agressive street dogs

Hi there

It’s great to hear that Brownie is now loving his walks! Keep up the good work with building his confidence in all different environments.
The stray dogs on the street will have a pack hierarchy in place, and they will view Brownie with apprehension, because he is a newcomer to the street. It probably doesn’t help that Brownie is also unwilling to back down from a fight. However, if you are patient and give it some time, you should find that the dogs should come to accept Brownie as part of the street and reshuffle their hierarchy to fit him in. Unfortunately, sometimes this will involve a bit of a scuffle initially while the dogs figure out where they stand with each other in the hierarchy. Although this is what would naturally occur in a pack situation, it must be well controlled as there is a possibility if this is done too early that all the strays will see him as an invader of their territory and so all turn on him. Therefore you must take extreme care with introducing him to the strays.

Don’t be too worried if the dogs have a bit of a scuffle initially, because this is all part of the ‘initiation’ process. These will involve the dominant dog snapping at the subordinate and perhaps pining them to the ground, but should not involve anything more serious than theses. You will have to watch these very carefully though in case they turn into a dog fight where neither dog is willing to back down and one or both dogs are likely to get injured. If this does occur, the most important thing to do is for you to remain calm. Never reach into the middle of the fight and try grabbing your dog, because although the dogs would probably never intend to bite you, there is a high chance of you getting hurt as they won’t be watching what they are grabbing carefully.

In the worse case scenario of a serious dog fight occurring, there are a few things that you can do. Shout loudly angrily in the hope that you will scare both of them into submission or get Brownie to listen to you and back off.
If this doesn’t work, you could try throwing a heavy blanket over the dogs or spraying them with water. Ideally, the dogs will be so blinded and confused by the sudden sensory cut-off that they will stop fighting temporarily, which should give you enough time to grab your dog by the collar and lead him away. There are also specific sprays available which are specifically designed to break up dogfights. These contain citronella or lemon juice, which aren’t physically harmful to the dogs but they are very sensitive to the smell. but they contain citronella, which is intensely offensive to dogs. You can also make effective sprays yourself - lemon juice diluted with water is ideal.
As a last resort, you may have to physically intervene by grabbing one of the dogs by the back legs and dragging them back and away in a circular arc. You have to be extremely careful that you don’t get hurt though as neither dog will be very aware of you and may bite you by accident.

If Brownie is pulling a bit on the walks, it may be a good idea to try taking him out in a halti, which will give you good control over his direction of movement without hurting him. When approaching the street dogs, make sure you remain completely calm, as dogs are very sensitive to body language and so Brownie will be able to pick up on any apprehension or nervousness that you may be feeling. It may also help to distract him from the dogs when they come up to you by giving him a command, such as ‘sit-stay’, and then giving lots of praise and a treat when he obeys. You

Although it is a pain, you will have to try avoid the street dogs initially, to prevent aggravating any aggression that is present. Hopefully, after some time, they will get used to having him on the street and learn to ignore him.

I hope this helps and all the best with the training!