My dogs don't get along!

[Savewolves96]

We have owned Tex our 7 year old all of his life now, last summer we decided to get another dog. Amber our now one year old LOVES Tex. He hates her. At first we left them alone guessing they would get used to each other. Still she hits him in the face with her paws while he snarls at her. It gets her even more excited. I feel he isn’t as happy as he used to be anymore. She gets in the way when someone is petting him. Now he spends most of the time by himself so she wont bother him. Anyway to get them to get along more?

[Bu-Bear]

Oh, I wish that I could help. I've never had dogs that don't get along, though. I've had one dominant and one submissive, but they got along.

How you initially introduced them to each other would have played a huge role in their relationship. However, you could try seperating them, spending time with each one of them, one on one, and then slowly reintroduce them.

Keep on in one room and the other in another room. Then, when they are both calm, take the younger dog into the room with your older dog. Pay both of them some attention. Stay in the room the entire time and then, eventually, seperate them again, increasing the time that they are together each time to take the younger dog into the room with the older dog.

I'm not a professional trainer, so I can't promise that, that will work, but it's an option, if nothing else.

[Mattie]

We have owned Tex our 7 year old all of his life now, last summer we decided to get another dog. Amber our now one year old LOVES Tex. He hates her. At first we left them alone guessing they would get used to each other. Still she hits him in the face with her paws while he snarls at her. It gets her even more excited. I feel he isn’t as happy as he used to be anymore. She gets in the way when someone is petting him. Now he spends most of the time by himself so she wont bother him. Anyway to get them to get along more?

Why are you allowing her to hit him in the face? That should have been stopped when she first arrived, I wouldn't be very happy if someone kept hitting me in the face either, I think he has been extremely tollerant of her, many dogs would have attacked and hurt her.

It is your job to protect him not him to protect himself, stop her from annoying him, it can be done, I am having to do it at the moment, it isn't difficult. You should watch your dogs, spot when she is going to annoy him and step in before she does by redirecting her to something else, a short play usually works.

She shouldn't be allowed to get in the way when someone is making a fuss of him, again redirect her to something else like a short play, she will soon stop if you redirect her from any unwanted behaviour because it becomes more fun not to annnoy him.

Oh, I wish that I could help. I've never had dogs that don't get along, though. I've had one dominant and one submissive, but they got along.

Nothing to do with dominant and submissibe, that is old fashioned, dogs don't work like that.

[Bu-Bear]

Nothing to do with dominant and submissibe, that is old fashioned, dogs don't work like that.

Old fashioned or not, it still exists. Dogs are still dogs, they still have those instincts. They do work like that. I see it everyday. My black lab male was dominant and my yellow lab female was the submissive.

[Mattie]

Nothing to do with dominant and submissibe, that is old fashioned, dogs don't work like that.

Old fashioned or not, it still exists. Dogs are still dogs, they still have those instincts. They do work like that. I see it everyday. My black lab male was dominant and my yellow lab female was the submissive.

Dogs are dogs first, they do have dog instincts but it has nothing to do with being dominant or submissive. Yes dogs do submit to others but not in the way that you are suggesting. A pup will submit to an adult, a young adult will submit to a older adult, this isn't submission it is like children submitting to their parents.

I have had a multi dog household for quite a few years, I am talking 4 to 6 dogs at once not 2, I can assure you that the domanince/submission doesn't work with dogs, that is old school and modern thinking has done a lot more studying and found that it doesn't work.

In a group of dogs the top dog is fluid, a dog may be top for toys, but bottom for food, another dog will be top for food.

I have 4 bitches now, 2 are very confident dogs, they type that was classed as "domimant", neither is the top dog of my pack because there isn't one.

Do a search for this, there is a lot of informationn on it, well worth reading.

[jacksdad]

Nothing to do with dominant and submissibe, that is old fashioned, dogs don't work like that.

Old fashioned or not, it still exists. Dogs are still dogs, they still have those instincts. They do work like that. I see it everyday. My black lab male was dominant and my yellow lab female was the submissive.

You sure about that?

I am doing a lot of reading on dog aggression right now, in "how to right a dog gone wrong" the author talks about how many multi dog households don't have quote "dominate" or even a dog who tries to be leader of the other dogs in the house. Patricia McConnell has some great examples from her multi dog household that disputes the idea of a "dominate" dog being a fixed role. Rather who is "dominate" who is "submissive" changing with who thinks what resource is valuable and who doesn't give a darn about said resource. lesson being "dominate" as most people think they understand the term doesn't exist.

Patricia did a recent series of blog posts exploring the question of "dominance" and what I learned from it was that the correct definition of dominate deals with who has priority access to a resource, NOT who is in charge. access to a resource is more about who wants it more than who is in charge.

[Savewolves96]

We have owned Tex our 7 year old all of his life now, last summer we decided to get another dog. Amber our now one year old LOVES Tex. He hates her. At first we left them alone guessing they would get used to each other. Still she hits him in the face with her paws while he snarls at her. It gets her even more excited. I feel he isn’t as happy as he used to be anymore. She gets in the way when someone is petting him. Now he spends most of the time by himself so she wont bother him. Anyway to get them to get along more?

