Pets
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Please help.
My friend adopted a dog from a shelter and she is having some issues. The dog is not getting along with her other dog. Although today it has left the other dog alone. New dog is also not neutered yet (he will be). Any advice I can pass on to her? She does not want to take this dog back to the shelter but she also wants to make sure her other dog is safe and not picked on all the time.
TIA
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Re: Please help.
I rather diasgree here. The new dog needs to understand that his behavoir will not be tolerated when he is dominating the other dog. Your friend needs to learn about dog body language. At the first sign of posturing she can redirect or do a calm scruffing and just say no. All calmly. A behaviorist might be goo to help point out the signs to her. Good luck! It will hopefully get better after neutering.
My first thought it that the adjustment period with a new dog can last several weeks, maybe longer. During that time the dogs should absolutely not be left unattended and I rotate the dogs a lot so their interactions are brief and build up to more extended periods. She can tether the dog to her, or something stable in the room, so that he can still be around everyone but not able to harass the other dog. Reward with lots of praise and attention for good behavior, but I wouldn't give them treats around one another if the dog is still new, too much risk of resource guarding there.
I definitely have not ever scruffed a dog, or used any form of physical punishment for that matter, and I don't recommend it. Good things come from me, not pain. If the dog gets over-exuberant and doesn't calm down, he goes in a "time out" somewhere to calm down.
When we brought home our second dog at the end of January, we had some issues with our dog Charlie resource guarding his kibble around our new dog Alice. A DAP collar for Charlie and keeping them separate when we couldn't supervise them helped a lot. Alice has a crate and Charlie has his own space in our room that he can retreat to when he needs some alone time. They can both next to each other on the couch now without any jockeying, and Charlie rarely gets territorial if food is out around both of them.
Neutering may help the new dog a lot. Keeping toys and other stuff put away for a while may help out too.
Otherwise, it may just take some time for both of the dogs to work it out together. Practicing NILIF with both may also help, as well as working on general training with both dogs.
when done correctly, it does not cause pain; it establishes your dominance over the dog. it's the same thing a mother dog would do had her puppy misbehaved.
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I establish my position by controlling and providing resources and structure. I do not support dominance theory and here's some info on why:
http://sites.google.com/site/petsboardfaqs/home/training-and-behavior/why-is-dominance-theory-outdated
There are ways to establish that a behavior is undesired without punishing the dog. The link Mryan provided above about why dominance-based training is not a good idea is very helpful.
It also gets you bitten and can lead to fear aggression. If it doesn't lead to aggression it can lead to your dog being terrified of you. Where the hell did you people come from and what reputable sources (not Cesar Milan) can you use to support this. Victoria Stilwell as well as the positive reinforcement behaviorist we used have both said its a bad idea and can be really dangerous. This board has NEVER supported dominance theory training because we all have seen and understand how psychologically damaging it can be to a dog and how it can lead to more serious behavioral problems.
To the OP, she needs to neuter, crate train, supervise interactions, separate when she gives food, possibly consult a behaviorist, and use NILF. You can use NILF to reinforce a hierarchy (example, resident dog is allowed on the sofa, new dog is not allowed if he is bothering resident dog on the sofa). We had this issue with a foster, our dog is very very submissive and the foster was rowdy. We just made sure our dog had his alone time with us, with food and toys, and that the foster was separated from our dog when he got obnoxious.