Male dominance issues

Hello guys,

First post in this section, will no doubt be back for more!!

So.... Jazz is my beautiful Staffy cross, aged just over 2 years, castrated and has been living with us for 6 months after being rehomed from a friend.

Arnold, 7 months old, GSD cross, castrated and has been living with us for just shy of 2 months.

During this time I have learn't Arnold to be very food orientated. He tries to steal the other dogs food whenever given a chance, even the rabbit's! For safetys sake I have started to feed Arnold in a different room as Jazz and my older female (neutered fox terrier) Chilli and he have no quarms.

This extends to the dreaded chew toys and bones... if another dog is playing with something, Arnold wants it. Jazz used to let Arnold take it in the very beginning, but now they fight and it becomes a very agressive looking aray of teeth bearing, barking, and now.. contact. No blood, nips from both parties. I intervine every time and take Arnold away and give the toy back to Jazz which he had been playing with and try to offer Arnold another toy, which is promptly ignored.

The issue then extends to the garden and on walks, if both off the lead Arnold will chase Jazz around and nip at him as Jazz runs away, Jazz will often turn round and growl and try to run away (he is generally faster and to me he sees this as play as well) but Arnold growls, nips, and despite me frantically trying to get Arnold to calm down and "come here" he refuses to listen.

However..... I tried something. I left Jazz on the lead and took Arnold off and to my suprise Arnold responded when I ushered him away and continued to walk, but Jazz off the lead and Arnold on the lead, Jazz pestered Arnie to the point we couldn't walk and he wouldn't move back.

I have had a dog behaviour man in the home to address issues and he said that it is because Arnold is a puppy and that there are dominance issues and that I need to let them sort it amongst themselves whilst learning to be the "pack leader" whilst intervining if it becomes serious.

I'm totally confused by all of this as nothing seems to be working. Alone, both dogs are fine on walks and in the house Jazz and Arnie are both fine with Chilli and have never shown this behaviour to her.

Is it Arnie's age? Will it get better as they learn who's boss? Or is this an issue I need to do something else about?

Thank you for your time and I look forward to reading your replies.

Sounds like you have got your hands full there

Dogs will, quite naturally, try to take things from other dogs - in the same way that children want to play only with the toy another child has. The grass is always greener and all that. High grade resources - like bones, chew toys and favourite toys - will probably be held onto by Jazz, while a toy that he is not really interested in may be given up - if it suits him - without any argument.

I would suggest that you do not have them in the same room when either of them have something high grade.

I had three Staffords but if I got them a bone i would always get four or five, that way there was no point guarding one because there were always an extra one. In my little group choice of high grade resource was given to Molly - the other two would happily give something up to her. But on a walk it was always Tyke who would forge ahead, exploring new places and the other two would follow. My point on this is that generally one dog is not 'the boss' in all situations.

Yes, Arnie is a puppy and Jazz is doing what an adult dog would expect to be able to do - tell him off when he oversteps the mark. Well done you for backing Jazz up on this.

Nipping and chasing are fun for a Stafford, which is probably why Jazz initiated this game when Arnie was on lead.

What you need to avoid (as you have been doing) is anything escalating - if Arnie doesn't back down when Jazz growls at him for trying to take a toy he may well feel that he has to go further.

I would suggest that they are not left alone together if you are out or unable to supervise them because if something starts then, you could come back to a serious incident.

Also have a word which means 'no more play fighting'. With mine I used 'enough'. It meant 'stop, chill, go find something else to do'. Some dogs love to play fight - nipping, grabbing but with no serious intent - but it can easily tip over to a proper fight and then harm can be done. A single, calm, word from you should be sufficient to interrupt the behaviour when you are with them.

Hopefully things will settle down soon - as Arnie learns a bit of respect. It may be that he thinks he is initiating a game by trying to take Jazz' toy, wanting Jazz to chase him - but i don't think Jazz agrees with him, yet.

You seem to be doing the right sort of things. Fingers crossed that it works out.

I'd probably do lots of basic obedience with both dogs on walks and walk them seperately for a while unless they are both on lead.

It is very hard to know what is going on without seeing it but your brehaviourist doesn't seem to have been a lot of help. Did you check for qualifications or experience at all?

