How do I stop her being so bossy?

Zeita and Zak on the whole get on very well. However recently she has started being snappy if Zak goes near her treat or any toy, no matter who had it last. She goes running at him shouting and showing her teeth. No contact is made and poor Zak just walks off. However this is escalating slightly now in that if she is having A cuddle with me (only me nobody else) she then loses her place and he ends up there anyway So its got her know where. she is running and shouting at him, hackles up, growling and bearing her teeth . Zak has never retaliated and prob never would he just saunters off and gives the odd grumble back. No contact has ever been made. She is now 16 months old.

Is this what you call resource guarding? if so how do I stop it?

To me it sounds like she is asserting her dominance over him and teaching him some boundaries to be submissive.

Zak just walks off would this be seen as submissive in her eyes? He is 7 nealy and just plods along lol

Its something I've always found hard to balance...what to let them sort out between them and when to step in.

When we had Hoki & Kip, Hoki used to do similar to Kip and at the time I thought it was best to leave them to it. But when Kip passed away and we got Stumpy, I thought I'd try a different approach.

Hoki now gets told off if she is too much of a bully...e.g. if she has a toy and then suddenly wants the one that Stumpy has, I don't let her, but you have to be careful how you do it or it can just make matters worse. I know they say that dogs don't have human emotions, but I believe they do experience jealousy.

Hoki now knows that if she leaves Stumpy alone with whatever Stumpy has, I will give her something as good. If Stumpy gets affection, Hoki now knows that she can't come barging in and push Stumpy out of the way- though she is allowed to come the other side of me to get petted at the same time.

As I say, its a very fine balance because it is possible to make things worse, but luckily (touch wood) it seems to be working for us.

The other thing I would say to be able to do this is that she needs to understand that you make the rules. If she doesn't accept that over other things, I would not try to sort her attitude towards Zak out until you know that Zeita will respect that what you say goes.

If they were my dogs, as long as it stays un-agressive, I would let them sort it out between them.

It will probs peek, then they will have a fight, and then they will probs be fine.

A female is normally the alpha out of male and female, so in my opinion, as long as you keep an eye on it and it doesn't get much worse, I would leave them to it. Just don't let her do it to a dog outside of the pack.

I second what Hali says with regards to you making the rules though, so just remiond her that you are boss, and not she.

mia was v bossy when i got her
and some of what you are describing is resource guarding too
1st you have to decide if you want one dog controling the other
i didnt
any stealing, bulling, preventing ben walking from one room to the other all resulted in a time out in her crate
i did some training with them together, both in a sit, treated ben a fraction before mia, and built up the times so mia now knows if she sits and waits nicely when ben is getting a treat she will get one too
also stroke him, treat (better in her eyes than petting) increase time of petting him before she gets treat, she learns that good things happen to her if she is calm when ben is getting a fuss

i didnt see it as domonence at all, although many will dissagree, i felt all this was attention seeking and controling of a insecure dog, now she has calmed down, realised that times with ben is fun and everything is safe she has calmed down so much that she can see ben chewing a bone she really wants so she goes and lies down beside him and trys to atract his attention by doing tricks for him, v funny

If they were my dogs, I would be trying to discourage Zeita from being such a bully. As long as it isn't overtly aggressive then I wouldn't get stressed about it but just try to discourage the behaviour - Hali has given some great suggestions.

Also, have a word with Elaine

i've done the same with my 2.

Bonnie tends to be a bully and it gets Hector down. i took over, as he wont do anything, and it worked.

Hector is a wuss and AlWAYS looks to me for help, whereas Bonnie is more independant.

thanks everybody, we are going to try all your ideas. She has never made contact...yet. She does know I am boss and is quick to do as I tell her so hopefully we can nip this in the bud quickly.

I will try and get our trainer to one side lol but everybody makes a bee line for her at the end never get a look in x