My partner recently moved in with me and brought her dog, let's call him H. He's a pit mix and is super sweet and gentle most of the time and he gets along great with my dogs. The issue is that he's extremely reactive, specifically toward my corgi mix, let's call him B.
For context, when I say H attacks it's a very predictable pattern. He will attack very suddenly, with little to no warning. He will run up to the other dog and grab the back of their neck, ears, cheeks, or face in general, and shake the other dog. Sometimes he will let go when grabbed and pulled off, sometimes he will clamp down harder.
When H first moved in he had some gate aggression, specifically when B was on the other side of the baby gate from him. He would attack the gate if B was standing at the other side, or if he was let through the gate H would attack B. We have worked with getting him more familiar with the gate and with B and that seems to help, there have been no issues with that in several weeks.
We also have to be extremely careful at the dog park with H because he will attack other dogs as they are coming into the park if we aren't holding on to his collar, and he attacked another dog immediately after being let off leash. Other than that he's great at the dog park and gets along well with every other dog there.
The main issue though is one concerning pattern we've noticed. B is a rescue and has been through a lot including chronic back pain, he's a sweet boy but is very vocal about his boundaries. When he doesn't like something that's happening or if it's hurting him he will growl and use body language to say "stop that, I don't like it", and if it persists he will do an angry bark. It sounds scary but I've had him long enough to know he's just communicating. This sets off H though. The second he hears B growling or barking he's in attack mode, no warning he just lunges. It's getting to where it's just about daily at this point, and the other day B's entire shoulder was covered in blood from the bite, though thankfully it didn't seem to be a serious injury once we got it cleaned off.
I'm not sure what to do in this situation or how to help especially since it's such a sudden reaction. He calmed down from the gate aggression so I don't think it's impossible to work with him, but I'm also scared B or another dog is going to get severely hurt since H is the biggest and strongest dog by far in our house.
Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
For context, when I say H attacks it's a very predictable pattern. He will attack very suddenly, with little to no warning. He will run up to the other dog and grab the back of their neck, ears, cheeks, or face in general, and shake the other dog. Sometimes he will let go when grabbed and pulled off, sometimes he will clamp down harder.
When H first moved in he had some gate aggression, specifically when B was on the other side of the baby gate from him. He would attack the gate if B was standing at the other side, or if he was let through the gate H would attack B. We have worked with getting him more familiar with the gate and with B and that seems to help, there have been no issues with that in several weeks.
We also have to be extremely careful at the dog park with H because he will attack other dogs as they are coming into the park if we aren't holding on to his collar, and he attacked another dog immediately after being let off leash. Other than that he's great at the dog park and gets along well with every other dog there.
The main issue though is one concerning pattern we've noticed. B is a rescue and has been through a lot including chronic back pain, he's a sweet boy but is very vocal about his boundaries. When he doesn't like something that's happening or if it's hurting him he will growl and use body language to say "stop that, I don't like it", and if it persists he will do an angry bark. It sounds scary but I've had him long enough to know he's just communicating. This sets off H though. The second he hears B growling or barking he's in attack mode, no warning he just lunges. It's getting to where it's just about daily at this point, and the other day B's entire shoulder was covered in blood from the bite, though thankfully it didn't seem to be a serious injury once we got it cleaned off.
I'm not sure what to do in this situation or how to help especially since it's such a sudden reaction. He calmed down from the gate aggression so I don't think it's impossible to work with him, but I'm also scared B or another dog is going to get severely hurt since H is the biggest and strongest dog by far in our house.
Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!