aggression towards puppy

Question
Hi there,
I have a male 7 month old olde english/american bulldog who is quite dominant. My neighbors downstairs have a 3 year old male Australian/shepherd and recently brought home an Akita mix puppy (4 1/2 months old). Problem: my bulldog plays with the older dog all the time in the backyard but has shown aggression towards the puppy. My 7 month old puppy weighs about 65 pounds and he is very rough with the puppy -  i.e pinning her down and not letting her up until you basically "pull" him off of her, chasing her relentlessly. I am afraid he is going to hurt her. I have asked my neighbors to bring their puppy out while I have my dog on a leash and let the dogs get to know and socialize with each other. They don't seem too keen on doing this; they said that they are concerned that MY puppy will traumatize their puppy into being afraid of ALL dogs. All 3 of these dogs need to share the backyard so what do you reccomend I do? I will not let my puppy out until they bring their's in (this can sometimes be up to 30-40 minutes), which I don't think is fair to my puppy as he sits at the window waiting excitedely to be let out to play. Any suggestions you have would be gratefully accepted.
Thank you,
Anne-Marie

Answer
Hi Anne-Marie,

Thank you for writing to me about this neighborly situation.

If your dog is dominant and isn't yet neutered, I would suggest having that done.  I would also find a way to get his energy out, like long walks, training classes and agility training.  All these activities will help your dog's mind develop and increase the canine/human bond as well as release excess energy.

What may be happening with your dog and the puppy is that young puppies do not heed the typical body language that dogs give off to one another..certain cues that let the other dog know, "enough is enough."  Puppies are still in the learning stage and this puppy may be very annoying to your dog. This puppy hasn't learned good manners yet and that can drive older dogs crazy.

However, your neighbor's concern about the aggression and fear are right on!  When a young puppy is attacked and experiences fear, they can develope what's called fear aggression and that can last the life time of the dog.  So please, as much as it is an inconvenience, respect the concerns of your neighbor.  

Come up with a mutually agreeable schedule for the dogs to play.  The older dogs can play together, which I am sure your neighbor's appreciate and then they can take the puppy out to play.  If they don't want to do this, there is not much you can say about it. It's their dogs and protocol dictates that the aggressive dog waits until the other dogs have left the play area.  On the same thought, if you are in the yard first, then they will have to wait.

Since these older dogs are friends and enjoy each other, perhaps your neighbor would be willing to make play date arrangements with you.

The other option is to invite another dog owner to your home that gets along well with your dog and have a play date with that dog apart from your neighbor.

Eventually all the dogs will be over a year old and hopefully at that time, things will equalize.

Be cordial and positive with your neighbor..no need to start a war over something that will be changing so soon.  Respect the concerns they have for theis puppy's development and try to put yourself in their shoes.  It's called, empathy and it's a valuable thing to practice.

I hope that this can be worked out for the sake of the dogs.

Best Regards,
Shelley Davis