Brainstorm!

[Taqroy]

I need some ideas on how to set up a very specific training situation. Me and Mu are going to my parent's house for the weekend. My parents have two dogs, Max (2 year old incredibly obnoxious yet hilarious male Airedale) and Shadow (a 4ish year old somewhat laid back female Catahoula). Mu and Max get along okay - he likes to torment her but he's also kind of terrified of her so after she tells him off it usually works out. Mu and Shadow get along great, they basically just ignore each other.

What I'm worried about is all three of them together (something that has never happened but likely will this weekend). When Max, Shadow, and Murphy are out together Shadow will pick on Murphy - she runs up while Murph and Max are playing and pinches the back of his neck until he tells her off. I *think* it's an over stimulation thing, because I actually intercepted her trying to do it to Mu when something exciting happened in the house one day.

My dad's reaction is to verbally and/or physically back her off of the other dog, which works but doesn't work for long. I really want to set this situation up for success and I'd really like to find a fix that doesn't involve yelling at Shadow because she already has confidence issues and yelling isn't going to fix it anyway.

Foreseeable problems
- Mu doesn't play with Max - she only tells him off when he tries to play with her. I don't know if her snarking at him will be enough to get Shadow to try the neck pinching behavior so we can redirect it.
- Mu will resource guard me over food and hover in front of anyone else that has food.
- My parents love my dogs and their dogs but they're not very good at training. If it were up to me I would put a solid recall and leave it on Shadow and reinforce her for ignoring the behavior. They aren't going to do that and I prefer not to beat my head against that wall so I need a simple solution.

Any advice or suggestions are welcome! I have some ideas but I thought I'd open it up because I really want this to work (and we can implement it in future situations with Tipper and Murphy).

[sassafras]

Squash grabs Maisy by her scruff and tries to drag her around when he gets really over-the-top while playing, usually out in the yard. I did a "three strikes and you're out" technique suggested to me by a friend...

Verbal warning for each offense (I use "enough"), if he doesn't back off he is removed from play for a short time-out (just a minute or two, still in the yard, just leashed with me), on the third offense you are off to No Fun Land all by your lonesome self/the play session is over (inside and/or in your crate).

Obviously at first he had no idea what the verbal warning meant, but he caught on pretty quickly.

[JessLough]

Originally Posted by sassafras

Squash grabs Maisy by her scruff and tries to drag her around when he gets really over-the-top while playing, usually out in the yard. I did a "three strikes and you're out" technique suggested to me by a friend...

Verbal warning for each offense (I use "enough"), if he doesn't back off he is removed from play for a short time-out (just a minute or two, still in the yard, just leashed with me), on the third offense you are off to No Fun Land all by your lonesome self/the play session is over (inside and/or in your crate).

Obviously at first he had no idea what the verbal warning meant, but he caught on pretty quickly.

That's what I do with the ferrets (read: Renegade) and it works well.... rosey is above playing with other dogs, though lol

[Emily]

Originally Posted by sassafras

Squash grabs Maisy by her scruff and tries to drag her around when he gets really over-the-top while playing, usually out in the yard.

You wanna get Blossom and Squash together?! The other day she got a timeout because I looked over and she had Keeva by collar and was pulling her around the hardwood floor. And Keeva's like, "LOLZ do it again!!!!" *facepalm*

[Taqroy]

Originally Posted by sassafras

Verbal warning for each offense (I use "enough"), if he doesn't back off he is removed from play for a short time-out (just a minute or two, still in the yard, just leashed with me), on the third offense you are off to No Fun Land all by your lonesome self/the play session is over (inside and/or in your crate).

I think we might try this combined with reinforcing a not neck pinching behavior. Warn, her, back her off, and then (because once you back her off she'll stay there for a minute) reward her for not doing it again. She's super food motivated and I think combining the two will help it stick, since we have a limited time frame to work on this.

[sassafras]

Originally Posted by Emily

You wanna get Blossom and Squash together?! The other day she got a timeout because I looked over and she had Keeva by collar and was pulling her around the hardwood floor. And Keeva's like, "LOLZ do it again!!!!" *facepalm*

Squash is the reason my dogs all started going naked. That dog.

[HayleyMarie]

Originally Posted by Taqroy

I think we might try this combined with reinforcing a not neck pinching behavior. Warn, her, back her off, and then (because once you back her off she'll stay there for a minute) reward her for not doing it again. She's super food motivated and I think combining the two will help it stick, since we have a limited time frame to work on this.

I did the three strikes and then your out with Mitsu and Teagan. They always played good, but playing could get rough and when that happened play time ended or time outs where introduced. Soon enough they learned that if they played nice play time was allowed. It worked wonders.

Time outs also worked wonders on Mitsu in the beginning where she would not leave Teagan alone. I love time outs.

[stardogs]

I use the cease and desist cue mentioned above - seems to work pretty well across the board and no food is required so that should help with the guardiness.

I would def have Shadow drag a longline initially - the faster you can step in to time her out as needed, the better!

[Taqroy]

Originally Posted by stardogs

I would def have Shadow drag a longline initially - the faster you can step in to time her out as needed, the better!

Good call! We'll just have to be careful with that cause Max is a total klutz and will try to clothesline himself. Lol.

[Taqroy]

Thought I would come back and update this in case anyone is curious (or has a similar situation).

Pretty much every scenario where everyone was freeeee went like this:
Max barks at/paws at/sniffs at Mu and direly offends her.
Mu sets ears to "perturbed" mode and starts making gremlin noises.
Shadow hears said noises and thinks that this small angry thing probably needs to be pinched.
Mu sets ears to "OMGWTF" mode and tries to escape while still making horrific gremlin noises.
Max frolics about and barks like a butthead because FRIENDS and PLAYING.
Shadow has to be physically restrained, Mu has to be put in a kennel, and Max does Max things (like being right in the middle barking and biting).

We just couldn't manage the situation when all three of them were out. And since Mu and Shadow get along just fine when it's only two of them we had to come up with a different solution.

So, we ended up putting Shadow on a leash, Mu hung out next to me and I used the three strikes and you're out rule for guarding me (I forgot how effective it is) and Max....did Max things. He got sprayed with the water bottle occasionally because his adoration for Mu overcame his sense and he would stand five feet away and bark at her. But, by yesterday afternoon, Mu could be laying on the ground and she would let Max come up and smell her without trying to eat his face. As compared to Friday when she would lunge five feet at him to get him away from her/me it was a vast improvement.