German Shepherd Obsessed with BC

[Bula's Lady]

Recently we took in a 7yr old male GSD from a deceased family member. He has been with us since April. He has his own issues we are working on - old people dogs are so funny - they think they are in charge! My issue is that he is obsessed with Bula, my 3yr old female BC. Its strange, its not like he wants to play with her. Sometimes I think its a submission thing. He puts her on her back with belly up and drools all over her. The worse is outside. They have a fenced in area and he chases her so that she hides or digs out - another issue. Usually he has a jolly ball in his mouth and just stands over her chewing on the jolly ball but is physically on top of her. I throw him off of her, tell him to stay back, leave it...nothing seems to work except to physically hold him back.

 

its cause my bc to take off to the neighbors - more than normal - and makes her hide in the house when he is in.

 

Any ideas on how to curb this or does anyone have similiar stories of one dog just being obsessed with another?

[Jumpin Boots]

As you said that this dog thinks he is in charge w/ people, clearly he thinks this w/dogs too and sounds like a bit of a bully in the way he is handling it. I'm sure I don't have the answer,but this is how I would handle the situation if this happened at my home.

 

Outside: First I would let each of the dogs have some loose leash time outside alone, or w/ just me to play with them, but I would not leave the two of them unattended together at all at this point. When I had them together I would have a leash on the gsd and let him drag it around. As soon as he started to fixate on the border collie, I would correct, if this meant that at first I was holding onto the lash the entire tme, so be it. I would also work on the gsd w/ basic obedience skills while the border collie was loose playing, I would start on leash and build to being off leash. The last house I lived at my next door landlord who is very involved in rescue had a pit-mix who came in w/ similar behavior. Peaches drug a leash around 8 months for the convience of quick corrections before she could be trusted.

 

Inside: Is the dog crate trained, if not I would crate train it, that way if it begins getting worked up you can put it in a quiet placeto settle. Until then I would find a time out area that you could tie the gsd to. So I would have him draggng a leash, when he started bullying I would give a correction, take him to his time out area, and tie him back for 5 or so minutes, then repeat. Also, does your border collie have a safe place where it can get away, like a crate or bedroom? I would also work on basic obedience in the house. If you don't have space for a gsd size crate in the house you could get a floor mat and teach him a 'place' command. So when he started acting up you could tell him 'place' or whatever and he would go to that mat and lay down until told otherwise. This will take time to teach,but he needs to know that you are in charge and where his plae is in your home.

 

Hope this makes sense,best of luck, jewls