[poo76]

Hi, I adopted a girl cockapoo about 3 1/2 weeks ago. She is spayed and just a little over a year old. She has adjusted with us real well I geuss. We also have a Maltipoo boy that is around the same age and he is neutered.
I take both on an hour long quick paced walk everyday, but it just does not seem to help them going wild and fighting in the house. Half of the time they are in the house, they are chasing each other, wrestling, growling, fighting over toys or bones. I try to make the boy more dominant over her by feeding him first letting him go out the door after me and so on. So my question is... is it a dominance issue that they are trying to resolve or is this just plain play? If it is just play, when will it go away? does it have to do with there age? Will they simmer down as they get older?, cuz they are driving me crazy. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Dogstar]

Are they doing damage to each other? Because at that age, my guys played like MAD pretty much 24/7. :P If you want calm, quiet multiple pets? You need to REALLY wear them out at that age.

[poo76]

Once in a great while I hear a little squeek or a tiny yelp, but the one at fault automatically apologizes by licking the injured on the face (it's really cute) and then the chaos resumes. So an hour a day does is not enough? I ussually cover about 3-3 1/2 miles and the female lags behind after the last 4 blocks, but as soon as we get home they get some kind of crazy energy spurt and spaz out and start growling, chasing, and playing so it seems like the walk was all for nothing.

[hulkamaniac]

It sounds like normal play. Why are you "trying to make the boy dominant over her"?

[poo76]

Originally Posted by hulkamaniac

It sounds like normal play. Why are you "trying to make the boy dominant over her"?

Because I was not sure If it was a dominance issue or not, so I am trying to establish a pecking order to smooth things out faster and since the boy was with us first, then he should be alpha over her, does that make any sense? I don't know if you can actually change the stature with dogs, but that was what I was attempting.

[hulkamaniac]

Originally Posted by poo76

Because I was not sure If it was a dominance issue or not, so I am trying to establish a pecking order to smooth things out faster and since the boy was with us first, then he should be alpha over her, does that make any sense? I don't know if you can actually change the stature with dogs, but that was what I was attempting.

No, it doesn't make any sense. 95% of dominance stuff is hogwash IMHO. There is little to nothing to it. You, the human, are at the top of the food chain and you are the alpha. The dogs are all below you. There's no need to make one dog the top dog and another dog the bottom dog. It doesn't matter. You're at the top. Use and abuse NILIF to enforce this and ignore the dominance stuff you see tossed around in dog training circles.

[skelaki]

The fact is which dog turns out to be more, I don't like to necessarily say dominant, but I can't think of a better word, so -- dominant of the two dogs is up to the dogs and their individual personalities.

From your posts it sounds as if they are getting physical exercise but not any, or at least not much, mental exercise (which is more tiring by the way). Put the dogs on a NILIF program along with daily obedience training and even some trick training for each dog. This will provide much needed mental stimulus.

[FourIsCompany]

skelaki said what I was going to say. The owner doesn't decide the pecking order of the dogs. The dogs decide. Your treatment of them may even be confusing them. If the female is naturally more socially dominant, yet you treat the male with preference, that could actually cause problems. So, I say treat them equally and let THEM decide.

In addition to NILIF, I would suggest daily training sessions with each dog (crate or or otherwise segregate the other one) for 5-10 minutes so they get more mental exercise and one-on-one time with you.

Last, these guys are one year old. Playing and roughhousing is what they do. As long as no one is getting "angry" then let them play. Dogs get hurt accidently sometimes while playing rough and a yelp should bring it to a halt. That's normal play.

[Marsh Muppet]

The dominant canine of a group (2 or more) is generally the one who asserts him/herself. Neither size, strength, age, nor gender seem to have much bearing on who is top dog. One of the funniest things I ever saw was a neighbor of mine with a very large Rottweiler dog, and a very tiny mini-Poodle bitch. The Poodle was one of the tiniest I've ever seen, but she was clearly in charge of the whole crew. The owner was kind of a Sad Sack schlemiel, and neither dog obeyed him in any meaningful way. The Poodle, however, was his "enforcer". If he told the Rotty to "sit", the Poodle would get all up in the Rotty's face, and the big guy would obey. The Poodle just barely dignified Sad Sack's commands with a dirty look, and the two boys followed wherever she wanted to go. It was a fascinating and comical social dynamic.

[poo76]

Originally Posted by skelaki

The fact is which dog turns out to be more, I don't like to necessarily say dominant, but I can't think of a better word, so -- dominant of the two dogs is up to the dogs and their individual personalities.

From your posts it sounds as if they are getting physical exercise but not any, or at least not much, mental exercise (which is more tiring by the way). Put the dogs on a NILIF program along with daily obedience training and even some trick training for each dog. This will provide much needed mental stimulus.

It's funny how some people automatically assume things. When the girl came to me ,she did not know a single command. Now she sits, stays, stops barking when I want her to, plays dead, rolls over, comes, jumps through hoop and sits pretty while begging, and those are just some of the things that I have completed in 31/2 weeks and I have much more planned for her.

Walks in my opinion are very mind stimulating for dogs. In fact I believe that It is one of the most bonding and stimulating thing that you can do with your dog. Walking with your dog establishes who the leader of the pack is ( as long as you walk your dog the right way) You can also incorporate commands while you walk. So no my dogs are not brain dead. What is NILIF ? OOPs OK, I read the NILIF sticky. I do all of that except the attention part. Although I never give them attention when I come home because there is just too much excitement, I wait until they settle down and then great my furry babies.

[Keechak]

sounds like your dogs are being normal dogs. if they are naturally hyper there is really nothing you can do about that, just got to learn to love it.

you could try getting a couple of treat dispencing puzzle toys to keep them occupied for a while.