Older dog and younger dog - issues

beeftotheheels

The story is as follows. The older dog is a 13 year old male collie, the younger dog is a 1 year old female mixed terrier. Both are neutered. They used to get on okay. He has very sensitive ears and so spent most of the winter outside the kitchen in the hall (the sound of the central heating drives him mad).

Now that the central heating is no longer on he has returned to the kitchen. The small dog started growling when he came in, particularly if she had a bone/ pigs ear in the kitchen.

While we tried to ignore it and allow him to put manners on her, she would tend to jump up on your knee (shoulder) and continue complaining. We would then try to put her out.

However now the problem has escalated. The senior dog is now putting manners on the junior dog all the time (even when she hasn't started anything), including when they are outside (which was never an issue before). Today he refuses to let her walk around, and at one stage chased her up the road (but not playfully).

He has never hurt her - unlike the cats who scratched her a lot as a puppy and thus have her respect - he just stands over her doing a deep growl or occasionally catches her snout in his jaws while she cowers.

Has anyone any suggestions as to how we resolve this doggy political issue?

slashygoodness

So, I am no where near a trained professional and if you can afford it I would suggest bringing them to some one like DTI.
But have you tried putting the one causing touble into time out when they act out?

beeftotheheels

slashygoodness wrote: »

So, I am no where near a trained professional and if you can afford it I would suggest bringing them to some one like DTI.
But have you tried putting the one causing touble into time out when they act out?

Thanks for the suggestions. Alas he is elderly so we can't really bring him anywhere. I have tried putting the little one out when she starts complaining but thus far it doesn't seem to be stopping her.

We feed him first to try and establish her place in the pecking order but she seems to be immune to the message.

I can't help thinking that part of the problem is size, she's small so can sit up on knees and get rubbed, whereas he is a retired working dog and so tends to sit on the floor so he doesn't get the same level of attention that she does.

EGAR

For starters stop letting the smaller dog sit on your knee/furniture etc.

slashygoodness

Oh and if she enjoys going out she may see this as a reward for unwanted behaviour..is there a quiet room where you could place her for a few minutes - perhaps a bathroom? Him too if he is acting out...

barbiegirl

Try time outs. When they misbehave, give a clear command like that's it, clip on a short lead, put them one side of the door feeding lead back through, shut the door catching the lead, and wait 30 seconds. Honestly it works really well. Obviously give the dog just enough lead to be comfortable but not enough to wander.
For us it's stopped the little guy being territorial, most of the time still working on it, barking at the window, running loopy mad, and general bad behaviour :-)
He also of course gets lots and lots of treats for good behaviour :-)

beeftotheheels

barbiegirl wrote: »

Try time outs. When they misbehave, give a clear command like that's it, clip on a short lead, put them one side of the door feeding lead back through, shut the door catching the lead, and wait 30 seconds. Honestly it works really well. Obviously give the dog just enough lead to be comfortable but not enough to wander.
For us it's stopped the little guy being territorial, most of the time still working on it, barking at the window, running loopy mad, and general bad behaviour :-)
He also of course gets lots and lots of treats for good behaviour :-)

Thank you - sounds more immediate than popping her in a room for a time out as she will tend to play with anything she can get hold of at this stage, twigs, loo roll etc

She does get treats for being good, and she generally is good apart from this recent issue with the Senior dog.

I know I need to resolve as the old dog deserves to enjoy his old age, and she could do without living days in fear of being snarled at.

Thanks all for the suggestions all (and for bringing my attention to the fact that time outs which allow her to play elsewhere are not much of a punishment).