English Mastiff

Question
Hi Labman,

I was walking my 1 year old english mastiff bitch in the park the other day, and a group of runners were jogging past accompanied by a big st bernard. He started barking very loudly at my mastiff and it was a deep bark. Anyway when he barked she cowered a bit and ran to my legs displaying timid behaviour. She is a very big dog herself with a big deep bark also, and she is a very good guard dog, whenever someone comes to the door she barks and even growls a bit. What i want to ask is why is she displaying this timid behaviour? It is the first time she has done it, whenever we walked past dogs previously in the park and they bark she is absolutely fine. Is there anything i can do because i don't want a fearful dog.

Thanks and Kind regards.

Answer
First you must remain calm and unafraid.  She will sense your emotions and react to them.  It could also be her maturing.  If she hasn't been spayed or had her first season, she is coming into season and her behavior will be quite unpredictable.  It might be a good idea to see if the vet will spay her now.  

The other thing is leadership.  She needs to see you as leader and have confidence in you.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat.