4 dogs in the house

Hi ninnis and thanks for your post,
In a multiple dog household the dominance order can easily be confused when new dogs are introduced to the pack. Just as it is important for your dog to know where it stands in the pack order in relation to humans it is also important that each dog in a multi-dog household knows where it stands in the pack in relation to others. You can use the basic principles of alpha dog training to sort this out too.

In a wild dog pack the dominant pack member controls :

-access to food

-access to favoured or important areas

-any interactions with lower pack members

-access to favoured items such as toys

You want the order of your pack to be; you, other people such as your baby, (other pets such as cats), and then your dogs in order of calmness, age and/or size. The exact order of the dogs shouldn’t matter too much as long as you pick one and stick to it. In general however calmer, older dogs are better as dominant. Aggressive dogs should be placed lowest in the pack.

In order to show each dog its position in the pack you and your whole family can take advantage of the keys points of dominance in the following ways.

1) All dogs must eat after all people at every meal and should never get treats from the table. When it is time to feed the dogs ask them all to sit and give the dominant dog its bowl first and then a little while after give the next most dominant dog it’s bowl and so on.

2) They should never walk through doors before you. A good way to practice this is to walk around the house and make them sit at each doorway and wait. Similarly the most dominant dog should always be taken in or out of the car or house first and then the next most dominant etc.

3) If you intend to allow access to areas such as beds or couches first access should go to the most dominant dog. If you have an aggressive dog (which will therefore be lowest in the pack) do not allow it access to such places.

4) When you arrive home completely ignore the dogs for 15 minutes. Don't look at them, talk to them or pat them. After this go to them one at a time in order of dominance and give them some quiet attention only as long as they are relaxed and calm.

5) Give first access to prized items such as toys to the more dominant dog and then later to the others in dominance order.

This may seem unfair or like favouritism but remember the dog pack is not the same as the human family and non-pack leaders are familiar with such controlled access by their dominant pack mates.

Other things that may help reduce inter-dog problems

If your dogs are not de-sexed you should consider de-sexing them. De-sexed dogs have reduced sex hormones which reduces their interest in dominant and aggressive behaviors. On top of this de-sexing your pet greatly reduces their chance of getting a number of common cancers. If you are considering de-sexing discuss the pros and cons with your local vet.

You can use a DAP dispenser in your house to help reduce the stress of all dogs. DAP is a dog appeasing pheromone which mimics the one that mother dogs give off to calm puppies. By calming the dogs DAP will help reduce the incidence of aggressive behaviors.

IN regards to your husband I would explain the technique above that you are going to use and ask him to help implement it with you. If he is doubtful ask him if he will agree to follow the training for four weeks and if there is no difference he can try something else.

Best of luck and let me know how you get on,