Behaviour change in jess - thoughts plz

Sorry long post but just needed some thoughts on this.

Basics.

3 dogs
Kai, castrated male 7 years old - quite bossy and dominent
Jess newfoundland, female nearly 2 trying to be boss and be leader.

and bless my new girl bianca, newfoundland, 3 years old (new to us a few months ago) very submissive, soft as muck and lets the other two rule her totally.

Ok, jess has always battled on and off with kai, biggest issue is when food is around, if we are cooking or are preparing there dinner all dogs back out of the kitchen as jess lets them know it is not exceptable for them to be in the kitchen when this is going on. Kai and her battled for a bit and now both bianca and kai wait for her to have her food and then they go to theres.

Now.... jess has been ill and still is unwell. But feeling better than she did a few days ago.

Last night, no food, bianca came up to me to be petted and jess went for her. Then later kai went to go out in the garden (we were not in the garden) and she would not let him go out in the garden and went for him.

Later bianca went to get a drink from the bowls of water in the garden and jess went for her. Bianca and kai tend to back off.

Have no idea why she has started to dominate the whole house and garden, its getting silly.

Kai just went to go out in the garden this morning and jess was lying just the other side of the door and i could see her eyes going at him and he was to worried to go any further. I distracted her and then bought her past him and have left her in the living room so the others can have the garden in peace.

any thoughts as it is a bit of a joke at the moment.

In the last couple of days, i have got really cross with jess for her behaviour and moved her aways, because i find it quite nasty actually. ~today i distracted her and moved her to another room.

After jess has a go at them she can be absolutely fine minutes later, for example this morning i was petting bianca and she didn't bat an eyelid. Its like she is now boss, which is fine, but wont let the others do anything unless it is ok with her. Thoughts would be great.

I was wondering is it that Jess is still unwell, I have never had more than one dog at a time so may be way off the mark.
Sure more experienced people will be along soon.
How did the other day go back at the Vets any ideas yet as to what the problem is with her leg not healing ?

Hi, thanks lynn. well she still has a hole in it and its bandaged.

Been to stroud 4 times this week to see surgeon, swabs came back with no infection or mrsa so thats good. But still doesn't explain why its not healing. Vets are treating her free of charge which is excellent. Wednesday was a nightmare as i went up to have it bandaged (2 and half hour round trip) got home an hour later the bandage slipped and i had to go back up, got home at 11pm.

She is having it treated as an open wound and friday it looked about 50% smaller. But its been ups and downs all week so hopefully it may naturally heal up but time will tell.


Thanks for asking, wondering if this behaviour thing is because she may be feeling slightly better, but not sure whether to come down on her heavy with a good telling off or let them sort it out naturally. She has never bitten just makes all the noise and charging at the them. But its a bit worrying.

Hope ollie is well, have to have some more pictures soon.

difficult one Hun....needs some thought too.

My train of thought is with Lynn....dog with wound and not been well, but IMO the age 0f nearly 2 yrs springs to mind too.......with odd ones that I have owned over the years 16mths to 2 yrs seems to bring a change of behaviour of this type..... I was wondering if the 'I'm younger, stronger and boss' is kicking in. Poor Bianca she sounds a lovely lady, just doing as she's told bless as for your lad he sounds as if he's thinking 'Don't boss me'

I'm sure someone will have had real experience of this and can give you 'real' good advice.
Hope you get it sorted.
Me I let mine sort it out themselves....only supervised, as your doing.

What a nightmare for you and Jess. Bianca at 3 is probably feeling can't be bothered and she is last in don't know if that will make a difference like BMD I think when they turn 3 they sort of let things slip by more, so maybe Jess is just trying to make her presence known and be boss.
Stephanies idea sounds good maybe let them sort it out but supervised. Ollie is getting a bit particular with certain dogs now and taking offence at some that come on a bit strong and try to hump him, he is 2 this month.
I shouldn't think she is in the best of moods at the moment either bless her.
Hope the wound starts to heal now and you can all settle down to a quieter less hectic life. Good news there is no infection.

Thanks i thought the same about her age, as yesterday when she flew at bianca for no reason there was a bit of me that wished bianca would have told her off but she didn't.

I think it is a mixture of age and being unwell and i may just let the sort it out as yet there has been no biting just a lot of bossyness and going at them. Just not quite sure what to do when the others want a drink and go into the garden it seems a bit unfair on the others.

Quieter less hectic life sounds fantastic at the minute, i have been in tears for several weeks dealing with jess. She has been so unwell that twice we have considered putting her to sleep and then she suprises you. Keep your fingers crossed that she just gets better and better as that is what we all want and it will get easier for all of us

K - We have two Newfies, both female, and one has behaved exactly like Jess ever since she came to us. Apart from OH she wants to be boss and will 'charge' Rianna for no apparent reason. She will also 'charge' her if for example I go outside at night and she's lying down, she gets up, does a quick check of the perimeter to check for intruders, and 'charges' at Rianna.

Like you say there's never any blood or fur flying but a lot of growling.

She's now nearly 4 and was speyed three months back and she hasn't done this for about two months.

FWIW I think Jess is probably not wanting to concede 'leader' status to the others and bearing in mind that dogs will make a bid for leader if the incumbent does get ill or injured then she's just saying "Look I've been poorly, but I'm not ready to chuck in the towel, so you two just behave and play the junior like I want you too"

I would think it has something to do with what Harvey metioned above difficult to know for sure.

She has been through the mill though poor love, hope all settles back down again for you all xx