Need help with canine "sibling" relationships
|
|
| It can be hard keeping peace in the home where a pack resides. This is just my own opinion and I'm in NO way a professional trainer... I just live closely with 6 dogs. You might consider consulting one for professional help if you think you may need it.
One thing is that I would not leave your sheepie and the Shih Tzu twins alone together unattended until you're certain there will be no problems with their safety. You need to be observant and attempt to prevent altercations when possible. Learn to watch the body language of the dog to see if you can tell when your sheepie is going to get crabby... and also WHAT is causing her to react negatively. Watch for a direct eye contact, a frozen or stiff stance, possibly a lowered head and growling. If you can determine what's actually causing the confrontations you may be able to eliminate the source of the problem. Quote: Both times I beleive it may have been over a toy
So toys seem to be causing a problem... don't leave toys, chews, food or anything lying around unattended that might be coveted by the dogs. When one of the dogs drops a toy, you pick it up and put it away. If you're walking through the room, pick up any unattended toys. All the toys should belong to you... you should be the one to decide when they get them and when they're taken away. You need to be very careful though IF you've got a dog with guarding issues meaning they might bite if you "take" it from them. I always tell mine "out" before I take the item... one I always command "give to me" so she'll drop it in my hands (instead of me taking it from her) because she does indeed have these issues. You might try working with each dog on the "leave it" command using a toy. Yes, even the little Shih Tzu's need to be taught so you can stop them with a command. Training should always be one-on-one in a different room... to start anyway. I've always done this with food but it seems it might work here. You take the toy or a piece of kibble and drop it on the floor in front of you giving the "leave it" command. If the dog goes for the toy, you cover it with your foot (wear shoes), say "leave it!", then "look at me". When the dog looks at your face, you give the dog a fabulous treat like maybe cooked meat. You repeat this several times over the period of say 5 minutes then quit. Repeat the whole thing a few times each day until you reliably get each dog's attention. You might be wondering what this is all about. I'm just thinking that if your three are in say the living room together and you observe a confrontation is about to take place over a toy/chew/sock on the floor, you can give the "leave it!" command, you pick up the item causing the challenge, all of you head off to get a treat and the problem is avoided all together. My Schipperke-mix does the whining thing with a toy sometimes too... it's always with a latex squeaky toy. I wonder if it's the squeaky noise sometimes with her... she tries to carry it carefully so it won't squeak... maybe she's protecting it?? We call them her babies because of the way she interacts with them  . I don't have an answer for it but this is the same dog that I have to be careful with over food/toy guarding at times. She's never bit but THINK I know her limits and try not to cross the line with her. It's about respecting a dogs limits but still getting done what needs to be accomplished.
I'm sure the good people here will offer other ideas that may help too. Again, if you can't get it figured out, call in a professional trainer for advice. Good luck to you! |
| The OES appears to be displaying resource-guarding tendancies towards the ohter dogs. What this means is she feels the need to guard "her" toys (s) from the others.
Note that this ids different from guarding from you, or other humans. She may be fine if people com enear her stuff, but not like dogs near her stuff. Dog - dog guarding is very difficult to "train " out. You can certainly use the "leave it" technique to manage the situation, but this will not help if and when she is alone with other dogs and a toy she loves. For this it is much better to manage by not allowing the situation to occur. Be aware that if she is corrected by any form of dicipline, be it a "no" or a physical restraint or what not, she will not learn to reduce her guarding tendanceis, but quit the opposite. She will become more stressed as the scenerio of her, other dogs and her toy always gets her into trouble. She doesn't look at her as being the cause of it at all, but only that it happens. Then she will work on getting the others dogs away from her and her toys so she doesn't get into trouble. Her whining with the toy in her mouth is her displaying stress. She feels the need to guard, yet doesn't know what to do about it. You can help to reduce the stress by removing the cause. |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|