sister problems
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
sister problems
I'm new at raising dogs but want learn. My girls (sisters) are almost 2 yrs. of age. The bigger of the two has now shown dominance. My problem is sometimes she give the "evil eye" to the other. The dominant one walks near me and doesn't allow the smaller to get to close. They have been known to get into fights over toys, food and now me. I feel so sorry for the smaller one. I can stop most fights before they start. But how do I enjoy both of them togeather without worring about a fight. What should I do?
-
DogCharmer
- Posts: 22
- Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:51 pm
ideas?
I am not really sure but I have an idea. Do your dogs each have their own bed/blanket? If they do you can rub the smaller dogs fur onto the bigger dogs blanket and rub the bigger dogs fur on the smaller dogs blanket. Maybe they will get used to eachother then? I just read Victoria Stilwell's book, Its Me Or the Dog and she mentioned dogs fighting over food. She says you should try feeding your dogs the same time in different rooms, behind closed doors and let them have 20 minutes to eat. When they are done u can let them be together again. Do your dogs toy guard if they do I would take the toy away to show that you are Top Dog(you get to choose when your dog gets toys). After 5 minutes or so I would bring the toy back and make him earn it. For example I might ask him an obediance question like sit. You might also want to show the dogs that being together without fighting is good. Praise them when they are not fighting,treats,toys,food anyhting like that. Also whatmight help would be to delay when your dogs get food. Sometimes instead at feeding my puppy lunch at 1:00 I would feed it at 1:15 to show I make the changes like being Top Dog. Also if your bigger or smaller dog is blocking the other dog from your attention ignore that one dog. i dont know it might work? I might also suggest you get Victoria's books if you dont have them already because I'm just 13 and I trained my familys dogs and my new puppy from that book and they are doing a lot better! Good luck!
Please dont go taking away toys to show you are top dog... you arent a dog (unless you actually are one and are the first dog who can type and surf the net...).
Dogs who guard do so for a reason, they dont want to lose their stuff. You taking their stuff tells them they were RIGHT to guard their stuff and they will do so more. Its a battle where there need not be one, and it doesnt teach the dog anything useful, only that you are horrid and not to be trusted.
In any case, these two dogs problem is not really relevant to who has what stuff,. Their problem is that they are two adult bitches who are fairly evenly matched and one wants to 'smack' the other down and be the boss - REGARDLESS of how they view people, dogs will always need to know where they stand with other dogs in a family group.
Seperate them for meal times, before you let them back in together pick up food bowls and any spilt food.
Sometimes dogs (ok... bitches) will be so petty with one another they will fight over a SMELL, let alone a scrap of food.
The key to sorting it out is to figure out who REALLY is the dominant of the pair, and thats not as easy as it sounds.
The one who is doing all the fighting may well not be the naturally dominant ***** - if she was, why'd she need to fight for it, it would be her place rightfully and wouldnt be questioned.
Assess the two dogs carefully, preferably get a sensible behaviourist in as well, a new pair of eyes can really help.
Then, whichever turns out to be the boss, that dog gets the first, best, biggest, etc, first walk, first food, somewhere to sit.... but THAT dog wont be the one who kicks off if she DOESNT get fed first... dominant dogs are LOVELY they need prove themselves to no one and are usually a joy to live with.
It is 'wannabe' dominant dogs who are a royal pain, they are insecure and dont know where they stand, they feel the need to bully and harrass and fight for their status all the time. Sadly these are the dogs who are often labelled as dominant and they are not.
I cant tell which of these two bitches is teh naturally dominant one, and I suspect you will struggle to do so as well. Here is the huge problem - you back up the wrong one, OR you try to treat them equally.. you will give fuel to their fire and the fighting will get worse.
If you get it right, you can get them to a position whereby they understand their standing between one another, and with you, and then IF you choose to pet one before the other, or together, or whatever, then they will respect that - but you cant force that, and you have to help them sort things out between them first.
