socialized foster female barking,lunging at friendly visiting rottweiler

Posted by joann-harte
Sep 15, 2015
She's one of 2 foster pups (3 & 4 yrs) we've had for 6 weeks, and came with a history of getting along fine with everything and everyone. But when a friend brought her sweet, much larger dog over to play last weekend, and they met on leash on neutral ground, she barked, growled and lunged at him and we had to take her inside and keep her in a bedroom while the other 2 played. She was highly distraught until the friend and her dog left. Now the other foster has been adopted and Ringie is missing her, and we're wondering (1) whether to edit her description to read "needs to be an only dog" and (2) what we can do to keep her current description as "friendly to other dogs" from being untrue--that is, how we can keep what happened from happening again. Many thanks for your advice and counsel,

Jo Harte
Posted by Preethi KOP
Sep 23, 2015
Hi Jo,

Firstly a huge pat on the back for being a foster carer! We certainly need more people like you in the world.

I would like to get a better picture on Ringie - any information on her past? What type of dog is she? Has she met lots of other dogs that she has been fine with? Her encounter with your friend's dog could certainly be a one-off thing, or maybe a breed thing (maybe she had a bad encounter with a similar dog in her past). I guess it may be wise to test her with other dogs and another dog of the same breed as your friends dog and see what she is like. Take things in baby steps and with caution and see where it leads.

Please do keep us posted, I would love to know more.

All the best.

Regards,
Preethi