Hi we have a 3.5 yo sterilized female kelpie cross whom we stupidly acquired from a pet shop at 6 weeks old already having a 14 yo female boarder collie t home who was not interested at the new arrival and growled when approached. The puppy was a bundle of energy from the start, undertook puppy preschool but around 10 weeks but spent much of the time under our chair in fear of the other dogs and started showing aggressive tendencies by growling at my husband & I at times, when approached or instructed to do something, and was fearful of certain objects in the house and of having a harness or halty put on. We consulted a dig trainer using treat based training we managed rather than overcame the problems. At 4.5 months we started obedience classes where she was very good when focused on the tasks but very easily distracted by other dogs and anxious and barking when we weren't working. At 12 months of age we started agility but had to stop as the excitement was too much as she would jump at and nip the more we ran with her and would snarl at other dogs when we were waiting out turn. We had also been taking her to the local park where she was initially OK with some dog but we ended up moving away and throwing a ball which she is very focused on and we just avoid other dogs. She barks incessantly in the car when setting out on journeys. She is too excited pulling on the lead to walk to the park so we drive. Other times she pulls initially on the lead then settles down. When she was about 13 mo are older dog passed away and in some ways, she settled a little in terms of excitement around people. But not so with other dogs where her aggressive behaviour has gotten worse in the past 2 years. No full on fights just snarling lunging and snapping until we call her away or remove her.
3 weeks ago we adopted a 5 month old sterilized male boarder collie kelpie cross puppy. We introduced them on lead at a neutral park and the 3.5 yo dog was stressed and very aggressive towards the puppy. By the end of a walk they were OK a few meters apart on lead but any closer the 3.5 yo was aggressive. The puppy was not put off he just wants to play. Over the past few weeks things are slowly improving. They can walk side by side on lead but are kept separately at home except when we are there to make sure the puppy doesn't go too close to the 3.5 yo dog. Her level of aggression towards him is reducing even when he gets close but we intervene before it escalates past the warning growl. The 3.5 yo dog goes to work with my husband. We have implemented the alpha training philosophy in the household (husband & I, no kids) and started random walking the 3.5 yo dog in the past 2 days, we also now get out of the car and wait for her to stopped barking before we drive off, or get her out of the car and wait for her to calm down before trying again. Likewise with putting on the harness. Already there are some signs of improvement. We continue to take both dogs on a daily parallel walk, take the puppy to the local park for his exercise and socialization needs and take the 3.5 yo dog separately to another park to throw the ball and avoid other dogs. The puppy is starting obedience classes today and we need to refresh training with the 3.5 yo but are reluctant to take her to a group class until we have the aggressive behaviour under control. We realize we should have addressed the 3.5 yo problems before getting another dog however we are not sure what to deal with first? Prior to getting the puppy we had started to go on a weekly dog group social walk with a dog trainer and have continued to do this taking the puppy along too. Or 3.5 dog is OK with a small group of dogs (6-10) when they are on lead despite the fact that these dogs also have social problems. [B]We would like to continue to the daily parallel walking with the 2 dogs but [B]should we wait until we have followed the alpha training for a few weeks so that the 3.5 yo dog clearly knows she is not the pack leader before we continue trying to get her to accept the puppy/B] off lead. And/or should we wait until the random walking training kicks on before doing any other on lead walking such as the daily parallel walking with the 2 dogs? I should note that in the past 3 weeks of daily lead walking which we previously avoided, the 3.5 yo has improved on lead and settles after the first 5-10 minutes of excitement. The puppy walks well on the lead by himself but when together tries to keep up with her. When this occurs we both stopped and wait then set off again.
As for dealing with 3.5 yo towards other dogs off lead, should we wait until we have managed to have our 2 dogs getting on before trying to address her problems at the park?
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