Hello! I have a 3 year old lab/pit mix that my boyfriend and I adopted in March of last year. When we first adopted her, she was fine being around other dogs. The shelter actually had her with multiple other dogs that were her size and although she seemed shy and timid, the shelter told us that she would be good with other dogs. Not long after we brought her home, we noticed that she would growl and lunge at other dogs while on walks. She would thrash around and make a whole scene until she got close to the other dog and she would suddenly be fine. It’s really frustrating to deal with, especially because it takes forever for her to do her business because of this reason.

Today as I was taking her out on a walk, she spotted another dog across the street and began growling and pulling at the leash again. I bent down a little bit to grab a hold on a second handle on the leash and my dog tried to bite me. I’m not sure if she meant to because she has never ever bitten me or my partner before. I was a little taken aback and also saddened at the same time. We love our dog so much and want to do anything that we can to help her. Does anyone have any insight to share on this issue? Is there anything that I can do to be a better dog parent? Thanks so much.