Dog on Dog Aggression

[NW_MONTANA_BC]

I brought Taffy home a little over 3 weeks ago. For all most 2 weeks I kept her crated most of the time mostly because she was a pretty sick girl with an upper respiratory infection. I did let her out of the crate for potty breaks. When I did so I would put the other dogs in the kennel outside so not to exposed them to Taffy’s sickness. Taffy would all ways growl at them as we passed by. For the last week or more there have been some pretty good fights between the dogs, I guess figuring out what the dog hierarchy is around here. I don’t let them fight it out anymore, but it seems they have figured it out who’s the boss. They seem to all play together fairly well as long as I control things from getting to ruff. Taffy seems to be a real bitch (hope that’s Ok to say) though most of the time she plays well with the dogs she seems to have more than one side to her. Kind of a Jeckle and Hyde. The dogs all want to be close to me and will lie at my feet. Everything seems to be fine and then all a sudden Taffy just nails the crap out of Codee my male BC. All ways Codee. Codee jumps back yipping and shaking his head like what the heck did you do that for! That hurt! Then everything is all right again. I am not sure if this will work itself out given more time to bond with each other. I am not sure what to do. Possibly when it happens put Taffy in her crate to give her time to think about things. Praise her and treat her when they are at feet together when her behavior is exceptable. Or maybe it is Codee that is instigating things. It happens so quick I have never noticed how it starts. Or maybe this is normal. Taffy seems to do another weird aggressive behavior. When she is excited and sometime when she is trying to get my attention she will snap her teeth together 2 or 3 times real fast and barks at me. She has all ways be gentle and loving toward me and never has attempted to hurt me.

[herdcentral]

Sounds like Taffy is still finding her feet. However I wouldnt tolerate her suddenly nailing Codee if he has done nothing to deserve it. My dogs sometimes jostle for position to be closest to me. If they are all behaving nicely I give them a treat and praise them. If there is any nonsense the offender goes for quiet time in their crate. My older lead girl gets more leeway when dealing with the youngsters but they mind her and everyone gets on well.

 

Any aggression which is very rare, is dealt with swiftly but I make a judgement on how to deal with it based on the situation.

 

When my BC get excited at the beach when I have a throw toy she barks, whirls and air snaps, but it is only done in excitement as she doesnt have an aggressive bone in her body.

[Flamincomet]

EDIT: Nevermind ignore me, apparently I'm reading too many threads at a time to keep my story straight.

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

Taffy seems to do another weird aggressive behavior. When she is excited and sometime when she is trying to get my attention she will snap her teeth together 2 or 3 times real fast and barks at me.

 

I don't think that is aggressive....could be wrong, but I've heard of a few "bossy boots" that do this. Daisy will do it when we are ignoring her. It looks like she's barking but nothing comes out. Just the snap sound.

 

I know it can take a long time for some dogs to sort each other out. It's different with every dog. My own dog is fairly intolerable of other dogs who get in her face. We have a foster that is very mellow and very canine savvy. The communicate pretty good with each other or read each other's signals pretty good. We've had a couple of scraps, but nothing I couldn't stop by simply clapping my hands loudly. Mostly it starts when Daisy gets cocky, Kya (the foster) is fairly non-confrontational, but does not have a problem telling her where to go. They've only been together 3 weeks. About one squabble per week but no one has ever gotten any teeth, they are mostly noise and snapping. I don't reprimand anyone for these spats. That's all they are, and I'd imagine as time goes on, Daisy will get more comfortable and the problem will go away.

 

Are there any specific things that you can notice as to why Taffy is picking on Codee? I'd try to watch their body language if I were you and you'll figure it out. There is never "No" reason...well usually. If Daisy and Kya are too close to each other and Daisy is feeling a bit crowded, I can tell, she stiffens just a bit, turns her face and looks at her out of the corner of her eye. This is my cue to distract or step in between the two. I don't recommend stepping in between unless you are sure they won't bite you, even accidently.

 

If Taffy is really guarding you, I wouldn't let her do it anymore. If all the dogs are around you, none of them get attention unless well behaved. Make them sit or offer another behaviour. Scootching in closer does not work and if they do that, take a step back. Teach them to each have their own beds to lay on, instead of at your feet. Pay attention to Codee and Taffy. Try to keep the other dog between them if you can, it might help diffuse.

[mbc1963]

My dog is dog reactive. He loves some dogs from the first meeting, even at 50 yards. (There's this greyhound we've seen from a distance, and my dog actually pulls and whines to get to him; he's in love and he's never actually gotten closer than a block away!) On the other hand, he's immediately tense with some dogs, too.

 

In my experience, I can teach Buddy to be calm and relaxed around dogs he doesn't like immediately. If the owner carries good treats, I can even get Buddy to be excited to see the owner and dog approaching us. He can learn to walk next to them happily, and enjoy being on an outing with another dog. But in some cases, he simply can't learn to "like" the other dog, and I have to be watchful all the time to be sure the other dog doesn't accidentally bump into him or create some other socially awkward situation that might tick my dog off and cause him to snark. It's really obvious from his body language whom he likes vs. whom he tolerates.

 

We walk every single morning with Abby, the lab. They actually greet each other with kisses at this point. But do they really like each other? I don't think so. They like the fact that when they're together, treats abound. They're kind of like respectful coworkers who've agreed to work nicely together, for the sake of family harmony. Ditto with my sister's little white dog. Buddy knows he's not allowed to be mean to her, but neither of them is happy to see the other one.

 

Mary