Zumi, my 3 y/o red B boy is highly dog aggressive, to the point of being dangerous. (i nearly have to muzzle him just to go for a walk now, god forbid he see another dog)
Meeting dogs is very stressful for everyone involved. On-leash meetings are almost impossible. However, i have found a way around this for the most part.
we just have to Walk it Out. i will give a wonderful example from last month:
I had decided to spend the thanksgiving holiday with the family of a friend across the state. The only problem being, Zumi had to come with, and the family owned a Shar-pei. She is not a very active dog, and i had not met her before, but had heard she was very friendly and laid back.
We had a major whoopsie mistake as i was bringing in my bags into the house. The dogs met inside face to face. the pei was showing no aggression signals at all, but Zumi immediately lunged and attacked her neck. (thank the lord she has rolls of skin, she was not injured). We immediately separated them, dropped the bags, and i told my friend to put the dog on a leash. I met them across the street, to walk to the park. we kept the leashes loose, no tension on them to stress Zumi further.
We for the most part walked with us between the dogs, but did let them walk out front of us to sniff each other, if there was a growl or any hair-raising we would separate them and walk more briskly until they calmed down, then let them meet again, and have them walk side by side. We went maybe a mile, with lots of praise. by then the tension had ebbed, and the pei was starting to bow a bit to play, and Zumi would bounce at her and away, also to play. Our route back to the house was full of play, all tension gone. and we were all happily able to walk into the house together.
We have done this "Walk -it-Out" with quite a few dogs now, both male and female, spayed and unspayed.
I think the aggression here, and even with your girl is the way the dogs had first met. it was a head-on meeting, head on with both dogs straining on their leads is a challenge to our B's. What i suggest if you meet that girl again is if she would walk side by side with you for a bit to get the dogs acclimated to each other. have the leads loose but in your firm control should you need to separate them quickly. that way the dogs are meeting in a non-threatening way. you have to watch the dogs closely, and avoid any bad behaviors by seeing them coming, and separating the dogs without reprimand, just steer them apart maybe walk a little faster? talk to each other, and to the dogs in calm tones during the walk, create a calm and relaxed walk for them. praise them quietly. if they are walking near each other and behaving in a talking voice tell them they are being such good dogs. positive and CALM praise works wonders on my boy. no high pitched happy praise, that gets him riled.
Another thing that caught my attention was that you said you tightened the leash when approaching the dog. That is a signal to your dog that you are unsure, and makes her upset and as such will react in a more aggressive manner. If you are unsure, she is unsure. You have to remember that your dog feels and reacts to your feelings and body language too.
i hope this helps! I would hate to see your girl turn into an always defensive or aggressive dog. I know how horrible it can be.
~Char and Zumi
