Aggression to my pup from old dog.

[Paul LTW]

I have just this weekend picked up my new Lab Pup, My existing dog has shown nothing but aggression towards him, She has been known to be aggressive to other dogs but never to this extent. At the moment the old dog is kenneled outside with my pup inside. At the moment ive been correcting my old dogs behaviour with a water spray at any signs of aggression, It doesnt seem to be working yet, Anyone have any ideas? or do i just carry on with the water spray and begin socialising gently. I really dont want my pup to have a bad experience as this could make him fearful of other dogs in the future.

[MJN]

Old dog is master, seeing young dog as an upstart threatening it's position especially as it's getting 'better' treatment being inside. Socialising will help IMO, once old dog has established it's role as alpha male over new dog things should ease.

hope it all goes well.

don't know if this will help http://thepetshrink.info/Categories/dogs/dog-behavior/

 

M.

Edited August 11, 2008 by MGMan

[Evilv]

Bitches are usually quite tolerant of pups, especially male ones.

 

I think that if you let them interact while you are there and use shock tactics like the water squirter or a rattle with a storng command like NO!!! at the first sign of aggression from your old bitch, she will stop.

 

The key things about dog training in cases like this are:

 

a) that you have full authority over the bitch. She must accept you as totally in control or stopping the behaviour will take longer

 

b. ) you have to be completely consistent; first sign of aggression, you REACT with your shock tactic and the command. The instant the behaviour starts, you REACT, and do the same thing all the time (as long as she is shocked away from the aggression with the pup) if not, find a new way to get the bitches attention and her submission to you over the matter.

 

DOG BORSTAL ADVICE

Edited August 11, 2008 by Evilv

[Paul LTW]

Thanks for your advice. Old dog is usually very obedient, biddable and no probs, Just this problem as she wasnt socialised properly as a pup, (before i took her on).

 

Another question, would you ever condone the use of a herbal sedative whilst training the old dog? Ive read in other forums this can be quite effective whilst training an aggressive dog?

[Evilv]

I'm not a vet, but I wouldn't even think about a sedative myself. The problem is the bitch is deciding to act this way. Doping her won't help in the long term. She needs to re-learn her reactions to the pup. She needs to do that in her right mind, and not while zonked out on something. I doubt anyone learns much while sedated anyway.

 

Aggression can occur because the animal feels uneasy and restless. Sorry about these questions - I'm not implying anything, but does she get plenty of attention and regular outings for exercise? If she was locked up a lot and bored and full of energy or feeling left out and too much in the kennel, she might have good reason to feel aggrieved about an interloper pup.

 

Maybe we should go back to the most basic thing of all; does she obey you absolutely when you give the command NO!! in a firm voice?

 

That is the very first thing to get sorted. If she won't obey you in everything, even when she feels she needs to sort out another dog, she is not in your control.

 

If there is a problem of her doing what SHE wants rather than obeying you and accepting your pack leadership status, it could be that some fun training with her ON HER OWN would help her behaviour. Take her out, just you and her and do exercises like - sit, stay, lie down, fetch, but only when you give the order. Give her plenty of attention and commands and DEMAND her full attention and COMPLETE compliance to your authority, but use rewards when she does right as well as a stern voice when she does not. Make her run beside you totally at heel, basically anything that makes her give total and unquestioning attention to you and what you want. Make her mix with strange dogs and COMMAND NO!! at even the slightest sign of aggression (hair going up on her shoulders, head down looking aggressive anything that precedes her actually breaking into violence. They always give signs by their posture before they kick off - you need to be sensitive to those signs and she needs to know you wont tolerate them for a second.

 

So - after this kind of training, bring on the puppy and stop her if she in any way starts to give the signs, hair, head down, ears back any sign of tension, bring her up short and command NO!!. When she stops the bad behaviour in any of the training, make a fuss of her, girly voice, good dog, that's a good dog, loads of patting and rubbing her fur. She will eventually get the idea that you are pleased when she's nice and very strong on her when she isn't.

 

REMEMBER TO GIVE HER MOST OF YOUR ATTENTION WHEN SHE AND THE PUP ARE TOGETHER. THERE WILL BE TIME ENOUGH TO TRAIN HIM WHEN SHE ACCEPTS HIM, BUT PART OF THAT WILL DEPEND ON YOU NOT RUBBING HER NOSE IN THE FACT THAT SHE HAS TO SOME EXTENT BEEN REPLACED.

 

Have you ever watched a guy called Caeser Milan on Sky 3? He is often on there at about six in the evening. He's a mexican American in California and he does a lot of training with dogs that are showing aggression. Some of them are totally out of control, large dogs biting owners and family members and savaging the neighbour's dogs. he seems to get them totally submissive and nice in a few minutes. Watch that guy and study his methods. He is the most effective socialiser of really bad dogs that I've ever seen.

Edited August 11, 2008 by Evilv

[Paul LTW]

Great Advice thanks very Much, The situation with her is she is walked 3 times a day, Twice through the day and once at night, also at night i do 15 minutes training with her before another decent walk, Obediance wise she accepts the NO command as final word and understands this to mean "Stop what im doing immediatly". Its now been 6 days since i got the pup and she slowly getting used to the new situation. Just going to remain patient and consistant with my training and fingers crossed she'll get there soon.

Edited August 13, 2008 by Paul LTW