Dog Community

Toy and Food agression or punk puppy?

Posted : 6/24/2010 1:03:22 PM

Greetings, I'm new around here. OK, so we adopted a new dog named Drake, who is more or less all puppy, pretty awesome with most dogs, including our existing dog Tarla. Drake is about 39 pounds at 6 months old, he's a potcake / bully mix of some sort. He plays really well with other dogs but Tarla (who is a 10 pound Chihuahua pug) pretty much just ignores her.

We've only had him 3 weeks and there have been two altercations with Tarla so far. The first one was Tarla trying to steel a kong-like fire hydrant thing out of his mouth. It happened when I was standing right next to them, I corrected Drake by removing the toy and still he growled at her. It was at a weird area in our hallway that kinda made both dogs backed into a corner (it's a french door opening to our bedroom where we have Drake's Kennel). He snapped at her, no blood, very little spit, so I moved him to another part of the house.

The second time was during feeding. My wife (as opposed to me) was feeding them and Drake snapped at Tarla again. Similarly, no blood, just slobber and a rattled little dog. Consequently, my wife, as opposed to me, was not standing and separating the two bowls. I wouldn't care too much if it was just the food thing because that can be mitigated at the extreme by feeding in kennels, no big deal. What bugs me the most was the snap about the toys. I don't think I can keep his toys only in his kennel.

We had a behaviorist come in and eval them and she said "He's just being a puppy", but reading all the horror stories here I'm getting a little freaked out. Drake never ever seems to get skittish or freaked out by other dogs. He might be a little hesitent but never runs away.

One thing that someone said (and gave me conflicting advice - go figure) is to make Drake the top dog and not Tarla since she very clearly (at least to my untrained eyes) could care less, and Drake seems to care more. As it stands, I put Tarla's food down first, and we put Drake into NILIF mode and don't let him do anything except toys he grabs from his Kennel without us initiating (as in, no beds, chairs, couches, etc). He gets at least 45 minutes in two walks a day rain or shine (I need it too!) so it's probably not a couped up puppy thing.

I guess what I'm asking is am I doing the right thing by feeding my two dogs with the older smaller dog first, and then making Drake work for his food? Or should I feed her in her kennel and him in the kitchen, elsewhere?

Anyone have any thoughts?

aerial1313

Posted : 6/24/2010 1:11:17 PM

I'm sure the trainers will be along, but I'll throw in my 2 cents.

Continue the NILIF for sure. It's important for a dog in a new home to learn YOU control things, especially so for a puppy.

I would feed them separately. When we adopted our 2nd dog, we fed separately for about 2 months (Harry, the existing dog, in the kitchen, and Sammy,the new dog, in the garage). We were able to gradually wean them off that, and now they eat together without issue.

So the Chi mix tried to grab the toy out of the puppy's mouth? If that is the only time he's guarded his toys, I personally wouldn't be that worried about that one incident. It'd be like someone grabbing food out of your hand as you're trying to eat it...you're gonna wanna slap that person, ya know? But if it has happened other times, where he is guarding toys not in his possession, I would add the toys to the NILIF routine.

Good luck!

JackieG

Posted : 6/24/2010 2:09:54 PM

I would feed them separately. Why force either dog into a positon where they feel they must guard their food? I don't like someone hovering over me when I eat, why should we force our dogs into this position. Standing between the bowls is fine but it's easy to get distracted and dogs know when you aren't paying attention.

As for who is top dog and who isn't, the dogs will decide this for themselves. I don't generally worry about that aspect. My dogs consider me the top dog because I provide all the good things in life that they value.

Here's a pretty good article about resource guarding which is what you are dealing with. High value is determined by the dog and what may not seem valuable to you may be a prized possession to the dogs. I don't leave toys laying around the house. My dogs are happy to go in their crates and gnaw on a chew toy and play toys are gotten out and played with a dog alone. My dogs do play fetch together but they've been trained to wait their turn.

Drake is still pretty new to your household and I agree that NILIF is a good program for all dogs. I would add some obedience training to the exercise you do with him. The mind is a terrible thing to waste. :) Clicker training is fun and rewarding for dog and human. clickerlessons.com is a good site and Karen Pryor has a great website.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&C=153&A=2438&S=0

Liesje

Posted : 6/24/2010 2:24:56 PM

I don't have much advice because these situations involve so many factors, what works for someone might be devastating for someone else. My "puppy" (20 months old, 80lbs) is VERY vocal, there is NOTHING he does that doesn't also involve some vocalization (for example here is a video, you'd think by the sound of it he's trying to eat the puppy alive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH0npyRIIVY .) When he is playing with my other dogs you'd think he was viciously attacking them, there is so much growling, grunting, and barking (albeit prey barking). He likes to play tug with other dogs and "keep away" so he will try to snatch toys which is often accompanied by vocalization but it is not actual aggression or guarding, that's just how he is. I've never had a fight or squabble amongst my dogs. If could be play, or it could be something else.

I would not try to dictate who is top and who isn't. In my house, there is me and then dogs and that's the only hierarchy *I* recognize. I agree with Jackie on using NILIF and you will see it carry over into having well behaved, well balanced dogs without having to create a rigid hierarchy.

I would do the feeding separately because that's easy to manage.

pkillur

Posted : 6/24/2010 11:39:57 PM

JackieG
I would feed them separately. Why force either dog into a positon where they feel they must guard their food? I don't like someone hovering over me when I eat, why should we force our dogs into this position. Standing between the bowls is fine but it's easy to get distracted and dogs know when you aren't paying attention.

I put a big gigantic box between them for today since I literally had time to show up, feed Drake and then take him with me in the car. No stares, it was brilliant. Thank you for the advice. His food is moving by his crate tomorrow.

JackieG

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&C=153&A=2438&S=0

The most interesting takeaway I have from this is the part about guarding people and being resource guardians. My dogs both bombard me for pets and I have been shoving them away and petting one at a time. I made them both sit by my side and took turns talking to them and petting them.

Great stuff.