I have a 3+ yo yellow boy, castrated if it matters. Wonderful dog, my buddy, love him to death. My daughter got a rehomed 19 mo black girl. Also great dog but is kind of intense and very pushy about being with you, against you, on you, at all times. No problem, we are dealing with that. When they were first introduced they played, sometimes very hard, but mostly just normal dog play. No outward aggression at all. Seemed like a decent fit, they’d both adjust ok. Plan going in was that the girl would be with us and our boy while my daughter works. Been going mostly good for a few months but trouble is, she’s exhibits similar behavior towards my boy. He picks up a bone, she immediately takes it. He grabs another bone, she takes that one too and has both. If we had 10 bones she’d have them all but...ONLY if my boy was interested in them first. He lies down in back of car, she lies on him. He walks away, she walks with him, up against him, bodying him the whole way. When they play she takes any toy in her mouth and just shoves it in the boys face, constantly, push, push, push. He trees to play then just gives up and retreats to the door to go back inside. So today I’m in the yard with the two of them playing fetch. One sits and stays while the other gets their turn, treat when they give ball in my hand. So I throw the ball for the girl, she grabs it and heads back but drops the ball on her way, instead wanting the treat. My boy, seeing the loose ball, thinks, “I’ll get it, bring it to dad, and get a treat!” and goes off to get it. The girl sees him go and runs full tilt into the side of his head and neck area, flipping him sideways. I scold her a bit but a minute later she plows him again. Through my human eyes, this wasn’t play, it was meaner than that. She had no desire to get the ball, she was attacking him. My boy seems to like her though, he’s happy when she comes and seems to deal with her dominance (?) well. He just walks away but he does often look for places to be away from her. Anyway, I know I’m watching, judging, and understanding the interaction between these two dogs through human-world eyes. Not dog’s, not pack behaviors, etc. so maybe it’s my perception that’s the issue. Any advice or help? Thanks.
Hi @iconic1 I would recommend that you take on the role of a leader to a greater degree. For example, if you had them both on long lines then you can prevent her from repeatedly body slamming your boy. If your boy had been cued to stay, then you could have prevented him from breaking his stay. It would have allowed you to deal with her inability to bring back the object. You would to be able to reward him for staying when you finally went back to him. So the general idea here is that you take on the role of Simon says. And prevent her from bullying the boy. Reward her when she is calm. Since she has a history of bullying that has been self-rewarded, you will need to do quite a bit of training. I would initially do the new training with an assistant, say, your daughter. When she bullies the boy she gets removed from the interaction. 5 minutes in the quiet room/crate. Be calm. No yelling. Use a house line to take her to the quiet room. The female dog needs to attend obedience training. Ideally you should take the dog to class. You need to be able to give her a cue that she will follow. You also need to also provide the boy with some respite. Can he go behind a stair gate where he can do things without being bullied? If he gets a bone, he gets to keep it behind the stair gate. Alternatively can she spend some time in a crate?
Thanks! Excellently thoughts and advice and very much appreciated. We have been doing a lot of what you suggest but will up the degree and consistency. We do have areas blocked off that can be used and yes, there’s a crate front and center that they both have no resistance to. They both love their crate so I don’t want to make it a bad place for her, if I calmly instruct her to go there for “time outs” I’m not at risk of doing that? I’m not a professional trainer by any stretch but understand it and do practice it with both dogs. There’s a copy of “Train Your Dog Like a Pro” on the table right next to me and I have attended classes with my boy. We work on it a lot. The girl has decent obedience skills so far when it comes to me (especially) and my wife - but when it comes to interacting with our boy her focus on him is so intense she kind of loses her mind. For instance, if she tears a bone away from him we will often give it back then make her wait. She will not lose focus on my boy chewing that darn bone, however. She will sit and stare at him intently, waiting for the slightest opportunity to charge him and take it away. Two minutes or twenty minutes, no matter. Thanks again.
Hi @iconic1 The policy with multiple dogs is to treat them all alike. It used to be the case that one would favour the dog displaying the "dominant" behaviour. But that line of thought has fallen by the wayside. When your boy has a bone, then prevent her from charging him. Put her on a house line. Or he goes in his crate with the door locked. She can go in her crate with her bone. Equal treatment! If your are calm when you place her in the crate for a time out, she should not see it as an aversive. The idea is that we are punishing her by withdrawing her from the activity of playing with the other dog. She does not appear to understand how to play properly. If she bullies, then she is withdrawn from the game..
I think you basically have to prevent these situations from arising by not allowing both dogs to be off leash in the same space when items that they might disagree over are around. If you want dogs to be able to enjoy something they have, like a bone, then either give them in different rooms or have the female dog on a long leash tethered to you. Don't throw balls when both dogs are off leash. And so on. If she is harassing him at other times by sitting on him and walking into him, then you need to monitor the severity of that and decide whether to intervene and keep her on a house line or tether her to ensure he gets more space - a bit like you would if introducing a new puppy and not wanting them to harass the older dog.
Op here reporting in. We are working very hard to control this and work with the newer dog (Lucy) to be less aggressive. I fear we are losing the battle however and I’m beginning to think about remote collar training for her. We do try to keep Lucy on leash at all times but geez that is work. I’m starting to believe there is something “off” with Lucy. Again, she was a rehome so we know little about her history. From what we do know, the previous owner was a single woman who let her go because she couldn’t get her into the car. There were no other dogs in the house and she was crated a bit, we think. Typical scenario... dogs outside, wandering about sniffing (we have two acres open space). Lucy spots Tonka (our 3 yo boy) and stares. You can see her intensity and focus on him increase. She winds-up and bolts at him full speed. Tonka is getting better at having an eye on her and normally runs away (he’s much faster) but if he doesn’t, she will plow full speed into the side of him, usually neck or head area, with teeth bared. Versions of this scene go on/off all day to varying degrees, over toys or not. Sometimes they just wander about nicely together but Lucy often just snaps into mean. She would be a wonderful single dog for a family but if she’s had some from a good rescue org or foster I think they’d require or advise no other pets (full time). I asked my daughter to find alternative daycare one weekday per week - to give everyone (mostly Tonka) an additional days break (we don’t have Lucy weekends) and she has. Lucy is now at a commercial kennel place each Thursday and we have her M,T,W,F. She “passed” an admission test a test the kennel to make sure she could mix with the other dogs, they are all together majority of the time. So far Lucy had one day there and reports back say she did great.
The information you have just given suggests there is nothing "off' with Lucy at the daycare centre. The issue is occurring only between the two dogs at your place. You need to set boundaries on Lucy's behaviour. Keep her on a long-line when you are outside so that you can prevent her from body slamming Tonka.
