
In the mornings I go to a golf club at 6 for an hour were there is only a couple of other dogs that he gets on with, and today he was actually playing with one of them (female) to be honest the worse aggression is when he is on the lead, but I just don't trust him. In October I had him castrated and so far has made no effect (I know it can take up to 6 months to notice any changes), I have asked the old owner if Max ever behaved that way with him and he said no.
The aggression is only with other dogs, including the ones he was playing with for hours when I first got him. And all my attempts to correct it is just making things worse. In the house I do the typical thing, dogs are not allowed in the sofa, I eat before them, I go trough doors or stairs first, when I get in from work I ignore them until they calm down, ignore them if they demand attention. One thing, is that they have the run of the house while I'm working, and as I have a dog flap they have access to outside. He is also very submissive inside the house, he will go down on his back as soon as he see us coming towards him, we only need to tell him a comand once, outside (if there are no other dogs around) he will again be the perfect dog, will come evry time at recall, he also comes to me very often without calling him.
I want him to be able to run and play in the park like Mya does and as the days go by I'm seeing that chance sleep away and have to admit I need help.
