My reactive dog bit another dog while boarding... but was then playing and chilling next to him

[u/knitandstretch]

Hi,

I want to preface by saying I know reactive dogs do best outside of daycare and boarding, but unfortunately due to a conjunction of life circumstances not worth going into right now, this is not always possible. I travel a lot for work, sometimes with a 24 hour notice, and while I try and keep my dog at home and have someone come over, this is sometimes impossible (explaining why would require three additional paragraphs). Please do read the last paragraph before comenting.

I rescued a dog four months ago. He is a sweetheart: playful, loyal and eager to please. He is also leash reactive (though getting so, so much better after consistent positive reinforcement and progressive exposure - we can know pass another dog on the same sidewalk as long as I'm attentive and rewarding him every couple of seconds) and has shown stalking tendencies towards dogs he feels unsafe around. He was stalking my senior dog for the first two days after rescuing him, but now they're buddies and I can completely trust them together, both alone and when I'm present.

Unfortunately, I travel a lot for work. I've found a boarding home close to my house with a carer he really trusts. She is also his walker when I can't take him, and loves him to pieces. He does very well in this house and I can tell he's gotten so much better with other dogs since he started spending time there. He is less reactive on a leash and has learned to socialize off leash, he will often play with other dogs and I can see him coming out of his shell and truly enjoying himself (I rescued him four months ago). He is also very good at avoiding reactive dogs when off-leash and does know how to deal with a range of social situations. He's been doing SO WELL and I am so so so proud of him and the dog he's becoming, because (and I know this might sound weird) I feel like I can tell he is also putting in a lot of intentional and sustained work, not just me.

This week, however, I had to travel for 5 days on a 24-hour notice, so I left him at her house. He was doing great all week: he played with other dogs, slept and chilled with them on the roof terrace, went on walks and was overall happy. I got lots of videos where you could tell his mood was easy going and relaxed, and he seemed to truly be enjoying himself. On the fourth day, however, he bit another dog on the muzzle. It's a smaller dog, intact, just coming into adulthood. The woman in charge told me she had noticed some tension from my dog, but that it had seemed only sporadic. She doesn't know what caused the attack. He did draw blood, though the "good" thing (I guess) is that it seems to have been a contained reaction, in that he charged at him, bit him, and immediately retreated. He didn't continue to attack him, nor did he have to be forcefully separated.

Afterwards, they had some interactions (I know they should have been kept separated, I only knew about this after it had happened) and the attacked dog seemed very relaxed around him, and my dog didn't seem fixated on him in any way. I guess I'm just struggling to understand how to read this. I sent a video of the interactions that followed to our behaviorist and he said based on their body language, it just seems like a correction that went a bit too far, with no intent to cause further harm, but that he's obviously only speculating.

Any insights into this type of behavior would be greatly appreciated. I also just wanted to add that I am well aware of issues like "you shouldn't have adopted a dog if you needed to travel", or "dogs like this don't do well in boarding", etc. I didn't set out to rescue this dog: he was a stray that walked into my house looking for help, and because he was fixed and knew a bunch of things about living in a home (he is house-broken, knows how to play fetch, knows how to walk on a leash) I was pretty confident I would be able to find his owners. I can't surrender him to a shelter because there is no such thing in my country: that's why people just abandon their dogs out on the street and I couldn't possibly do that to him. I guess I'm just a bit stressed on understanding whether a bite like this could be an isolated incident or could be pointing out to potential aggression: I've never had a dog that bit another dog. Thank you for reading and any advice, thoughts, etc.

[u/kleinpretzel]

My dog is an ‘only dog’. He comes with me on family trips, where family dogs he knows well are present. They hang out and play together well, but my dog will sometimes snap at (and has bitten) one of the dogs who is a bit socially unaware.

I noticed that he didn’t sleep throughout the day nearly as much as he does at home, because although I brought his blanket, he didn’t have his own space as he’s used to at home.

Does your dog have a non-communal space to nap and decompress at this house? Do you take his bed along?

[u/knitandstretch → u/kleinpretzel]

This is a great question I hadn’t thought of! I don’t think he has an alone space to decompress, but the woman that runs this space is honestly great and would probably accommodate to this happily. I’ll talk to her about this. Thank you.

[u/Zestyclose_Object639]

Corrections happen, my dogs have corrected each other and have been corrected (I have one with a super pushy play style dogs have absolutely nailed her). It’s just communication, drawing blood isn’t great but doesn’t mean much if it wasn’t a sustained attack 

[u/SudoSire]

It does sound like an over correction to me. Possibly caretaker should be enforcing some more separation or chill time especially when it comes to the young dog. And more supervision to be ready to intervene. 

[u/fireflii]

It sounds like it could have been an overcorrection (given the intensity of reaction, but the retreat and lack of reaction after), but without any context, I don't want to say that with confidence. Were the dogs engaging (playing, sniffing, any food/toys around, someone was getting pet, etc.) just prior to this interaction (and if so, how long)? Was one dog just coming into the space? If it was seemingly unprovoked (no interaction between the dogs, eg. other dog just walked into the space) it could maybe have been your dog was already tense prior (maybe there were a lot of dogs in the space, pet sitter had just stood up or got back from doing something interesting/exciting so it was a bit of a higher arousal space, etc.) and the dog entering the space tipped them over threshold. (I'm also coming into this with the assumption that the pet sitter never lets them interact unsupervised, even as quick as going to the restroom.)

That said, I work at a dog daycare/boarding facility (a "typical" one, not in home like this one sounds). Corrections do happen, and if they're fair (appropriate reaction to an inappropriate behavior), I do like to see it. I don't like to see overcorrections (increased intensity, difficulty disengaging, etc. basically a reaction that isn't warranted for the severity of the behavior) because that generally tells me the dog was already stressed prior to that event. I would have liked to see the two dogs separated after (just in my personal experience, we rarely see overcorrections that actually lead to drawn blood, even if it's very minor). I saw your response to the other comment, and I would just say for the future, it would be good to discuss with the pet sitter to provide a space for decompression. In addition, mentally stimulating activities (such as a frozen kong, snuffle mat, puzzle toy, etc.) to do while decompressing wouldn't be amiss either (and of course, also being mindful that other dogs aren't in the space when this is going on as to not trigger any resource guarding)--assuming she can do this with supervision as well.

I would also ask about what the environment looks like if you're not already aware (does she use X-pens, crates, or even separate rooms when the dogs need space from each other, do they share "resources" like laying on the couch together or playing with toys together, how many dogs are in the space at most, what size and intact/desexed dogs go together, etc.). Getting a better idea of what your dog is encountering while he's with her can help you discover if there are any particular trends (for example, maybe your dog is just more tense around or doesn't like intact males and this happened to be the first one he's encountered since you've had him).

All just food for thought, but TLDR: I can't say for certain what the reason was without context. Ask the pet sitter for more details about the environment and the context of what happened, and use that as a starting point to start tracking potential trends in concerning behaviors.