im having problems with my dogs can you help?

Question

ok i posted previous questions.. but i did not seem to be specific enough. so im starting over.

the problem is between 2 of our dogs that we have had for about almost 3 years now. we bought them togehter and they grew up together. One was spoiled rotten by my daugther because she loves her dog to death, and the other was slightly less paid attention to when she was younger due to her owner [ my son ] being busy with school & stuff. So after a while our family of dogs grew... we aquired 6 dogs total, 5 ours and one that we are sitting for a friend until he is allowed to take it home. So the dog that was neglected at her young age, her name is grass, is the one that is constantly instigating and fighting for all the attention, i understand that this could be the result of her neglection when she was younger but now she is spoiled rotten and refuses to let any of the other dogs get any type of attention at all. she will attack the other female, roxy , constantly, just to instigate

after a while we thought separting the dogs would work. so we tried it. but it continues to happen, we've tried squirting them ,and it does indeed stop the dogs from fightig but they just start up again later. Grass had puppies with our older male, Gore, we kept 2 of them ( one for our son & the other for our friend as a gift ) and bought a smaller terrier for our other son. Grass is very protective of the three puppies and if Roxy, or Gore snaps at them she attacks them...
Is there any way when can get her to stop any of these attacks that we have been having?

Answer 1

First you have to realize that you have a pack of dogs and somebody has to be the leader of the pack. Are you the leader of the pack? Have you obedience trained your dogs so that they know that you and all of your human family members out-rank them? If you haven't established your place as alpha then the dogs will take this working out the pecking order into their own paws. And this is what Grass is trying to do.

Ok, first step is establishing you and your family as alpha.

No, it doesn't have anything to do with Grass's neglect when she was young. It has to do with the here and now as she is trying to establish her rank in the pack.

I need to ask you some questions in order to explain further, and help you understand what is happening here.

How many males are in this pack? Are the boys ok amongst themselves? If yes, then this means that the boys have already figured out who among them is the boss. This boss dog will be the one who always approaches the other dogs with his tail held high.

Next, how many females do you have? Is Grass getting along with boys? Can you see an alpha female in the pack? She will be the one who spends most of her time with the Alpha male?

Grass is what we call an alpha wanna be. She is actually a beta, second in line to the alpha female. If she were the alpha, she would reek of alpha and the other dogs would respect this and there would be no fighting.

Is the one that you are pet-sitting a male or a female? When did this dog come into your family? It may have been this dog that disrupted the pack's harmony when it came into your family, and everyone is trying to readjust?

I'm trying to picture which of the dogs are spayed and neutered? Which ones are intact? In some cases fixed dogs do not like intact dogs and visa versa. Until ALL of the dogs are fixed these confrontations will continue. Someone will always be vying for Alpha-dom.

Because she is the only b***h in the pack who has puppies, Grass *is* the alpha for the time being. She is just doing what comes naturally as motherhood hormones rage in her obsession to protect her pups. This might change with time.

I hope you understand that because I'm not there to see your situation, and observe the dogs' interactions in person, I need feed back from you so that we can go on. This might not be a quick fix?

You may contact me and we can talk more.

spazrats
http://spazrats.tripod.com
Dog Obedience Instructor 30+ years experience, needless to say experienced in dog behavior

Answer 2

Have you heard of the Pet Whisper? It's a great show on tv, he is local in CA and if you perhaps live in CA, you could contact him and have him come out and see your dogs. If you are not local to the area, then definitely find it on tv and watch a few episodes of it, it will give you a few tips that are not easy to describe. It really works, I have tried with my dogs and its neat to see something work.

Below is the website for The Dog Whisperer

Answer 3

6 is alot of dogs!!

Answer 4

here give her a chew toy n take it away give it n take it it will stop his biting.