We received our dog, Urkel, from a friend who was fostering him because he was being picked on by the other dogs in her house. His breed is undetermined but we think he's mostly american bulldog. We are pretty sure he was originally from a dog fighting operation due to old fractures but you would never be able to tell from looking at him because of how friendly and amiable he is. He is now about 2-3 years old and he loves playing with other dogs. Only problem is that when he goes to greet another dog he tends to come off as very intense (lots of face sniffing, jumping, etc) and when the dog starts growling at him to back off he doesn't really "get it" and will continue his behavior until the other dog snaps at him, which causes him to snap back, and then they start tussling. After that he'll seemingly just forget it happened and try to play again.
I figure he probably did not have enough positive dog socialization in his puppy days to model his behavior after and when a dog tries to correct him it triggers a self-defense instinct which leads to a fight. He's a very non aggressive dog outside these interactions and I have genuinely never heard him growl. He doesn't even chase our cat. Is there any way we can help him be more polite with other dogs to avoid these situations in the future, or is the behavior too ingrained to change?
submitted by /u/ranch_daddy
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