She doesn't know how to act during play time

Bella sounds like a herding breed. In fact, that's VERY much how B'asia acts when we're playing and other dogs are out there. I have 3 suggestions.

One, when you're playing with multiple dogs, give Bella something to carry. B'asia likes a cloth frisbee or a heavy-duty squeaking toy. That way she feels like she's part of the game and also, it's harder to bark with something in your mouth.  

Two, do spend some time playing with Bella on her own. It may take some time, but she will probably learn what this playing business is all about.

Three, see this thread. It helped us a lot. But if you read the thread, you'll see it must be done exactly according to the instructions.

Good luck!  

Here's a video of my husband playing with Jaia while B'asia barks. This is before we learned what to do. You can "see" her barking the whole time! Look familiar? I added music because of her barking! LOL

 I if give her a ball or a toy, she'll drop it to bark at akyra. I'm going to post a pic of her so you can see what she looks like.

i watched the vid & thats kinda what she does, but she'll chase akyra around - and stay next to her & bark AT her.  She doesn't do it to my other dog, Sheba, though.  I think maybe it's also jealousy?  Sheba will occasionally bark in the same way at akyra, maybe Bella has picked it up from her?

What a sweetie! She could very well be a Shepherd mix.

Try different toys until you find something she loves. Get a tug toy with a squeakie in it at Wal-Mart and play tug with her. Let her win sometimes, and you win sometimes. When you're done playing, don't let her have the toy. Take it and put it away. Then the only time she gets to play with that toy is when you're playing tug and when you're playing with the other dog.  

Does Sheba fetch, too? And Bella doesn't chase her? It could be a pack order thing. Are Bella and Akyra closer than Bella and Sheba? How do your dogs get along otherwise? It CLEARLY sounds like herding/prey behavior. And there's not a thing wrong with it, you just have to figure out how to deal with it. I don't think it's jealousy. I don't believe dogs get jealous.

By the way, B'asia chases Jaia, too. And before we found the right toy, she bit him and nipped at his neck. But now, she just chases him with the frisbee in her mouth. Here are a couple more vids to show their interaction.

Video 1 

Video 2 (about halfway through)

 the pack order in my house goes: me ( lol), Sheba ( 12 years old), Akyra ( 6 yrs old) then Bella ( 11 months old or so).  Sheba wont really fetch, i think becuase she doesn't run all over the place she's not as entertaining to Bella.  I also think that Bella might be attempting to move up in the pack.  Sheba also has a weird dominance thing over Akyra - she'll guard her or stand over her to show her that she's #1, but Sheba wont do that to Bella.

 I think you're right though, I might need to get a 'Bella' toy just for her & not let anyone else play with it. 

If we're playing tug, she's usually ok, she'll play too most of the time.  Seems only to be happening when I'm throwing a toy for them to fetch. 

akyramoto82

Sheba wont really fetch, i think becuase she doesn't run all over the place she's not as entertaining to Bella. 

That's exactly right. The herding drive is triggered by movement.

akyramoto82

Seems only to be happening when I'm throwing a toy for them to fetch. 

It's because of the movement. B'asia thinks of the frisbee as her prey. That's one reason a squeakie toy is good. Because it satisfies the prey drive.

You might find this interesting as regards the prey drive. Natural Dog Training.  

FourIsCompany

Bella sounds like a herding breed

Or a dog with high prey drive like my lab. I watched your video and it's completely different than the problem I have (which sounds similar to the OP). B'asia looks like she's concentrating on your husband not Jaia. Sassy could care less about me or the toy. Her total fixation is on Buffy. As soon as you throw a toy, Sassy holds back and waits for Buffy to run and get it. Then she chases Buffy and also tries to nip her shoulder while she's doing it.  She run all the way back doing that and if Buffy gets tired of it and I throw the toy just for Sassy, she ignores it. Her joy is in chasing Buffy and not the toy. We don't play fetch with them together anymore cause it just wasn't fun for Buffy. Not sure this is the same situation, but it sounded similar to mine.

ya i think you linked that before, kinda interesting. never heard of it before.  but I'll def be getting Bella a toy of her own, maybe I'll have to convince the BF to take us to the store so Bella can pick one out herself. like everything else it'll just take some time to get her to stop.

thanks for all the tips!!

 

cakana

FourIsCompany

Bella sounds like a herding breed

Or a dog with high prey drive like my lab. I watched your video and it's completely different than the problem I have (which sounds similar to the OP). B'asia looks like she's concentrating on your husband not Jaia. Sassy could care less about me or the toy. Her total fixation is on Buffy. As soon as you throw a toy, Sassy holds back and waits for Buffy to run and get it. Then she chases Buffy and also tries to nip her shoulder while she's doing it.  She run all the way back doing that and if Buffy gets tired of it and I throw the toy just for Sassy, she ignores it. Her joy is in chasing Buffy and not the toy. We don't play fetch with them together anymore cause it just wasn't fun for Buffy. Not sure this is the same situation, but it sounded similar to mine.

thats EXACTLY what Bella does. I'll def try the toy thing.

I'll also try to reinforce how rad fetching is also, maybe get her more interested in the competition of getting the ball rather than bark at Akyra 

cakana

B'asia looks like she's concentrating on your husband not Jaia. Sassy could care less about me or the toy. Her total fixation is on Buffy. As soon as you throw a toy, Sassy holds back and waits for Buffy to run and get it.

In the first video, yes, but in the 2nd one above (Video 2) you'll see that exact behavior, complete with neck nipping.  

FourIsCompany

cakana

B'asia looks like she's concentrating on your husband not Jaia. Sassy could care less about me or the toy. Her total fixation is on Buffy. As soon as you throw a toy, Sassy holds back and waits for Buffy to run and get it.

 

In the first video, yes, but in the 2nd one above (Video 2) you'll see that exact behavior, complete with neck nipping.  

Yes, that's more like what we have, but even still, towards the end, B'asia goes back to your husband and disregards the stick that Jaia's got. Sassy never stops her focus on Buffy. Hopefully the OP doesn't have the same problem as we did. With Buffy being older and a bit slower, it was miserable for her. B'asia and Jaia are pretty evenly matched, so it looks like they're still both having fun. By the way, they're so beautiful to watch :)

Tootsie does this, to a tee. For her its the running of the other dog. She has  no interest in the toy at all. I finally found out that if I throw a separate ball for her, she will fetch it. Sometimes. Her herding instinct usually wins though.

I think it's a REALLY bad idea to play fetch with one dog while another one is loose, unless all dogs will hold a solid stay until released to get their toy. Two dogs going after the same thrown toy = fight or injury; one dog chasing another dog who is going after a toy = fight or injury. Expecting Bella to go off and play by herself while you focus on another dog is unnatural and unrealistic.

mudpuppy

I think it's a REALLY bad idea to play fetch with one dog while another one is loose, unless all dogs will hold a solid stay until released to get their toy. Two dogs going after the same thrown toy = fight or injury; one dog chasing another dog who is going after a toy = fight or injury. Expecting Bella to go off and play by herself while you focus on another dog is unnatural and unrealistic.

I agree and the behaviorist said the same thing. We only play fetch with Buffy if Sassy is on a walk or something with one of us. Because they've had aggression issues with each other, it's not even wise for us to play with one or the other like that when the other dog can see or hear it.