BEHAVIOR: 3 dogs getting along???
shelby,corky,&fergus'mom To: Marianne Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2004 4:48 am Subject: 3 sheepdogs hi marianne, your post of running up stairs, baby gates, and letting one dog in one door and another in another is the story of my life! how funny is it that i too am a special ed teacher (autism). i have 3 oes' all rescue shelby 6 & corky 5 came to us in june after their owner died. exceptionally sweet dogs! they had 2 litters together in their previous home. compulsively i had to have a 3rd rescue sheepie. so i found one from a shelter in my own state NJ last august. fergus is approx 2. they were all okay together (small spats occasionally). in december my husband was on vacation for 5 weeks. all hell broke loose. they know that larry is not alpha. he pets on demand, he begs them to listen. so they do what EVER they want when larry is home. corky & fergus had 4 bad fights during my husbands vacation (i was not in the room to see the start of the fights). corky was hurt pretty badly. thought fergus had pierced a tendon. thankfully he had not, but just missed. i am very interested in you progresses. i have a trainer too, not as good as yours. whose going to train my husband? thanks, sue _________________ sue, shelby, corky, & fergus |
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 Who's going to train my husband?
I love the pic of your 3 oes.... makes me want more...lol... my husband KNOWS I am yearning for more, and blames this website. Not that he dislikes it, and he said if I really want to get another one right away I can, but I think he is just wondering how many earlobes kisses he can handle before a puppy chews it right off...
That must have been frightening when they fought.... my hubby is not alpha around here either, the puppy has him well trained... and me in some cases, but she and I have bonded so strongly that I barely have to whisper the word no if she is misbehaving and she is immediately contrite and wants to please. But she doesn't really listen to him the same way. She loves him, but I think she views him as someone to love and play with, but not listen to. Same with the kids, they are littermates, and chewing on their pantlegs is fair game if I'm not in the room to say no. She tries to 'herd' them into the same room, and then comes and gets me as if to say' look mom, I put them away!' |
| My OES is Zoe. She is 5 yrs old now. She is always with me (except of course when I`m at work) She has to be in the bathroom, or waiting outside the door for me, she goes to bed when I go to bed, when I`m outside gardening, she has to be there, she has to be everywhere I am. She loves the rest of the family, too. But she REALLY loves me!! She`s very very protective of all of us. Even when the kids just wrestle, she stops the wrestling. When my hubby kisses or hugs me, Zoe puts a stop to that, too. She can be very jealous. She really is a very loyal, loving member of our family. We had 2 other dogs, (not OES`--just mutts--but loved `em just the same) both have passed within the last 7 months,(old age) and Zoe is lost without them. She has been moping around, eats, but not as much as she used to. She plays still, of course, she`s an OES, but there`s something different about her. We have been giving her x-tra attention because we know she`s sad, and lonely, but she`s still mopey. I don`t want to lose her to a broken heart. She was raised with the other 2 dogs, they were all "sisters". Does anybody think that`s possible? Can she die from a broken heart? Or is it true that dogs in general have a short memory? How can I make the loss easier for her? (Without getting another dog, we`re not ready for that.) |
| Hi,
I posted a reply in your private messages, but the members may be interested too. The best site I found is http://www.doggiedoor.com. This site is written by a trainer and one of the subjects she covers is three dogs. Actually I have two sheepies and 1 Blue Heeler/Lab..has both traits of his mix. All his life Blue has lived with Sheepies however, first Shaggy whom passed away last month at 15 and now Merlin and Panda. It was where I got the idea of spending time individually with all three as this is where I read to try to spend time with all of them and wear them out. I quess the best suggestion I have is to make sure that the Alpha is given the respect (Alpha amongst the dogs) as the humans should be Alpha amongst them or you will always have problems. In the wild in wolf packs there is always an Alpha male and female and the rest of the pack follows their lead and their rules. Occasionally a fight will break out if a member of the pack tries to take over the Alpha role and challenges the present one. In a household , the Alpha humans must take on the leadership role or else this leads to confusion and chaos, disruptive behavior , that sort of thing. The dogs will have an Alpha amongst themselves but that one still need to always listen to the human members. If the humans do not recognize and pay the respect to the Alpha dog the others will not respect him and again their will be challenges and fights. The Alpha dog always eats first, gets the choice spot in the house, that sort of thing. In human eyes we all want to treat our dogs the same but we have to think in terms how our four legged friends view the world and they are familiar with this heirarchy. Hope that helps and check out the site everyone it's amazing! Marianne |
| the sitem (doggie door) is WONDERFUL!!!! i haven't gotten through it all. there is so much to learn.
