Why Did Zach Do This??

ZachsMom · #1 18th August 2002, 09:11 AM

Zach totally attacked a Boxer yesterday and I am very upset with him! We were at my friend's house and her new neighbor has a 5 year old neutered fawn Boxer. Zach has been around this boxer before, always with my friend Donna, not me. Donna has told me Zach gets a little agitated with the dog,Duke, but has never gone after him. Well yesterday Donna, her 2 dogs, Zachary, the neighbor and his dog were all out front (off the leashes). Everything was fine until I walked out of the house. Of course Zach came running over to me followed by Duke. Duke was interested in what I had in my hand - a bottle of water - I let him sniff it and Zach just attacked him.

Zachary was a wild man!!! thankfully Donna was smart enough to pull Zachary by his back legs and got him off of Duke.
Why did Zach do this? Protective? How do I prevent something like this from happening again?

Tulsa-Dan · #2 18th August 2002, 11:33 AM

Sounds like he was jealous and guarding whatever was in your hand as his.

Do a search on jealous and food guarding and you'll find lots of information on these subjects.

trudy · #3 19th August 2002, 08:17 AM

Definately sounds like jealousy....when Trudy and i go to the dog park, or anywhere were there are other dogs, she loves them all and plays and plays and play....but if i pay attention to another dog, or if another dog comes over to sniff me, or if i even PET another dog....

She comes runnin over and will put her body inbetween me and the other dog and give quite a warning growl...we are working on this right now, but it sounds as though Zach is jealous of you giving attention to any other dogs...strange that he didn't give a warning....