I have a Jack Russell, it's a neutered rescue and is two years old.
Regularly, when we encounter another dog outside, it will initially play with the other dog (both off the leash), but then after a while, my dog will start barking at the other, and won't stop until I manage to catch it and take it away. Sometimes, it also nips the other dogs hind legs and fur.
Why does it do that, and how can I mitigate this behavior ?
There are really two questions here:
How do I get my dog to stop barking at others?
There are really two approaches I have used which vary in success:
Teach your dog "leave it". It takes some effort to teach a dog this, usually starting with basic commands including "take it" and with assistance of training treats. Once you can successfully teach a dog "leave it", then you should apply this to other objects as well, gradually increasing the difficulty until they master this command. For a dog to "leave it" for another dog is a hard command to work up to so you must start small and work your way up to it!
Teach your dog "speak". This seems counter-intuitive but you train the dog to bark whenever you say "speak". Once they learn how to bark on command, then you work towards the opposite of not speaking.
How do I get my dog to not bite at the other one?
For this, you must observe specifically what triggers your dog to want to bite. Is it a play bite or aggressive? Observe the back of their neck if the hair is standing up or where their tail is. If play, then not really a big deal so long as not overwhelming the other dog. If the other dog does not like it then definitely remove your dog from the situation.
If your dog is being aggressive then try and watch what the other dog does to trigger your dog to be this way.
