Dog attacking our other dog when excited

Cherry Blossom Girl

Hi everyone,

So, we have a Jack Russell who is just over a year old and a Border Collie who is about 10 years. For the past couple of weeks, whenever the Jack Russell gets over excited he attacks our other dog.

The most notable time this happens is when my father returns from work in the evening. The minute they hear his car on the driveway the JR gets incredibly excited and then approaches our other dog and instigates an attack. Occasionally it occurs when other family members arrive, but it happens with my father every single evening. Our collie usually fights back. Typically these fights only last a few seconds, but sometimes they go on for a bit longer. The only other time he gets as excited is when he knows he is about to go for a walk, and sometimes he will instigate an attack as well, but only if it is my father who is walking them. It doesn't happen with anyone else.

The JR is never aggressive towards people or other dogs (though he is still a bit mouthy when playing but I guess this is to do with his age. It is not as bad as when he was a younger puppy.) so I am assuming that this has something to do with asserting dominance? I have read about jacks getting particularly attached to a certain member of a family and sort of claiming ownership of them? They dogs get on fine the rest of the time and sleep together at night with no problems.

Does anyone have any tips on how to stop this happening? It's distressing both to see/hear and for our other dog to have to go through. Our other dog is quite a timid little thing and I am afraid that she will get badly hurt some day. My father works irregular hours so we cant really separate them everyday when we know he is due to arrive home.

Any advice or suggestions appreciated!

borderlinemeath

Are you sure it's an attack? Would it be vigorous playfighting? If it was a full on attack the JRT would be doing damage to the collie. It sounds like playfighting with the JRT probably being very vocal but exhibiting bite inhibition? ie mouthing but not breaking the skin. It can sound awful, and look scary if you aren't sure.

I know when I tell my pair that they're going for their walk, my male gets overexcited and launches himself at the female, biting at her neck and making what sounds like growling and grumbling noises. It's sort of his way of getting across to her that he heard the 'magic words' and he's very, very excited, and happy. She's older and doesn't reciprocate, she's concentrating on what she heard and want's to go NOW. However she will playfight with him when she wants to, just never when she's getting ready to go for her walk. I've seen other pairs of dogs who live together doing similar when they're excited too.

Your JRT isn't displaying 'dominance'. All those theories purported by TV quacks have been disproven and the thinking behind them is out of date by a couple of decades. He sounds like he's excited and is trying to work up his buddy. There's a decent age gap between them, the JRT is still a pup and the collie is in old age, it's not surprising that she doesn't want to play and is shying away, also if she wasn't overly social with other dogs prior to your JRT joining the household she may just not have the canine social skills to adapt to having a juvenile in the house.

I know you can't predict when your Dad will be home but as soon as you hear him coming and see the JRT getting worked up, have some treats ready, (if he's food orientated) or maybe something like a squeaky toy that the dog loves and when you see him starting to get excited distract him with the treat/toy and hopefully he will forget his initial excitement and go for the distraction. If he does, praise, praise, praise and keep him away from the older dog. Let him greet your Dad, but if he gets overexcited and goes for the collie again then try distraction again.

It's not something that you can do overnight, it will take practice and perseverance. Find what motivates your JRT and distract, distract, distract. When he comes for the distraction, praise, praise praise. When you start training it might be an idea to leave a lead trailing on him and the first few times when you're calling him to distract him you might have to hold or stand on the lead to get his attention away from the collie and see what you have to offer instead. Eventually when you call, he'll be looking for his treat/toy and you won't need the lead anymore.

muddypaws

I have a dog that used to attack the others when he got excited, now he runs and grabs a toy, it was just that he didn't know what to do with the excitement, and the feeling of a toy in his mouth really helps him.

Cherry Blossom Girl

Thanks for that, I'll try it out and see how it goes.

With regards the fights, I have seen dogs (including these two) play fighting before and know what it looks like. These interactions seem to have a bit more aggression behind them than just play fighting.

When this started a few weeks ago it did seem like the JRT was just trying to excite our other dog but lately it seems to have gotten worse/more aggressive. The JRT did actually wind our collie this evening and she was coughing a bit after which seems more than just play fighting to me. I know she is getting old but she is still quite fit and agile.

With regards dominance, I didn't realise that was outdated. Since dogs are traditionally pack animals I thought it might have something to do with that.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

flutered

it is as common as the flowers of may.

fatmammycat

It sounds like redirected frustration, Cherry Blossom. So excited so excited so excited BOOM! and the poor collie is taking the brunt ( this is also sort of how owners get bitten when they try to stop fights, redirected aggression). The squeaky toy idea is a good one if your dog is toy driven. Offer something to take the edge off until the situation is calmed down- it's actually good that your dad has a regular time he arrives, because you can prepare in advance to catch this behaviour before it escalates and teach your dog the correct way to channel his excitement.
Best of luck.

kylith

Either try to redirect the JRTs energy into attacking toys when excited, or separate them when it starts. It's not fair on the collie to get the brunt of this, and if he decides he doesn't want to put up with it any more he could do serious damage to the little dog.