i must admit that i was so frightened by the last fight (lots of blood & corky pretty badly hurt). my husband & i together had a very hard time stopping the fight. we put a chair over fergus & held him down this worked. i have kept them apart since . i had leashes on them in the house. when the fight broke out i grabbed for fergus' leash and it wasn't there. frantic i asked my husband why isn't he wearing his leash. he replied that he didn't think it was needed in the house! my husband is a detrement to this situation. even with our last sheepie owen, he ruled my husband. owen would not even allow him to get in bed w/ me, no hugging, no sitting together etc. my husband will never be alpha and this makes it very hard. the dogs do listen to me (owen did too). i am not sure which of my 3 is alpha. my trainer says it is my female shelby 6. she is a very mellow laid back dog. keeps to herself most of the time. growls a corky if he passes her bed (especially if she has a toy or a biscuit). corky is my velcro,he is 5, very sweet, loves everyone but fergus. fergus is the youngest if the gang aprox 2. he is very smart, goofy, and very lively! fergus loves to play w/ toys and corky will not let him. advice welcome, sue |
| Hi,
Still thinking of you and what a difficult job you have that lies ahead. Furgus at two in my opinion is in that "I want to try to be dominant stage". It's been my experience that this age is the toughest for dogs, as even the friendliest dogs at the offleash dog park I visit have changed when they approached this age. Suddenly they are snarling, humping and trying to assert dominance over dogs they have known for a long time. There is never any problem if the other dogs say..Okay you can be the boss. However, if they say no way I want to be the boss, then you have problems and the fights will continue. Corky, it seems in my opinion and please base it on I haven't seen them only relying on info from your post also wants to be the boss. One has to give up or there will never be peace. You, as the Alpha of the household can actually choose one to be the boss as my trainer suggested. The Alpha always get fed first, the choice spot in the house, more attention from you..sigh I know it's hard but the alternative is that the fights will escalate. Corky is older and was there first, just as in my case Blue was first and would naturally have assumed this position in the wild. Both dogs,as in most households also view older females as having the leadership postion and besides it's against a dogs code of law for a male to attack a female (although some dogs do break this "code of law"). Blue, at age 14 will eventually not be able to keep up his role as Alpha as it's usually the stronger , younger males that take over, but he is still very strong and active at his age. (He's the Heeler/Lab.) For a long time he led a more sedate life with Shaggy and was content to spend his days sleeping and going on short walks. Suddenly everything changed with Merlin getting older, he now wanted to go on walks with Merlin and was not content to go on his short walks like he previously did. His activity level has jumped just as he was a few years ago. (The vet always claimed if she didn't know his age she would quess he was two years old by his condition of teeth, coat and activity level.) Overtime , Blue will have to relenquish his leadership and Merlin or Panda will challenge him for it. Shaggy, was always the Alpha over Blue and it wasn't until the last few weeks or her life that he even attempted to go near her food bowl. Merlin was a tiny pup still so Blue didn't view him as a threat at all and Merlin naturally saw Blue as the dominant one. The Alpha tries to take the bones and toys of the more subordinate ones just like in the wild the Alpha wolves get to eat first before the rest of the pack and have the attention and respect of the other members. Ironically, you've probably read a post on mydoggie dog dealing with existing dogs in the household fighting when a new member is brought in. This happened too with Blue and Merlin. Blue snarled and growled at Merlin to give up his doggie treat but instead of retreating..Merlin pinned him down. Which for one day, caused me to treat Merlin as Alpha..but brought more problems as Blue pined the whole day, didn't eat, looked so sad , I had to reconsider and started treating Blue like the Alpha again and this caused no more problems. ( I realized wanting to be fair I was treating all of them the same and Blue needed the respect from the other dogs as well as me.) Doggie treats are still handed out but Blue will always get his first and the other two learn to eat theirs fast or are given in another room. When I did pet talks to educate the public on doggie behavior I'd always suggest looking at tails at a dog park. If you have three dogs or a hundred at the same place the one that wants to be the boss of all the dogs will hold their tail in a straight up position and not move it at all. Approaching dogs will also have their tails up sometimes and will immediately lower it if they think "um okay fine with me if you want to be boss". Two dogs with tails up is trouble and is the predecent to an all out fight. Only thing with our breed we can't tell what they are thinking!! No tails! Hackles up , ears flattened as low as possible..lips quivering are signs too of impending aggression. Always be on quard for the body language which is really important in dog life. Seperate before it escalates and never let any dog hump another!!! People at the dog park think I'm a bit frantic on this but it's not a sign of sexual attraction , it's a sign of dominance over another dog which is why the sex of the dogs is not important. It's better to stop and let your dog know this is not acceptable before a fight escalates. Good Luck and keep us posted. Marianne Good Luck |
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