Re the toys I wouldn't allow too much confrontation but I wouldn't back either dog up---I'd go in and remove the toy for myself when I felt it was appropriate. At the moment you might be backing up the wrong dog---it is hard but they need to find a way of sorting things out without making holes in each other.

At 7mths Arnold has no puppy license left and is feeling his feet.

I wouldn't leave them alone together.

rune

agree with the others here

I had similar problems
Mia couldnt be left with anything prized - if there were 20 bones if Ben walked close to 1 then she went for him

I did a few things

having them sitting and feeding treats to both of them at the same time, then Mia slightly later - so she got used to the fact that watching Ben eat ment she was about to get something nice
then chucked some treats on the floor for Mia - and a few the other side for Ben - so he finished first (hes polite and wouldnt compeate)

obviously if you were worried then you would have to do these exercises onlead

I also make 100% sure that whoever has something gets to keep it without having to guard it

If Ben had a chew (only given under supervision) and Mia even started making eye contact with him - then she got a time out and Ben got peace to enjoy his treat
zero tolerance - and now they can share nicely

I wouldn`t let them sort it out themselves because one is a youngster, and you don`t want them to grow up thinking it`s OK to grab and fight. I would take charge a bit more and put a few rules in order, personally. You really don`t want either to be boss, you want them to be family. Family members might fall out occasionally, but bullying is not allowed.
Yes, lots more individual work. Don`t leave toys etc. around and don`t let either dog bully the other.
eta - forget the male dominance thing - it`s just dogs being dogs.

Hey guys, thank you for all points. They've certainly reinforced that what i'm doing is mostly right.

The thing being with the special bones and toys is that the bones are broken into several pieces, 7 or 8, Chilli doesn't have one as she can't get it into smaller bits so Jazz does it for her and she always finds one, so like you said, it's not that there's not enough it's just that Arnie wants to start a riot for fun with Jazz i think!

We are still early days with the obedience but I have great faith in this and am taking Arnie and Jazz for individual walks where them and I concentrate one to one on obedience and they are let off of the lead and then a group walk solely on the lead in the evening.

I have bought a clicker, I would like to know what you think about using this on Jazz and Chilli as well as Arnold. How far does the method "An old dog can't learn new tricks" go?

Jazz is 2
Chilli is 6

I would imagine this statement is rubbish so I will give it a shot with all of them individually.

With regards to "splitting them up" I do let Jazz tell him off because I don't believe that anything will be sorted unless Arnold learns some manners but in every case I do take the toy off of them for myself and put it in a drawer.

"If you can't play nicely don't play at all"

Sometimes I do give it to Jazz and take Arnold away, which is better?

And of course, I hasten to add that I am disabled and do not leave the house often and my dogs are never unsupervised. I would not have taken a young pup on if I did not think I would be around to help them during this battle of the sex as it were

Thank you all for your replies I look forward to reading more.


EDITED TO ADD: It is a shame because they get on so well when comunally fed treats. Arnold would try to take the treat I was about to give Jazz but we have gotten over that with simple commands. It's only meals and things like bones and toys that take a while to eat

Sounds like you are more or less doing what I'd do anyway----you have to make judgements on your dogs and your situation.

Re the cilcker---go for it they should love it whatever age. I watched a 9 year old scottie who was an ex breeding bitch and was never socialised and now she loves the clicker and is doing really well.

Can you put a dog gate up for bones and treats and put Arnold the other side of it so he still feels part of it but can't cause any hassles.

rune

A dog gate sounds like a very good idea, I think I shall try that or I could always sit in the doorway and leave it open so he's one side with a toy and the other two are in my room (where they frequent!)

I'm so pleased you've said that re clicker. I was a little apprehensive about Chilli but a lot of people have said she'd be brilliant for agility so I'd love to get her to a stage she could be a part of that.

Thank you again rune you are most helpful <3

A friend of mine has multiple dogs so has taught them to only reach for the treat when their name is called (so she can go down the line). You could try that for the treats?

You may find this video useful - it shows how well dogs can be trained to listen for their name .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQNw4Zeboww

When I had my two dogs, I used to always name them for every command, it really helped. I often used to do things in order (eg put on lead, get into car, get out of car) and that helped to get calm as well.

Hth a bit

Wys
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