Need help with dog behavior

[luvwinnie]

Just had to take our 11 yr old cocker spaniel, Lady, to animal hosp. after a fight with Winnie, our 5 yr old bulldog. We adopted Lady from my in-law's because they could no longer care for her. She came here in May and things were going WAY better than I expected. Winnie is a total Alpha dog...Lady is passive. For some reason we cannot figure out, things will be fine...they even lay next to each other and then WHAM Winnie gets into this dominance thing. She will go right into Lady's face, kind of cheek-to-cheek and stare her down and won't let Lady move...within 2 seconds they are snarling and jumping on each other but never actually biting, just kind of mouthing. it's hard to describe. Today Winnie's tooth must have scraped Lady's upper palate and she was bleeding so I took her the emerg. hosp.
Any advice on WHY WInnie is doing this and how to stop this behavior?
Both dogs are spayed, by the way.
Thanks for any advice!

 

[jrmasm]

I even took them to a behaviorist. We given two very critical hints to help the situation.

1) The alpha must be acknowledged as alpha freqently. It reassures the alpha and reinforces it for the other dog. For example you must always greet the alpha first, feed first, go out first. The alpha gets the best bed, the best bone, the best toys etc. You have to treat the other dog as a second class citizen. (our non-alpha gets plenty of attention when the alpha is another room or not paying attention).

2) We also given a very detailed series of excercises to do with both dogs. Lots of sits, downs etc for varied amounts of time and with various levels of distraction (walk around them, walk to the door, go to another room). The point of this is to get them to pay attention to you so that in a critical moment you can get their attention off each other and on you to diffuse the situation. Getting them to focus on you establishes you as the true alpha.

Another thing that has worked for us is to really pay attention and try to determine what sets them off and then avoid these situations. For example if we have food in the family room, the alpha would always attack and drive away the other dog. Our solution is that both dogs must go lay down in another part of the house until the food is gone.

Good luck!

 

[luvwinnie]

This is what perplexes us. Winnie gets everything first and gets way more attention...it's the only way to try to avoid these problems. But these things come out ofthe blue, or so it seems to US. For instance, WInnie was on the couch (Lady is not allowed there) and Lady just walked through the living room to go upstairs. WInnie jumped off couch to block lady from going upstairs...a brawl ensued.

 

[luvwinnie]

They found a tumor also...biopsy being done. Picked her up at 8 last nightand she was very groggy, but otherwise ok. This morning we woke at 5:30, she wasn't in our room, went to check on her and the first thing I see in the dining room is a massive dried pool of blood. I was sure she was dead. Found her in kitchen, still lethargic...we thought it was vomited up but we checked the other end and that's where it came from. Took her back to hosp. They are concerned she is still actively bleeding SOMEWHERE, her blood count was low. So, she's there still.

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm so sorry to hear of the possible tumor. You know, our cats were doing this same type of squabbling. When I asked the vet about it, they didn't have an answere. Well, turns out one of the cats was ill. So, the other cat sensing this, was always picking on the ill cat. Vet said that this is very common behavior in animals. Maybe that is what is happening with the dogs. In any case, I hope things work out for Lady. Keep us posted.

 

[BethA]

I hope things turn out okay for Lady. I know how difficult it can being having a pet that is ill. Hopefully the vet will find the problem and have good news for you. I'll keep you and Lady in my prayers. we had our dog Lady for 19 years before we had to put her to slleo last year. Good Luck. Beth