Oh my gosh! There is so much going on in this post – I don’t even know where to start! Yorkierose talks about dominance. This is one approach, or way of thinking about your situation. Looking with a social hierarchy in mind, you can try to determine what was going on in your dog’s head when he bit you. This isn’t going to be easy to do, if you look at it from this angle and you aren’t sure what you are seeing, then you may already be at the point where you need the help of a pro. After reading my post, you may decide that this is the best way to go (calling in a dog trainer, that is). IF so, I say go for it!
Of course, from MY angle, in front of this computer screen, having not seen what happened first and what you, your dog, and the other dog were doing at the time the incident took place, I am really not in a position, either, to make a “diagnosis.” Sometimes we think we saw or did one thing, and in fact, something else was actually happening. What your dog reacted to and how you and the other dog responded could very well of caused that bite and you are not even aware of it. In such instances, you really need another pair of educated eyes to figure what really happened (just the other night in agility practice, I thought I had told my dog
“get out” which means, move away from me, but instead he took the tunnel obstacle right next to my foot. I was mad at him. Then my trainer said: “look at your hand.” Rather than my hand facing outward, away from my body, it was facing downward, towards my toe – exactly where he had gone. What would have happened if I had “punished him” for not “listening to me”? How confused would he have been? How terribly unfair would that have been to him?).
There are many reasons why dogs bite, just like there are many reasons why people scream at one another or physically attack one another. Expecting that a dog will never bite or never growl is as incomprehensible as expecting that a person will never get angry or throw a punch. Some people have higher anger thresholds than others, and the same it true for dogs. So it’s hard to come up with a blanket explanation of what is going on or, for that matter, a blanket explanation as to how to solve the problem. I have had aggressive dogs, two of my own and more I have worked with. One was aggressive because he was driven a bit nuts, living with young children. He thought he needed to protect himself from kids who thought him a plaything. We had a little girl who really did have social climbing issues. When you caught her doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing (like peeing on the floor), before you said or did anything, she’d already be growling at you. If you dared to scold her, she would go into another room and then find a convenient place to life her leg (this is a very different behavior from the kind seen in fearful dogs who will wet themselves upon being scolded). Conversely, I now have a dog who puts on a big show of bravado, but it stems from his complete lack of early socialization and what truly amounts to an attempt to hide his fear (he attacks big dogs that seem “Scary” to him, but leaves quite, laid back dogs alone). He isn’t really social climbing. From what you have said about your own dog, and the fact that he is a small breed (a Yorkie), his motivations may be like the latter example of my own dog. He may be over-reacting to his fear because he hasn’t been given lessons by other dogs on how to behave in their company and/or he is frighten and hopes to chaise off that which is scaring him (and yes, an overly exuberant puppy can frighten an inexperienced dog).
With me so far? From your post I am guessing two things 1) you have had dogs before and 2) you have some knowledge of clicker training. Do you understand the THEORY behind clicker training? I am going to suggest you use clicker training to solve your problems (or at least to start solving them) because clicker training is based on a behaviorist, as opposed to dominance theory of training dogs. In other words, rather than looking at what causes the behavior, which in this instance we wont be able to tell, behaviorist look at how they can modify or change it. In other words, “I am not interested in knowing what was in your head or your emotional motivation when you screamed at me, I want to make it so that talking politely to me is more motivating to you so that you choose to speak softly to me the next time we interact.” This is going to be an easier way for you to begin to handle your problem before it escalates out of control. You don’t need to know what’s the root of your dog’s troubles, you just need to come up with counter behaviors that you approve of. Jean Donaldson has come out with two books I really suggest you take a look at: The Culture Clash, and Fight! Both are available from
http://www.dogwise.com Fight! will be especially helpful in looking at your dog’s aggressive tendencies and how to deal with them. She talks about everything I have written here, more clearly and in much more detail, and breaks down the kinds of aggression dogs show and how to modify the behavior. She also explains when things cannot be fixed.
One thing that troubles me about your post: your dog is 11 months and has only been exposed to one other dog? Or I am I misunderstanding something? Do you take him with you when you go outside? Does he meet people? Has he been on trips before? If not, you must start socializing him NOW. He is still young so you have a lot of opportunity to change things around, but the longer you wait, the harder this is going to be for both of you. Perhaps, instead of your standard puppy kindergarten, you should see if you can sign up for a semi-private or small group obedience class. This will be a much more controlled setting in which your dog will get to be around and meet other dogs. I would not force anything at first, just let him be in a room with other dogs and have to interact with you. Over time, you can get closer to these other dog/handler teams and begin your introductions, under the watchful eye of the instructor. But the important thing is to get him out and around other dogs! HE will learn a lot from watching their cues and studying the signals they give him. Dog communicate with body language and a dog who does not learn proper canine body language is like a foreigner in a country where he cannot speak the language.