Is my dog the aggressive one?

Question

we just adopted a three year old dog, she is very friendly towards people when they come at the house or approach her, and outdoors she isn't even interested in other people.

I've been practicing walking her and right now i think it is safe to say she looks at me as the pack leader, she very rarely pulls, just when she finds an interesting smell and a little tug on the leash brings her right back, so for the third day i think we made wonderful progress. She also pulls a bit when we stop at a grassy area for her to relieve herself i think this is normal and this is her reward for behaving during the walk, i let her smell around and pull me a little ( is this ok?).

The problem is with other dogs, at the pound we took her for a walk, and at the exit we passed a couple of dogs returning from a walk and she freaked out, people at the pound told us she was just jealous. She has gotten better we are at a point where most times other dogs bark at her and she just ignores them.

So yesterday i noticed a dog giving her a stare down i ignored him and just when we were at our closest point (5-10 m, i was not going any closer and was returning home at this point) she noticed him and started barking (not sure who started growling and barking first), i gave her a tug and/or a pat on the neck and she snapped out of it and started ignoring the other dog's barking.

Today another dog was loose while his owner was sitting they started barking at each other and i got her to stop immediately again, but then she started crying ( as in i want to socialize?), So i moved away a little bit and when she stopped crying and calmed down i decided to let her approach, she behaved very well, started smelling him (the other dog seemed a bit scared or protective), she didn't bark or growl and only when we were very close to the other dog's owner the other dog started showing his teeth, barking, and growling, mine did nothing, the other owner told me this was normal behaviour for his dog so i decided to go away.

At the pound my dog lived with another dog.

I always try to keep calm and just correct her behaviour and ignore the other dogs, but i feel she wants to socialize, but it seems other dog owners in my area are "bad owners", what can i do? And am.i doing stuff right?

Answer 1

As you note that she barked while pulling on the leash: teach her to be callable even off-leash or on a long leash! I don't know if off-leash walking is allowed in your area, but in my opinion every dog should be recallable even without a leash.
I have seen quiet a few dogs that are perfectly fine when greeting other dogs while running free, but TERRIBLE when restrained by a leash!
keep her on a longer leash, and call her to you. Lure her with a treat if needed, and reward her when she comes to you in whatever way works best. Treats, toys, lots and lots of praise, whatever your dog best responds to.

Once you feel secure in recalling her, you can walk with a longer leash, which has two advantages: you still HAVE a leash you can just keep short as needed, and use to tug her back when you need to, which gives security to you. But normally, you should be able to keep the leash long and slack, and you can just call her back to your side if she runs ahead more that you would like her to.
For the dog, it means she can approach other dogs without having to strain against a leash, too, which may actually help her be more relaxed.

On the whole: you seem to have good control over her, so that IS great! I see too many dogs tugging the leash permanently or being all over the place around their humans! Her coming back on a short tug and generally staying on your side or slightly ahead is good!

Depending on it working for you or not, you should look into non-dominance-based dog-training, though. Dominance-theory is actually outdated, and while I do not deny it can and will work for most dogs, reward-based training is actually the way most modern dog-trainers work now, so, yes, rewarding her when she comes to you is good.
Also, you may want to look into clicker-training. Especially if your dog is food-motivated, it will be easiest in the long-term without overfeeding on treats :).

Answer 2

This could be a number of things, since you just adopted her, i say keep working with her as you are. It'll take time and repetition. It's hard to tell what environment she was in before. I would try going to the dog park when there are fewer dogs there. Let her get used to the environment and build up her confidence.
As for the other dog owners, you'll learn which dogs to stay away from. Keep working with her, sounds like your doing fine.

Answer 3

My dog does the same thing and its normal. Some dogs feel agitated while around other dogs especially if they are alpha dogs. My advice is to keep working with her and she'll slowly get used to the dogs in your area.

Answer 4

Barking in itself is not a sign of aggression, dogs bark when they play, when they want attention and so on. So to determine why they bark you have to take the rest of their body language into account.

And some breeds (e.g., terriers) just bark more because of their genetics. They are bred to be very attentive and barking is just normal behaviour for them.