Kingdom of Pets

Posted by swampyann
Feb 1, 2012

It has been a year now since I have visited your forum and now I need someone advise. Everyone has always been helpful. Maybe you remember me. I have a brother and sister who are in the terrible two's now. Sarah is the Alpha dog ( iI should say I'm the Apha) Most of the time she will not let Jagger come to me for effection. If he tries it ends up in a dog fight. So far no blood.

What should I do? Will she grow out of this? Do I scold her? Do I ignore ?
Open for any suggestions.

Posted by KOPCaroline
Feb 2, 2012

Hi swampyann,

As you said - YOU are the alpha! So while Sarah may be dominant over Jagger, she still has to listen to you.

Try putting Sarah in a down stay and calling Jagger over to you for attention and affection. If Sarah growls, tell her no. You may end up having to put her in another room for a time out the first few goes if she reacts badly.

Do this a few times a day, so she grows more accustomed to you spending time with Jagger. When you come home, give Sarah attention first, but then be sure to give Jagger some as well.

When Jagger approaches you on his own, tell Sarah to sit or lay down and see how things go- again, you may have to tell her no, and put her in time out if she goes for him.

Ultimately you should be able to give both your dogs attention without a fight starting, so Sarah needs to learn to listen to you when Jagger wants a pat. I hope that makes sense.

Please keep us updated, I hope you can start to see a bit of control from your girl!

Posted by swampyann
Feb 2, 2012

Thank you KOPcaroline

Great suggestion. I will keep you posted.

Posted by MaxHollyNoah
Feb 3, 2012

Hi swampyann,

Caroline's suggestions are great and I totally agree with them.

How are they doing at their meal times now? Are you still feeding them separately?

While Sarah sounds like a more dominant dog, I still don't like the idea of her getting her way all the time With you being the respectul leader, I think she should respect you treating her and Jagger equally.

One way to show her that she is not any special at all is to make her take turns on something special, a huge rawhide bone for example. I assume you can make her let go of that when you tell her to "Drop it". If not, don't try this yet.

I intentionally get only one bone at a time to my 3 dogs. There is a pecking order in my pack; Holly, Noah, and Daisy, by their seniority.

I give a bone (or rawhide, anything special) to Holly first. They other two will just wait for their turns. After 5 mins, I get it back from Holly and give it to Noah, then to Daisy after 5 more mins later. They know taking turns works so no fuss, no jealousy, no fight. I can leave them and go do chores and come back after 5 mins.

Of course, you will have to watch them until they really learns that each of them gets her/his turn so no worries. This will teach each of them to respect each other. Try to use a low value item such as a toy rather than higher value item like rawhide if you don't think they are ready.

Implement this kind of practice in their daily routine. If Sarah doesn't obey, reprimand her or give her a timeout. In my opinion, if you are the leader, there is no need for her to act like a dominant dog against her brother I feel sorry for Jagger...

Posted by swampyann
Feb 6, 2012

Hi MaxHollyNoah,

How thoughtful for you to remember me as it has been awhile since I have visited you guys.

That is a great idea on trying the idea of taking turns with a bone. In the past I have given each a bone and Sarah leaves Jagger alone while he is chewing on his. I will try your method. Wish me luck.

They are eating together (bowls 3 feet apart) with supervision. If I wasn't there, Sarah would growl and keep Jagger away.

I too feel sorry for Jagger. I think he was the runt in the litter and all the other puppies picked on him. That's why I try to give him more loving when Sarah isn't looking.

I think I need to go back to 101 training with Sarah. I had a total knee replacement 6 months ago w/ complications so they never got any reinvocement training during that time.

Now that I am better out come the leases.

Jealousy Out Of Control HELP