Hello, We introduced Dexter to my mums dog Marley (beagle) at a young age and they see each other frequently. Since the beginning Marley has never be bothered by Dexter, he is happy doing his own thing, he's not a particularly playful dog and he isn't fussed by toys or bones. Now, Dexter is playful and he has a thing about licking other dogs faces especially their ears. When he was small we let him get on with it but now he is almost 5 months and bigger than Marley we are trying to discourage it (plus he licks random dogs we see in the park and not all of them appreciate it) So last night he was licking away and we were telling him 'leave' and he generally listened but Marley was getting frustrated (we were in Marleys house) Dexter was also playing with his bone and toys and sitting in one of his beds, Marley just had enough and they ended up with Marley goin for Dexter about 3 times over the course of the evening. My question is what can we do to make them get along, we tried to let Marley have the toys and distract Dexter with cuddles, we tried to make them share, and in the end we just took them away Not sure what the best solution is?
I'm not the most experienced here but this hasn't sounded disastrous to me . Marley had just had enough and gave an appropriate telling off. Your Dexter is only young so might not have taken it on board ,hence the subsequent warnings.You Did right trying to distract him ,I'd have done the same .In the house ,If my Dexter didn't/doesn't pay attention, and keeps on bouncing I distract him with a toy,if everything is just getting a bit too hectic I will separate the dogs .....if it's a dog we have over at our house then I put that dog in Dexter's room and he stays in with me . if we are outside and I think his play is escalating into rough or annoying and he isn't paying attention to a warning I'll go in close to get him if I don't think I can rely on my recall ( we are working on our off lead recall from other dogs at training at the mo ) when I've got him ,he goes on his lead for a time out..... That time out usually involves us walking away a bit and practising some focus exercises to calm down rather than him just having to sit and be excited by the nearby dog x
Yes - if the older dog is frustrated I would give him some space away from the pupster. Tatze (two and a half) has two places which she knows for sure are pup-free. Her own chair and her crate. Pups have never been allowed near her in those two places - they very quickly learn. Tatze leaps on her chair when she's had enough. My friend's dog, Zaba (also 2 and a half) hates small pups and tells them off if they come anywhere near him, which is fine - the pups soon learn. In fact, it does them good to learn that not all dogs are playthings!
Our friends little Parsons terrier comes to play now and then, she is a true little 'terror' chases round and round Homer doing everything she can to get his attention and be as annoying as possible. Although it looks very snarly in pictures he's gently with her but certainly tells her when enough is enough. She'll remember the telling off for about 30 seconds then be off again! We separate them from time to time for 20-30 minutes to give him a break and to calm the little one down. I've popped the PT into Homers travel crate which I can make dark so she rests for a bit.
Dexter is definitely persistent and does need to be told when to stop, I just wish he would listen. We are going to see them again this weekend so I will keep an eye out for the warning signs and if it gets to much seperate them for a bit of chill time. I definitely cannot rely on my recall in these situations so a big but if chicken or a squeaky toy will have to be utilised as a distraction! May also remove all toy bones so there nothing to fight over in the first place!
He will eventually, Twiglet will now at 5 months old, but it took a lot of determination on my part to teach her! It's a good idea to take high value toys etc away but, at the same time, it's good for them to have toys to play 'tug' with. Twiglet (at last) now plays tug with the toys instead of Tatze's tail/paws/neck.
So, we took all the toys and bones away and went on a walk together first thinking they would take all their energy out on the walk. Dexter spent the entire time chasing Marley to lick his face and ears! I started calling 'leave' and c&t but he would go straight back to licking and chasing and I began to run out of treats When we got back to the house Dexter and Marley began wrestling. I'm sure this is normal and they are playing, they are biting but not hard, no snarling, lots of jumping and bowing and rolling into bellies but it goes on for ages and gets very loud, does anyone else have any experience with this - would you let it play out and keep an eye out for aggressive signs or would you seperate and distract. I stupidly tried recall and of course that didn't work at all!
Both! I let them play a while and then distract and separate. When to stop them? When I've had enough! (or when I think one of them has had enough and the other is overdoing it )
They are like Duracell bunnies neither want to stop, they stop long enough to sit on command for a few seconds but Dexters soon licking marleys face again! We let them play for a long time but they are both exhausted so was time to seperate, I do hope they learn to settle in the same room eventually though! Thanks for the advice Boogie it really reassured me
Here are my two having a typical hoolie. There is plenty of air snappy, growling and barking - but all is play. You can see that Twiglet only stops when she realises I mean it! http://vid1106.photobucket.com/albums/h371/BoogiesAlbum/Play.mp4
When my friend's lab used to stay when they were pups we had to put them both on leads to get them to settle in the same room - whatever works!
I may have to try the settle on a lead next time, it's becoming really stressful and unenjoyable. I know it's perfectly normal for them to play fight and the play itself is fine, even the ear licking has slowed down and is improving but Dexter barks so loud when they are playing the neighbours are not impressed, it makes me want to either not bring Dexter or not go at all. Feeling very deflated this week
puppy (6 months) and 3 adult Labradors and puppy manages to annoy them all !! - I use a little raised bed - we have a game so that when I say "enough" she (puppy) leaps onto the raised bed and lies down for nice rewards and stays there until I release her (I use the bed in lots of other situations too). We play that game without the other dogs around first and then when they are around but they aren't playing too vigorously and build up from there - It does work most of the time, providing I intervene before she goes OTT Then usually eventually (!) she will settle and go to sleep on the bed.
I should add her cue is normally "on your bed" but I said "enough" followed by "on your bed" so many times that "enough" became the cue for bed as well
That sounds perfect FoxyLady we have only just started working on 'on your bed' at home when he is alone and for maybe 10 seconds at a time, I will spend the next few weeks building that up for longer and get the cue a bit stronger hopefully it will work when these 2 meet again! I did try settle in the lead too and it worked but he whined a lot he didn't appreciate being on the lead indoors Thanks for the suggestions I will keep you updated and let you know if they worked for us!