You cant choose which one is 'boss' either (many people try to 'oh she was here longest' or 'shes biggest...') - doesnt work like that. They decide. You back it up.
As to how you tell who is and who isnt dominant - watch them.
Who picks a fight? Is it bullying, if this behaviour was between two children would you call one a bully?
Does the other behave like a victim, or does she just go 'ok, you be like that then, ill go over --------> here' and ignore it?
Does she turn the other cheek and look away and just go 'lala i cant see you being horrid'.
Or is one always picking and picking and then the other finally has enough and fights back?
Let me know what sort of situations are going on between them and we can see if we can sort out who is and isnt boss (you could video them and put the vid on youtube - technology is wonderful!)
Em
Dogs who guard do so for a reason, they dont want to lose their stuff. You taking their stuff tells them they were RIGHT to guard their stuff and they will do so more. Its a battle where there need not be one, and it doesnt teach the dog anything useful, only that you are horrid and not to be trusted.
In any case, these two dogs problem is not really relevant to who has what stuff,. Their problem is that they are two adult bitches who are fairly evenly matched and one wants to 'smack' the other down and be the boss - REGARDLESS of how they view people, dogs will always need to know where they stand with other dogs in a family group.
Seperate them for meal times, before you let them back in together pick up food bowls and any spilt food.
Sometimes dogs (ok... bitches) will be so petty with one another they will fight over a SMELL, let alone a scrap of food.
The key to sorting it out is to figure out who REALLY is the dominant of the pair, and thats not as easy as it sounds.
The one who is doing all the fighting may well not be the naturally dominant ***** - if she was, why'd she need to fight for it, it would be her place rightfully and wouldnt be questioned.
Assess the two dogs carefully, preferably get a sensible behaviourist in as well, a new pair of eyes can really help.
Then, whichever turns out to be the boss, that dog gets the first, best, biggest, etc, first walk, first food, somewhere to sit.... but THAT dog wont be the one who kicks off if she DOESNT get fed first... dominant dogs are LOVELY they need prove themselves to no one and are usually a joy to live with.
It is 'wannabe' dominant dogs who are a royal pain, they are insecure and dont know where they stand, they feel the need to bully and harrass and fight for their status all the time. Sadly these are the dogs who are often labelled as dominant and they are not.
I cant tell which of these two bitches is teh naturally dominant one, and I suspect you will struggle to do so as well. Here is the huge problem - you back up the wrong one, OR you try to treat them equally.. you will give fuel to their fire and the fighting will get worse.
If you get it right, you can get them to a position whereby they understand their standing between one another, and with you, and then IF you choose to pet one before the other, or together, or whatever, then they will respect that - but you cant force that, and you have to help them sort things out between them first.
You cant choose which one is 'boss' either (many people try to 'oh she was here longest' or 'shes biggest...') - doesnt work like that. They decide. You back it up.
As to how you tell who is and who isnt dominant - watch them.
Who picks a fight? Is it bullying, if this behaviour was between two children would you call one a bully?
Does the other behave like a victim, or does she just go 'ok, you be like that then, ill go over --------> here' and ignore it?
Does she turn the other cheek and look away and just go 'lala i cant see you being horrid'.
Or is one always picking and picking and then the other finally has enough and fights back?
Let me know what sort of situations are going on between them and we can see if we can sort out who is and isnt boss (you could video them and put the vid on youtube - technology is wonderful!)
Em
I had 5 dogs that all lived together and were all happy, 3 bitches and 2 dogs, the bitches aged 3 & 2 yrs were ok until 1 day one of them had a phantom pregnancy, from that day 2 of them started fighting (they were not related) I spent over a year and alot of time and money trying to sort this out, but these 2 bitches meant business they would have killed each other, luckily one of them has gone to live with another member of family. It was horrific and almost impossible to believe these 2 little dogs could become so aggressive towards each other.[/quote]
