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Dominant Dogs (Part 2)Here's an email I recently received - “Thank you so much for your newsletters, it helped me understand my dogs just a little better. I very concerned an I hope you can help me. I have 3 dogs. A miniature Dutchhound – female – Misty 8 years Jack Russel – male – Ollie – 9 years Boerboel – male - Boesman – 2˝ years Ollie whom is an average sized dog is manupilating Boesman whom is a very big dog. He constantly bites him and chase him away from the toys, the dog house etc. I know that male dogs protects their space but the poor dog’s face looks terrible, because Ollie bits him on the nose and on his face. I thought that with time Boesman will realize he’s the bigger dog and start protecting himself but everytime Ollie show’s his dominance Boesman lies on the ground and bark/yelp and then he stands up and mess around with Misty sometimes even hurt her. Is there something I can do to change this. I have a big yard and thought about it to separate them. But Boesman loves Ollie so much, they could play for hours on end but then I walk into the yard and pat all of them equally then the fighting starts or when it’s time for bed. I have two doghouses big ones both of them are big enough for all three of them to sleep in. We got another house for Boesman because Ollie kept him out of the house and he slept in the garden (much to my dismay). But now he still wants to sleep with the other two. Ollie keeps him out of the dog house and then he just stand there and bark and bark and bark. When this happens I go outside and show Boesman his house and “tuck” him in, but then Ollie also goes into Boesman’s house and the growling and barking starts all over again. I’m quite fed up and really don’t know what to do anymore. Please help Vanessa”
This was my reply - “Hi Vanessa, It can be distressing when you see this sort of thing happening amongst your dogs and your natural reaction is to want to play the part of a big mother bear and stand up for the one that's being picked on. But I'm afraid that just won't work. Whether you like it or not there's a natural 'pack hierachy' amongst your dogs and you have to respect that. Over the years I've often kept more than one dog together and I've had dealings with lots of other people who have also kept more than one dog. And what I've found is that in most cases all the dogs happily rub along together and apart from the odd grumble they seem pretty much equal partners. Sometimes you'll find that one particular dog is clearly dominant in certain situations but that it doesn't involve aggression or attack and in the overall scheme of things it's nothing to worry about. But there have been a number of occasions over the years when I've come across the sort of problem you've described. And (in my experience) more often than not the aggressor has been a much smaller dog than the victim. Sheer size alone is not necessarily what counts in these situations - it's all about attitude. And small terriers have attitude in spades! So although this is a difficult situation for you it's by no means unheard of. What Ollie is doing is stamping his authority over Boesman. What I can't tell from your email however is what the root cause is. Usually in domestic dogs it comes down to jealousy. My guess is that *you* are probably what he's jealous about - he sees it as his right to receive all the fuss and love from you and not Boesman's. However, it's just possible that Misty is the problem in that Ollie doesn't want Boesman around her. I have to say that I think it's unlikely that she is the problem but if she is then you need to go about tackling things in a slightly different way. What I'm going to describe is how to handle things on the assumption that Misty is NOT the problem. If things don't start to improve once you implement my suggestions then I want you to try and remove Misty from the eqation for a day or two and see if that changes Ollie's bahaviour towards Boesman in any way. But first off let's assume Misty isn't the problem. Ollie sees himself as pack leader. And the fact that Boesman submits to him shows you that Boesman also sees Oliie as pack leader. So you must accept that decision they've come to amongst themselves and don't try and change it. Forget about the inequality of it and how unfair it is on Boesman etc and just accept that's the way it is. What you now have to do is let Ollie see that you understand the fact that he is superior to Boesman. And the way you do this is always to address Ollie first. So when you feed them you give Ollie his food first, then Misty and last of all Boesman. When you go to make a fuss of them you make a huge fuss of Ollie before you pay any attention whatsoever to the others. And at that point pay only scant regard to Boesman. It will be incredibly diffficult for you to ignore him when deep inside you just want to scoop him up in your arms and protect him from Ollie. But at first you have to make Ollie see that in your eyes he's superior over Boesman. When you have treats for them always give Ollie his first and Boesman his last. When you're out for a walk always let Ollie off the lead first and Boesman last of all. Always, always, always treat Ollie as the top dog by seeing to him first of all. And always make much more of a fuss of him than you do of Boesman. And whenever you do fuss over Boesman try and do it as quietly and unobtrusivelyy as possible without Ollie knowing what you're doing. Never make a big fuss of Boesman right in front of Ollie or you'll be asking for trouble. If you've been out and have just got back and the dogs rush up to greet you it must always be Ollie that you go straight to to greet and fuss over. Only then do you turn to Misty then finally (and only very briefly) Boesman. He has to be the one that's thrown the metaphorical crumbs at the end of the meal. This will seem desperately cruel but if by changing the way you react to them as individuals that in turn means Ollie stops bullying Boesman you will in fact have improved Boesman's lot no end. And with luck as time goes on you will be able gradually to bring Boesman more and more into the fold by showing him more affection. But don't be in any hurry to get to that point. Your first objective has to be getting Ollie to see that you acknowledge his superiority over Boesman. Let me know how you get on.... Regards, Recommended reading - "Dog Training Blueprint To Success".
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