Great Dane Phobia

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Juli

Inactive Member
Any thoughts as to why my 10mo old neutered boy would hate Danes? I know it sounds silly but in the last week he will not let a Dane anywhere near me. There are a number of Danes that go to the dog park. They are about the same age but they are REALLY BIG. Satchel literally took off after this dog, bared his teeth and let him know he was not welcome. I leashed him, told him no, but he barked a real throaty big boy bark and just kept following this dog with his eyes and barking. When he calmed down, stopped barking, and stopped tracking the Dane I let him off leash. As soon as he could find him he took off after him again. Needless to say after apologies, we left.
Do you think this is a dominance thing? Fear because the Danes are so much bigger?
A protective thing...a teenager thing? All of the above
Any suggestions, anything I can read? I feel so bad my sweet, tolerant, well mannered, gentle guy was such an @!#$%&* tonight and want to know what I might do next time.
Thanks,
Juli
 
M

misamala00

Inactive Member
I'm affraid I can't help you with some good advice that I would be sure it would work. I still don't know exactly how to react when a dog starts barking and acting agressive.
The Great Danes are really great - well giant. I belive we all know dogs that start to bark at our newfs just because of their size - I belive it's just the same with your newf and a dane. I know both of my girls had a fear towards this dogs and it's only the way how they respond to this fear - are they hidding and running away or are they attacking.
If I knew any dane owner I would ask them to put their dog in down position - if possible, for your newf to meet him (superwised of course and without any force), to snif at him... maybe after a while he would recognize that even though they are big, they are not dangerous.
Well that's the procedure I take, when there's a dog affraid of Misha and many times it works - just not always.

Good luck
Mirjam & Misha
 
Annie Milliron

Annie Milliron

Alpha Goddess
That is perplexing. Are Danes the only breed he reacts to this way??? Maybe it is the size... Did he have any exposure to Danes when he was smaller, that could have frightened him? Maybe even before he came to live with you? You might check with your breeder to see.

Annie
 
Shifty

Shifty

New member
P.J., our newf/lab rescue is exactly the same way with danes. I have no clue what it is about the breed but always assumed it was a size issue...?

To make matters worse we were at Petsmart the other night (Bil-Jac was on sale Jeannie
) anyway there was a man walking two beautiful danes through the store. I steered away knowing our slightly tainted history with them however my wife contined past them to grab an item. Dane #2 decided to growl at "mom" and actually startled her quite a bit, that was the end of it all. I never really realized just how little traction some tile floors offer until your trying to stop an upset Newf who is attempting to interpose himself between momma & a threat.

We ended up with the assistant store manager standing between us (which I still feel was a rather brave and stupid move) and asking us all to leave if we couldn't control our animals. I apologized for the inconvienence we caused him and his staff but still feel like it was actually just "one of those things" that you can't predict. We saw the danes, made an attempt to avoid the situation then growl & Bam! here we go.

We've never had any other problems with P.J. in public other than sometimes wanting to be Mr. stubborn Newf once in a great while. Am I blowing this whole event off too much? I don't know, sorry I couldn't help with your Newf/Dane issues but I read the thread and then needed to vent.

Hope you sort it all out,

Mike

------------------
90% Newf, 10% Who Cares.
 
J

Juli

Inactive Member
Perplexing..........I liked that. I still feel perplexed.
Yes, this is the only breed he responds to in this manner. It's like he thinks, "I know you're bigger so I'm gona kick your tush before you have a chance to kick mine."
The owner remembered his dog and Satchel playing together a few months prior and felt they were getting along. My recollection was that Satchel was behaving unusually aggressive towards the Dane so I kept intervening and would keep him in a sit/stay at my side.
Last PM the Danes owner called him over to me while Satchel was out playing. I was petting the Dane to show Satch it was OK, we called him over to try and show him he was a friendly dog like the above post suggests and he still went crackers.
He was kenneled at the breeders as a puppy with many other newfs, and a few Clumbers but no Danes. There was never an incident as a young pup. Funny thing is when he was about 12-16 weeks I began taking him to the park with me so he would get used to kids screaming and playing. There was a young man there with his beautiful, female Dane. She was amazing. She was so well trained, I remember he gave me some pointers. This Dane just was so sweet to Satchel, she let him crawl all over her with his nasty puppy teeth and she never raised an eyebrow.
So...I remain perplexed, but still interested in any feedback....venting is OK..lets me know I'm not alone
 
M

Mary

New member
I like the word perplexed for your description. My Newf acts like Satchel when she sees of all breeds dachunds. One has never attacked her before that I remember and she gernerally likes the small breeds even when they don't like her. Yet if we see a dachund she acts like she wants to eat them, it is quite embarrasing even if were driving past one walking. She finally did learn the word ignore but her hackles still go up if she sees one. It's nice to hear though that other people have such a perplexing problem.
Mary & "Gracie"
 
J

Juli

Inactive Member
Well, I spoke to my trainer tonight. She said could be a few reasons. Perhaps the need to protect his "pack" or The uncertainty of his position with a male the same age as he. Either way, the expectation should be the same as always. The behavior is unacceptable, give a stern no/time out. If behavior continues once more then leave. The deal is if you can't play by the rules, you don't get to play. I guess I'm not supposed to forget that I still make the rules no matter what the situation.(repeat 10 times and go to bed) I'll let y'all know how we do Saturday AM

Juli
 
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