Hello, Our pup is 11 months old and I believe we have paid our vets salary during that time due to her aggressive behavior toward our two small dogs. There have been 3 vicious fights and I fear of another that could possibly be the end for one. Two fights were over bones, she finishes quickly and wants to steal the others. The other fight was just a fight over space. How can we teach her to respect the other dogs?
Hello, I am no expert at all. There are some on here who will hopefully chime in. I have had 3 dogs at one point but mostly had 2. I would never allow them to be in a situation where they could “steal” a cherished treat, or even feed them together. I think all animals deserve peace and calm to enjoy their food without looking over their shoulder to see who is going to take it. So those situations, I would keep them apart. Regarding space well I guess your pup is maybe much younger than the other dogs and more likely wanting to play or be bouncy around them, which may cause problems if they don’t want to join in. Most 11 month old labs are pretty full on and challenging so having 2 other dogs about will no doubt cause a few tensions. How tired do you get your lab, through exercise and training? Increasing both those elements could make your lab more settled at home, so less likely to pester your other dogs ?
We had two Labs together for 4 years, and currently have Cooper and provide daycare for our neighbors Samoyed. Ours have always gotten along fine, including making a game of stealing toys or bones from each other. She and the Sammy and also our previous Lab would sometimes play fight but it is definitely play. We never had to teach them to play or share, they just behaved that way naturally. The two labs we raised as pups, were around bigger older and generally friendly dogs early on, and perhaps they learned proper behavior from them. Tilly was 9 when we got Cooper, and she mostly tolerated Coop, but she would play also. While all of our dogs were food driven, none of them were ever food aggressive to other dogs or people. Cooper always meets other dogs acting like she is friendly, and takes her que from the other dog. Cooper is reactive to dogs that actually attack her but she has never actually hurt another dog. She has been in what appeared to be real fights, but no body was actually bitten that we could see. She is the first Lab we have had that did not back down if seriously challenged. Our daycare Sammy is reactive to other dogs when he is on a leash, or on the other side of a fence but fine off leash or at a dog park.
