I have a soon to be 1 year old lab (had him since he was 8 weeks). He's neutered and listens for the most part. I also have a lab/pit mix who is about the same age and size, he is also neutered. My lab is very attached to me, he has separation anxiety and could use a confidence boost. My lab/pit mix is the total opposite (adopted him about 6 months ago) They've gotten into many fights over me, and it's to the point where I've gotten bit trying to separate them. Although other dogs are in the household (total of 5) and it is clear neither of my dogs are the alpha, I'm not sure when I can do. I don't have money for training classes, so what should I do to stop this behavior from my lab?
Hello there and welcome to the forum. There's a lot of information to sort through here, and I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to respond as I've only ever had one dog at a time. But I think we need a little more info before we can start to give you any ideas. 1) First of all, five dogs? Do they all live in the house, or are some "farm dogs" that are outside? Where I live (small town, Alberta, Canada) there are bylaws that only allow you to have 2 dogs at a time if you live in town. What is the situation with your dogs? 2) have you done any training with your dogs? What are their routines? Are you home with them a lot or do they spend a lot of time without people around? If you have done training, what kind of training do you do? 3) Are you sure this behaviour you are seeing stems from "possessiveness over you"? If all your dogs are living in the house together, I would suggest that they could be living under a certain amount of stress. They will be in constant competition over resources like food, water, space, attention. All of this will cause them to fight each other over any of those things. Once we get a better picture of these things, it might be a bit easier to focus on the problem you have with your Lab.
Hi Xena, and welcome to the forum. Lisa has asked some good questions. Hopefully you will be back soon, and we could maybe help a little - there are loads of people on here with experience, but sometimes you just need someone there to see how you and all your dogs interact first hand. jac