Why are you allowing her to hit him in the face? That should have been stopped when she first arrived, I wouldn't be very happy if someone kept hitting me in the face either, I think he has been extremely tollerant of her, many dogs would have attacked and hurt her.

It is your job to protect him not him to protect himself, stop her from annoying him, it can be done, I am having to do it at the moment, it isn't difficult. You should watch your dogs, spot when she is going to annoy him and step in before she does by redirecting her to something else, a short play usually works.

She shouldn't be allowed to get in the way when someone is making a fuss of him, again redirect her to something else like a short play, she will soon stop if you redirect her from any unwanted behaviour because it becomes more fun not to annnoy him.

Oh, I wish that I could help. I've never had dogs that don't get along, though. I've had one dominant and one submissive, but they got along.

Nothing to do with dominant and submissibe, that is old fashioned, dogs don't work like that.

I have tried that we stop her each time she hits him. He has gone after her before but that did nothing if anything she goes after him more. We separate them each time she hits him then let her back in the room, she doesn’t do it as much but she does it more when other people are visiting. I’ll try the redirecting once we get back from vacation.

[LmJanes]

I have tried that we stop her each time she hits him. He has gone after her before but that did nothing if anything she goes after him more. We separate them each time she hits him then let her back in the room, she doesn’t do it as much but she does it more when other people are visiting. I’ll try the redirecting once we get back from vacation.

How exactly did you try to stop her from hitting him? Do you keep your young dog tethered to you all the time? If you don't do that, then you need to do that. It should be continue until she is old enough to be respectful of the elder dog and your house rule. It is a good ways to earn up your leadership. She will learn to respect your rule, but you must teach it to her. You can't have her walk around freely and bug as she likes. Your elder dog has the right to be left alone and not be harassed by a young dog. He is too old to deal with puppy behaviors and it is not cute to him as it looks to you guys. It is like a young 6 years old kid plays and jumps on grandpa who is reaching in his 70 or 80s and gets very grumpy. A mother would be smart enough to keep her high energy kid away from grandpa and only introduce her kid to him when the kid is calm and placid. If you chose not to do this with her, she will find a way to climb up higher the ladder and run the house the way she wants not what you want. It is important for puppies, young dogs, and dogs who are new to their home surroundings should be tethered until they understood how rules work and what to expect of it then that is when it is time for them to graduate. It can prevent many things like counter sniffing and other things.

[Mattie]

How exactly did you try to stop her from hitting him? Do you keep your young dog tethered to you all the time? If you don't do that, then you need to do that. It should be continue until she is old enough to be respectful of the elder dog and your house rule. It is a good ways to earn up your leadership. She will learn to respect your rule, but you must teach it to her.

Sorry this is wrong, how is she going to learn not to do it if she is tethered to her owner? How is she going to learn the house rules if she is tethered to the owner? How is she going to respect her owner if she is tethered to her?

The owner needs to watch this pup, recognise the signs that she is going to hit the other dog and redirect her away, this will make something else more interesting than hitting the other dog.

Respect has to be earned by being good leader/teachers and not by tethering a dog to us, all that teaches the dog is that they can't do anything apart from go with the owner, how boring for the dog.

You can't have her walk around freely and bug as she likes. Your elder dog has the right to be left alone and not be harassed by a young dog. He is too old to deal with puppy behaviors and it is not cute to him as it looks to you guys. It is like a young 6 years old kid plays and jumps on grandpa who is reaching in his 70 or 80s and gets very grumpy.

Yes you are right, she shouldn't be allowed to do this to the other dog but at 7 years old he may not be an old dog, depends on the breed, when I introduced a 20 week old pup to my 15 year old *****, she thought this was wonderful and took on a new lease of life. She taught this pup a lot about being a dog.

A mother would be smart enough to keep her high energy kid away from grandpa and only introduce her kid to him when the kid is calm and placid. If you chose not to do this with her, she will find a way to climb up higher the ladder and run the house the way she wants not what you want. It is important for puppies, young dogs, and dogs who are new to their home surroundings should be tethered until they understood how rules work and what to expect of it then that is when it is time for them to graduate. It can prevent many things like counter sniffing and other things.

Yes the owner should manage the pup so she doesn't annoy the older dog but she WILL NOT TAKE OVER THE HOUSE DOING THIS, she will only become a spoilt brat if nothing is done to teach her the house rules. The owner is asking for help so has no intention of letting her get away with it.

There is a thread in "Articles" section giving an outline of the various stages of pups, well work reading, this little girl is a teenage hooligan, like all teenagers is pushing her luck and not trying to take over the world.

I have never tethered a dog in my life, I do know that there are situations when it will help like toilet training, but it won't teach a pup manners, how to be a dog or how to behave in our world, only training will do this. Only the owner can teach a dog, tethering them to you all the time won't unless you also train them, if you are going to train them why do you need to tether them as well. Puppies like children should have fun lives, they need to test the boundaries so they can learn, they need to investigate so they can learn, they need to make mistakes so they can learn, without all these experiences they will never gain the knowledge they need to live in our society.