Dog agression

My oh has a jack russel male he is about 8 months old now the thing is when he used to bring the dog down to my house last time being about 4 weeks ago i also looked after him while he went on holiday he and my other 2 dogs sasha rotty and trixy collie cross got on great but tonight he has brought him down and he has shown a lot of aggression towards sasha growling biting sasha being the daft dog she is just turned away and bounced back so we have now had to seperate them which is such a shame as they used to love running around the garden together.

But i hate to think what would happen if sasha were to turn nasty

Any ideas why this is

Jack Russells are very fiesty dogs, like most terriers, and will tend to try to be dominant irrespective of the size of the other dogs, again like most terriers they do not suffer others gladly, aspecially in a confined area.

It is usually best to allow dogs to sort themselves out with no human interference - but they should always be supervised just in case things get out of hand. It is possible that the JR is still being permitted 'puppy licence', although he does seem to be a bit old for that to be the case. The older dog will, generally, tolerate a certain amount of cheekiness and then warn the younger when it has gone too far. If Sasha shows no sign of disciplining the JR, and is stressed or likely to be injured by his behaviour, then it is probably better to separate them, or make sure that she has a secure retreat where she can get away from her tormentor.

At 8 months it sounds like he is "trying it on" - seeing if he can get away with dominating Sasha - my limited experience of Rotties makes me thing she will let him get away with quite a bit before putting him in his place, big softies

I'm not a expert by any means, but because Sasha has such a physical advantage over the pup, I would be tempted to leave them to get on with it - I think it would be better if Sasha puts him in his place (which she probably will if he pushes her too far) than an unfamiliar dog does it when he is out walking.

The first time my pup got brought into line (his problem was not aggression but just tooo friendly for some dogs) by a dog we met while walking, he immediately emptied the contents of his anal glands all over my foot - eeeeugh!

Also, with some breeds, play can sound like they are "killing" each other, and teeth are definitely involved - so it may be that they are having a great time together especially if Sasha is going back for more

JR's are noisy dogs when playing I have one that you would think is about to kill the other dog, but most of it is noise, its a trait of the breed, however, if yours is starting to bully, remmember you are the leader and leadership is important, when you wnat them to stop use a long low tone as quick high tones will encourage more excitement.

Try a long whooooooah! then when you have their attention redirect there play towards somthing else.

Dervel

I agree with all the other posters on this. Often, In the canine world there is a vast difference between boisterous play and hierachial aggression JRs are really noisy players, you would think they are killing the other dog, but in actual fact there is quite often no painful contact. You can guage this by checking if when this behaviour occurs whether Sasha yelps. You know the quick yelp and turn away when pain has been inflicted.

I have a JR cross Dachund that plays heavy with my GSD but no yelps of pain occurs. Is Sasha still a young dog? I presume the Collie is the older one?

In theory, all dogs should be able to work it out together as long as the owners don’t interfere. However you must heed mounting tensions. Watch for eye-to-eye contact between the dogs, as well as stiffening and shouldering. “As soon as you see signs of trouble that you’re uncomfortable with, take steps, don’t wait for a real fight to happen because that changes the dynamics considerably.” If the yelps of pain are occurring then its time to Put Your Paw Down. This is what you do

It’s crucial that you take a strong role. establish yourself as the benevolent leader as your first priority. I suggest that you make both dogs “work for everything.” Before they’re fed, given a treat or taken out for a walk, you should order the dogs to sit or lie down. The same applies to demands for attention. And finally, regularly practice the stay and release commands, even if the dogs are just going from one room to another. This is called the NILIF program if you need it sent to you PM me and I will E Mail it.

If the dogs indicate they’re about to fight, calmly, but forcefully, intervene. "The approach is, ‘I don’t care who started it, both of you, down, “You basically tell them: ‘you don’t have to worry about her, and you don’t have to worry about him. You have to worry about me.”’

Hope that helped

Stan

Wow Stan. I have no use for that info now as only have 1 dog, but will definately remember it for when I do or when we have one around, as it just made so much sense and you explained it so well. Thanks.

I had that problem with Bruno recently.

We were in a park having a picnic for a friends birthday. I asked if I could bring Bruno and they said fine, so I assumed he would be the only dog. Then a couple arrived with their male & female JRTs. I thought there would be trouble so leashed Bruno. The little ones (male being older than Bruno), came straight over to meet him. I kept reminding him "slowly"as he has a tendency to punce, but no probs with either. In fact throughout the course of the day, the male & him became great friends. The female was very submissive to Bruno (he thought it was great).
Then someone else arrived with their 2 JRTs (again a male & a female). The male was just trying to start a fight all day. He would try go for Bruno at any opportunity. But prob wouldnt have stood a chance against him. The female avoided Bruno. Why is it some JRt are fine and others not?

I would say that as long as they don't seem to be getting too serious and causing actual harm to each other then they should be left to sort it out amongst themselves, this is what I do when I bring the foster dogs into my home and they challenge the currnet residents, nothing too bad has happened yet. I think some other very good advice has been given in the other posts.