[thiefinthenight]

Hello everyone,

First let me say that I don't post much so when I do, I try to make it count so, sorry for the length.

Last night, we celebrated our PWC fur-baby Fiona's 1st birthday. She is the first dog that we've raised since puppyhood. This has been an amazing year! She has taught me and my wife so much. We've been through two training classes, basic obedience and intro to agility.

Learning to train a dog and the patience that is involved with that have helped me in my job as a high school teacher.

Her unconditional love and affection and devotion has filled my days with such joy.

Here are some pics of her over the last year:

Now for the advice part. On Sunday, we took in another PWC as a rescue. She's staying with us temporarily (possibly permanently) and Fiona is not happy about it. As an only dog, she is not used to other dogs lurking around her food bowl, toys and treats.

Posy, the new PWC we've taken in, was a breeding bitch until last year when she was adopted by a family member. She is three years old and morbidly overweight. She's timid and out of shape so its difficult for her to keep up with the rambunctious and gregarious Fiona.

As I've stated before, Fiona is NOT a fan of Posy. When Posy gets up to move, Fiona jumps into action and immediately begins to harass Posy jumping on her back or completely over her constantly asserting dominance. When Posy shows any tenacity, Fiona barks loudly, nips at her cheeks and ears and hips, and growls. Fiona is very jealous when it comes to toys and chews so when Posy tries to play with any toys Fi is right there trying to take it.

The obsessive hounding (pun intended) is getting on my nerves and I'm worried that Fiona is developing some really bad habits.

Fiona is on a modified NILIF training scedule and I am trying deal with the situation in the following ways: I turn my back on Fiona when she is bullying Posy. Fiona has had extensive training and when I treat the two of them, I make her wait until the less experienced Posy sits or does the action I want. I feed them separately and even keep water separate. Posy is not allowed in the bedroom so that Fiona has a space that is only hers.

They've not fought yet. There's just this constant exhausting harassment.

Any advice?

 

[sassafras]

Personally, this is what I would do. I would keep a drag line on Fiona when I was around and they were both out together. I would choose a word - say, for example, "enough" - and when she starts with the nipping and harassment, I would tell her "enough" and use the dragline to pull her away from Posy, pause a few seconds, and let her go. On the third strike, I'd put her in her crate or another room for 5-10 minutes. No drama, just keep everything calm.

It doesn't take dogs too long to learn to tone things down when, if they don't, they go to No Fun Land. Squash has a tendency to play too hard with Maisy, and these days I usually only have to give one "enough" (although mind is actually "corners!") before he tones it down.


ETA: About the resource guarding toys and such... I think there might be a sticky on resource guarding in the training subforum. If she is going to be a temporary resident, I would personally just keep all the toys put up and only give them things when they are physically separated.

 

[mitzi]

What a cutie! Sorry I have no advice to offer.

 

[rotten]

I like the "enough" and 3 strike rule with no fun land as a consequence to not listening to you.

The morbily obese aspect, and cant keep up, that's great. Just keep pushing the fat one, to keep up. That weight will come off with lower calorie input, greater calorie output, fat dogs, fat people, same reasons, same cures. Brutal but true.

The nervousness of new dog, should settle once she gets that this is her new family, and she's safe.
Mine get a little hectic indoors, the "enough" works really well at 8 months in.

 

[Abbylynn]

Happy First Birthday Fiona! ... and many more happy and healthy ones!

 

[hanksimon]

I agree with sassafras. Ignoring Fiona doesn't work, b/c she is trying to 'scare away an intruder.' Under normal circumstances, the dogs might get into a squabble, if they were fairly equal, but Posy sounds like she is much less confident and much less physical.

If you follow sassafras's suggestion, in a couple of weeks, Fiona will accept that Posy is not going anywhere...

 

[doxiemommy]

Also, (and you may already be doing this) feed them separately, and set up some boundaries regarding food, treats, and toys. For instance, in our house, any time a toy starts trouble that toy goes away for awhile. I actually started a thread about it awhile back, as our dogs are very good about sharing toys, but there was one toy that Abby was guarding, and it caused some squabbles. We took it away, and a couple months later, it came out again (on accident, we were cleaning the closet, and the dogs "found" it.) Anyway, now it no longer causes problems. But, if it did, it would go away again.

But, as for food, feed them in their crates, or even in separate rooms. That way, Fiona won't feel like Posy is nosing around her food dish. And, any time you hand out high value treats or chews, do that separately, too.
Happy Birthday, Fiona!