Cocker Plays Too Rough with Other Dog

I'm so glad I found this forum! It looks great!

I have a 6 month old, neutered cocker spaniel named Nick. We've had him since he was 7 weeks old. He is a sweet and smart dog. He knows several commands and is housetrained. But he has a big problem interacting with our other dog, Kira, who is an 11 year old cocker/terrier mix. He is either playing much, much too rough with her or is purposely being aggressive with her. I'm not sure which, perhaps someone here could enlighten me.

Basically, Nick pounces on Kira whenever he feels like it. He growls at her and bites her ears and legs. Sometimes he tries to hump her, but not often. His tail is wagging the whole time, but he is VERY rough. The worst thing he does is every time Kira tries to come inside after being out in the yard, he tackles her. He waits at the back door and when I open it for her to come in, he pounces. It's gotten so bad that I have to hold him just so she can get in the house safely, and the whole time I'm holding him, he is whining, barking, wiggling, even mouthing my hands so I'll let him go. He gets himself in a frenzy and as soon as I set him down, he'll tear down the hallway and tackle Kira and start nibbling her. I'm afraid he is really going to hurt her, because she is smaller than him, elderly and has hip problems. (He also does this with a friend's female dog that visits frequently.)

I had hoped that he would grow out of this, since I read several web sites that said dogs will work out their own relationships and older dogs will correct puppies. Well, that doesn't seem to be working. Kira growls and even snaps at him and, instead of making him stop, it seems to make him more aggressive. I've tried saying "off" and pulling him away from her. I've tried rewarding him when he's calm around her. Nothing seems to help, though I'm sure I'm just not doing the right thing with him.

Other than this very real problem, he is a really good dog. I just need him to stop tackling his feeble older sister (and every other dog that visits).

Any suggestions? Thanks so much.

Amy

No, don't leave it up to your older dog...or any dog for that matter. Your pup needs to know that YOU make the rules and he needs to abide by them. Neither one of them runs the household or social structure in your home.

Does he know a command like, "leave it"? He needs to be kept from getting rough and then rewarded for obeying.

I taught my Doberman a few things. One, was "leave it." Another was the word, "gentle." You see, I have two Chihuahuas, one a mix...about 16 LBS and the other a purebred...about 5 LBs. My Doberman was the puppy coming into the house and talk about rambunctious and huge, very paw oriented and a nut case when he was young. He did get rather desperate sounding, stern, verbal commands and then I'd praise him when he'd back off. I took him up to one of the dogs and whispered in my gentlest voice, "ge-e-ennntle." I'd pat the little dog ever so softly and calmly. He'd look on. I wasn't sure if that would communicate anything to him or not, but it seems it did. Anytime he'd be around the little dogs and NOT doing anything to them, I'd pop a treat and praise him, "goooooood gentle." Or, "goooooood leave it." Always, always, always, remember to praise the second the dog leaves the other alone or is gentle. Now, you can see in my gallery how gentle my Doberman is with the little Chihuahuas, they mouth, paw gently, but he understands how careful he must be. If they're all running when we're on a hike in the woods and he gets close, he is soooooo careful to go out of his way to avoid stepping on them, even if it means tripping or hitting some log or something. He'll let himself get hurt before he'll step on them. They are capable of learning, but we need to show them what WE want and expect. That's my opinion. If I had left it up to them, those little Chi's would have probably been dead by now. Anyhow, they shouldn't feel that they need to keep themselves safe. They need to feel that their "alpha" (we) will keep them safe and they don't need to have that responsibility. We take on that responsibility as well as all the other rules in the household.