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We have a 20 month old male, flashy fawn. He was neutered around 6.5 months old. He's been well socialized with other dogs and people throughout his life. He's been the sweetest thing until recently. He would never growl at other dogs let alone get feisty with them.
We recently brought him to the dog park which he has been many many times before and he was more aggressive. Until this previous time he never barked at other dogs approaching the gate. He not only barked but wanted to go up to them as they came into the fenced in area. I had to hold his collar for a few moments so he would calm down. I'd let him go and he go right up to the new dog. He wouldn't scuffle but would get really loud and knarly with them. He did play well with others then if another dog did something he would get feisty. This other dog would do nothing out of the ordinary.
One recent time he actually tried to mount his other boxer playmate. He even got visually excited. I'll spare you the visuals.
There have been a few changes in his life over the past 4 months.
1) my wife got pregnant and is 5 months along
2) we got a female white boxer 2.5 months ago. she's almost 5 months old.
3) we used to take him to doggy day care a few times a week, where he was socialized.
4) he is crated a bit more for two days a week.
He gets along with the puppy great. She's actually the feisty one. We got her for two reasons, one that we wanted another and a playmate for our male and the other to play with him so we can eliminate the expense of day care.
The two days he's crated, he's only crated for 4 hours then a pet sitter comes by and lets him and the puppy out to play in the yard for an hour. Then it's back in the crate for another 4 hours. For the most part we actually leave him out of the crate for most of the time we run errands during the week. So he really isn't crated much at all the other days.
We have dogs on both sides of our property which are very loud. We have trained him to ignore them when the get all barky. His hair will stand up and he may bark or charge the fence on the very rare occasion.
We take him and the female for many walks during the week. At least once or twice a day. In the past, he was very calm when other dogs came up to him. But now he's more aggressive and on guard.
We have a nice size yard and he spends a lot of time out there racing around with the puppy.
He has shown no aggression toward humans or children. He loves both and when we see them on our walks, all he wants to do is say Hi.
So that's the overview. Any thought would be appreciated. We are wondering if it's the competition with new puppy and or being more protective as he may sense my wife is pregnant.
Thanks.
SMFG
We recently brought him to the dog park which he has been many many times before and he was more aggressive. Until this previous time he never barked at other dogs approaching the gate. He not only barked but wanted to go up to them as they came into the fenced in area. I had to hold his collar for a few moments so he would calm down. I'd let him go and he go right up to the new dog. He wouldn't scuffle but would get really loud and knarly with them. He did play well with others then if another dog did something he would get feisty. This other dog would do nothing out of the ordinary.
One recent time he actually tried to mount his other boxer playmate. He even got visually excited. I'll spare you the visuals.
There have been a few changes in his life over the past 4 months.
1) my wife got pregnant and is 5 months along
2) we got a female white boxer 2.5 months ago. she's almost 5 months old.
3) we used to take him to doggy day care a few times a week, where he was socialized.
4) he is crated a bit more for two days a week.
He gets along with the puppy great. She's actually the feisty one. We got her for two reasons, one that we wanted another and a playmate for our male and the other to play with him so we can eliminate the expense of day care.
The two days he's crated, he's only crated for 4 hours then a pet sitter comes by and lets him and the puppy out to play in the yard for an hour. Then it's back in the crate for another 4 hours. For the most part we actually leave him out of the crate for most of the time we run errands during the week. So he really isn't crated much at all the other days.
We have dogs on both sides of our property which are very loud. We have trained him to ignore them when the get all barky. His hair will stand up and he may bark or charge the fence on the very rare occasion.
We take him and the female for many walks during the week. At least once or twice a day. In the past, he was very calm when other dogs came up to him. But now he's more aggressive and on guard.
We have a nice size yard and he spends a lot of time out there racing around with the puppy.
He has shown no aggression toward humans or children. He loves both and when we see them on our walks, all he wants to do is say Hi.
So that's the overview. Any thought would be appreciated. We are wondering if it's the competition with new puppy and or being more protective as he may sense my wife is pregnant.
Thanks.
SMFG