ok here it goes.....i got a pom from my mom she is a year old and i have 2 other dogs a rottie and a german shepherd the pom everytime the other dogs come near her or me she starts to growl and more the german shepherd snap at her face thank god my 2 dogs r not viscious and attack her back now my question is how do I get my new addition to accept my other dogs? Don't want to get rid of her but don't know what else to do if this keeps up. Can anybody help me?
pom attacks my other dog
- Thread starter pomowner
- Start date
First, because your other dogs have not attacked her back, do not assume they won't. Everyone has a tolerance threshold and you never know where that might be reached.
What I suggest you do is first off, never ever leave these dogs together unsupervised. Your little pom it sounds like is possessing you and wants you all to herself.
Next, here's a little something you can do: Google NILIF (nothing in life is free) and start implimenting that with her. Then while you're not giving her excessive or heaping piles of free attention, you keep the other dogs seperate from her. Take her with a leash on and enter the same room as the other dogs. For 30 seconds, in the other dog's presence, start feeding her pea sized treats of high value....chicken or steak. Toss some to the other dogs too. Tell her how special she is and lavish her with attention. Then remove her from their presence for 30 seconds and ignore her...no special attention, no treats. Then re-enter the room where the other dogs are and repeat. Do this several times a day...just a 3-5 minute practice with 30-60 second inervals of each...the coming and going. I'd keep her seperate for a week or so from the other dogs when you're not working with her directly. Then when you try again to have them together, watch her closely and assess. Do not, under any circumstances punish her or speak harshly if she is getting snarky with the other dogs. It will make her worse because she'll associate them with punishment. You want to associate them with good food and affection/attention from you. In other words, when those other two dogs are around, good things happen. It's good news that they're around close.
When you're not doing a session, don't carry the "cold shoulder" to an extreme. This could cause a lot of stress in her. But try asking her to sit or come, shake paws, something just before you want to have a little love session. Save the best stuff for those times you're working with her and the other two dogs.
And above all, this is never a sure fire thing. You will always have to supervise. But it may make her look more favorably upon the other dogs and also teach her that you are the leader and make these decisions, not her. You're the leader because you're the one who controls the things she likes and needs; food, attention, affection, toys, going for walks, etc. Her behavior earns her these things.
What I suggest you do is first off, never ever leave these dogs together unsupervised. Your little pom it sounds like is possessing you and wants you all to herself.
Next, here's a little something you can do: Google NILIF (nothing in life is free) and start implimenting that with her. Then while you're not giving her excessive or heaping piles of free attention, you keep the other dogs seperate from her. Take her with a leash on and enter the same room as the other dogs. For 30 seconds, in the other dog's presence, start feeding her pea sized treats of high value....chicken or steak. Toss some to the other dogs too. Tell her how special she is and lavish her with attention. Then remove her from their presence for 30 seconds and ignore her...no special attention, no treats. Then re-enter the room where the other dogs are and repeat. Do this several times a day...just a 3-5 minute practice with 30-60 second inervals of each...the coming and going. I'd keep her seperate for a week or so from the other dogs when you're not working with her directly. Then when you try again to have them together, watch her closely and assess. Do not, under any circumstances punish her or speak harshly if she is getting snarky with the other dogs. It will make her worse because she'll associate them with punishment. You want to associate them with good food and affection/attention from you. In other words, when those other two dogs are around, good things happen. It's good news that they're around close.
When you're not doing a session, don't carry the "cold shoulder" to an extreme. This could cause a lot of stress in her. But try asking her to sit or come, shake paws, something just before you want to have a little love session. Save the best stuff for those times you're working with her and the other two dogs.
And above all, this is never a sure fire thing. You will always have to supervise. But it may make her look more favorably upon the other dogs and also teach her that you are the leader and make these decisions, not her. You're the leader because you're the one who controls the things she likes and needs; food, attention, affection, toys, going for walks, etc. Her behavior earns her these things.
Another thing I forgot to mention....if you're all hanging out watching TV in the living room and all of a sudden she gets ornery, snarly...that sort of thing, promptly, but not punishingly remove her to a time out place away from you...just very matter of fact. Give her no more than a minute in time out and bring her back for another try. Your timing must be immediate. And more than just a minute or two will lose the effectiveness of the time out. More than that and the contrast of being near the action and you and being alone will be lost because more than that is an eternity to a dog. Also, the more tries she gets, the higher the odds that she'll make the connection of her behavior and the consequences. You must be exceedingly consistent because if the same consequence doesn't happen every single time, she won't get it. Their whole world is cause and effect and if you keep up the training, I expect she'll improve.
Again, I would never trust her unsupervised with the big dogs no matter what because behavior can and does regress. All it takes is one snap from a GSD or Rottie and she's dead in a heart beat. (as I'm sure I don't have to tell you) She may do well for months and months and then, due to many variables she can relapse. But the training may help make things more pleasant and it will do her good to learn that she doesn't need to worry about losing you to the other dogs...that gaining access to all the things she loves is contingent on HER behavior. AND that those resources come from you, not by direct access by her.
Again, I would never trust her unsupervised with the big dogs no matter what because behavior can and does regress. All it takes is one snap from a GSD or Rottie and she's dead in a heart beat. (as I'm sure I don't have to tell you) She may do well for months and months and then, due to many variables she can relapse. But the training may help make things more pleasant and it will do her good to learn that she doesn't need to worry about losing you to the other dogs...that gaining access to all the things she loves is contingent on HER behavior. AND that those resources come from you, not by direct access by her.