Boston Terriers and Agressive behavior at times

Question
Hi

My Grand-dog is a wonderful Boston Terrier.  She is 2 years old and the love of my life and that of my daughter and son-in-law.  She loves people, is compassionate, caring and is so loving all the time. EXCEPT- she recently  has become very possessive of her toys when at the dog park. She loves catching frisbees and balls and used to "watch" when other dogs took them.  Now she attacks the dogs- all of which are bigger than she.  We are afraid she is going to be majorly hurt and want to stop this behavior. She is fine if a person (even a stranger) takes her toys.

Please help- We adore her!

Nancy

Answer
Hi Nancy,

You're absolutely right, eventually the dog will seriously hurt another animal if the behavior is not corrected!

The simplest solution to this problem would be to find a comfortable muzzle that the dog can wear when out in the park.

Be prepaired, at first the dog might act as though he can't stand wearing the muzzle. This is normal, he'll get used to it in a short while, and be a lot safer to the neighborhood dogs.

Always use a basket-style muzzle on a dog with a short face (such as Boston Terriers) so you do not interfere with it's breathing. While wearing a basket-style muzzle, the dog will able to open his mouth, pant, drink water and even eat a small treat.

The following web site has information on getting a dog used to wearing a muzzle:
http://www.jerseydogtrainer.com/news_details.asp?nid=27

Quite frankly, at some point the dog is going to try to remove the muzzle. You want this to happen so the dog finds out that he cannot succeed. Once he convinces himself that he cannot get rid of it, most dogs accept it.

If the dog is not muzzled, then it should not be let off the leash. Even still, a muzzle will do nothing to prevent aggressive behavior. A muzzle will only prevent a bite.

The dog can be trained not to attack other dogs, but it's definitely a time intensive commitment. The best thing to do would be to enroll the dog in an obedience class to sharpen the dog's response to one-word voice commands and increase owner leadership.

Since the dog is good with people, and the aggression is limited to playtime in the park, it will be much easier just to get a muzzle, which is the route I would take if this were my dog.

I hope I've been a help.

Best of luck,
Patti