Need help with dog

[Justme]

Besides Sunny (new 97# lab) not getting along with the cats yet . Now the Shiz Tzu is throwing his weight around and he decided to get ugly tonight.

Sunny has scratched my wood floor, engineered wood, can't sand and scratched my Amour (sic?) doors! chasing the cats!

Then tonight Dusty steals Sunnys rawhide bone, which Sunny is o.k. with that, but he started growling at Sunny and then us when we came near him! We caught him and I was holding him up by the neck (like Ceasar does) and passed him off to DH. Told DH "hold him by the neck until he goes limp, then lay him down, on his back, let him know YOU are the one in charge". But, DH just stuck him in his crate, WITH THE BONE! Now the dog is in the crate, growling and barking and generally going nuts if we go near it.

I know we need to get a handle on this now, the dog suddenly things he is the boss of the entire household. Any other suggestions? I have never been afraid of this dog before tonight, even if he was barking, I knew he wasn't going to bite me. But tonight I knew he would if I got near him.

Tami

[LucyGoose]

Oh my goodness......I did that *pick him up by the neck* thing with Willie.....He is much better from barking....Oh boy, I do not know what to do for you, though.......DH sure didn't help, I don't think....sure hope someone comes along for you...I do know the OED is moving....That's who you show for sure talk to.....Sweet Annie has helped me too.....

All I can say is good luck & Happy Easter!

[putnamgardens]

Sunny and Dusty are the big and little dogs, right? The dogs will work it out Alpha wise. Often the dog who's oldest, been there the longest or female, wins. Now as far as chasing the cat. Does the cat have claws? Some dogs will kill a cat if they catch it. It's a primal thang called prey drive. The dog that has this is NOT going to get along with cats. As far as your husband isolating the dog who was bad by putting him in their kennel.....Is this the kennel where they eat and sleep in? I would never advise punishing them there. We have two dogs and a dog sitters shitzu is here frequently. My golden retriever male get's almost bloody from the shitzu. We just tune out the noise and send'm outside to run it off. Our Alpha female husky rules. She asserts herself daily to show the other dog, who's the boss. I used to try to curtail the antics and my husband reminds me that we can not interfere with their heirarchy. I've even found scabs on my passive, submissive golden boy but I'm helpless to prevent him from picking a fight with my bitch. Some dogs are food and toy possessive. They drive me crazy when the "snap" at each other. We usually get out the WHOLE box of toys and bones and spread'm across the floor to remind them there are plenty to choose from. Now just be thankful that you don't have THREE dogs. One always gets picked on by two. I hope this helps. I hope the cats continue to get up and out of the way quickly. We have three cats. All declawed. Later, Love, Lisa
P.S. My Golden LOVES his kitties. He's always trying to give a toy to his kitties in hopes that they'll play tug of war like the dogs do.

[Annie]

How old is Dusty?

If they growl I grab them by the scruff of the neck and say "NO". When they stop I will let them down.

Over treats if they growl I will do the same thing. If they continue to growl. I keep doing it over and over until they stop.

Like when Travis growled over a peice of chicken, I would scruff him. Let him down, he growled again, then I would repeat it. I will do this every time he growled until he stopped and then I would give him his treat. If he was really persistant I scruff him and then shake him a bit while he was scruffed, and saying NO.
I would not let him have his treat until he didn't growl. Then he got his nummie I still take the nummies from them every now and then just to let them know I CAN take it if I want LOL.

I do this on a leash too. So they can't run with their prize and hide

I'm doing this with Muttly now hehe. He isn't as bad as Travis was. I can take anything from my dogs now with any problem.

Muttly steals things from Wilma, but she isn't laid back like when I got Travis. She use to let him do anything he wanted. But this time it's different. She nails the puppy if he takes her toys. I just let her. Oed told me they have to sort things out for themselves in the alpha area.
She don't hate him, but she isn't a push over with him either. So maybe your older dog will get tired of his antics in time.

I know Wilma is the alpah over Travis, it was hard to tell at first.

[Dusty]

I did not steal the rawhide and I am not telling my age!

[Justme]

, bet you don't weigh less than 15# either, Dusty.

Both dog are about the same age, 3 to 4 years old. The Shiz Tzu is the Alpha dog for the time they met. No argument from the Lab.

One cat is declawed, the other isn't. I have hope that eventually that all will get along. Sunny only runs after the cats now, he isn't barking at them. He has been around cats before, but not lived with them. Supposedly he was fine with them.

This morning Dusty was much better. He just has this horrible obsession about bones. Must remember to NEVER give him anymore bones. But, I have to get him to understand that he isn't the boss of the humans. I agree, putting dogs in their crate to "punnish" them probably isn't a good idea. But, he was really out of control and we were worried he was going to bit someone. Hopefully O.E.D. with be finished moving soon.

Thanks everyone, Tami

[Linda P]

Hi, Tami
Nothing much to add, just chiming in to let you know I'm thinking of you! Last summer my sister had an issue with her two Dobes, who have lived together for at least 5 years now. One of them suddenly decided that he was going to take over, and there were a couple of serious fights. Normally, she can yell 'OFF', and both dogs stand down. This time, she had to physically separate them and there were injuries to both dogs, and she got a few scratches as well. She put both dogs back on leashes and got out her clicker, (she uses a positive reinforcement approach to training, using the clicker along with a small treat when they do what they're supposed to do) and went back to 'kindergarten', as she called it, and within a few days had them back to normal. She had been away a lot, and the one dog kind of forgot that he wasn't the leader, and got to throwing his weight around.
Linda P

[LucyGoose]

Tami, I e-mailed Bro to tell him you needed help, but I'm not sure he will look at his e-mail fast because of the holiday and moving....not sure he would have anything better than what has already been said.....you got good advice already......I do have the book OED told me to get called Purely Positive Training by Shirley Booth......It's like Linda says on the positive reinforcement training.....it might help you..( I myself have not read it all.... )..

Good Luck!!!:-)

[Justme]

Thanks, Lucy.

All of this reminds me why I am really a Cat person . As long as I keep them feed, watered and the box clean they are happy. Dogs take way too much of my time. But, DH and DS love them.

Dusty has been running around this morning looking cute, like, "Who me? Acting bad?".

Tami

[thy]

The Scottish (sp) noth of England shephards have a trick... tried it and it was amazing... but I do not think you wish for over doing it

If the grab them in the neck do not work for real.. bite them hard .. blood is a good thing.. in the ear...

Worked perfect in a couple of bad 2 leading female fights..
but it taste avful

[Ginger]

Pia you are just too much I bet it does taste awful!

You do need to be careful when trying to seperate two dogs who are fighting. My two get into it occasionally especially since Cooper died. The oldest female is still the boss, but Doc has to challenge her every once in awhile. So far I have been lucky and I can yell stop at them and they do, but someday they might not. Not sure what I will do then, but I sure as heck won't get close enough to bite their ear I have already suffered dog bites from a long time ago, and I don;t want to do that again

Ginger

[eastwood2007]

a garden hose spray works well to break up dog fight outside, but I think if they aren't really hurting each other it may be best to let them go. Otherwise, they will just wait till you are not around...I think maybe once they settle the issue of who is in charge, it may stop by itself. Could be prolonged otherwise. It bothers us humans, but I think it is just a "dog thing."

I got that dog book "Cesar's Way" by Cesar Millan (the Dog Whisperer). It helped alot with our two large dogs...