My dog is aggressive towards my second dog

bogdanfloares said:

Did you ever have to deal with dog jealousy? I hope this situation is temporary, when Matilda gets older maybe he will se her as a dog female that he wants to breed with more than a competitor, even if I don't want them to breed.

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We have two GSD Husky Mixes ... one for 2 years the other almost a month. My answer to the above question: "Frequently" latest was last night. Now the funny thing is, if one goes out, the other lays on the rug at the door and whines till the other comes back in. With 3 dog beds / mats in the den, they often sleep huddled in the same one and they are never more than 6 feet apart from one another. At the dog park, they ignore all the other dogs and only play with each other. We set out food bowls in separate rooms when new dog arrived, new dog walked over to see what old dog was eating and pushed her nose in to sample... old dog walked away and checked out new dog's bowl and sampled. After 3 weeks, they both eat out of same bowls ... they will start with the foyer bowls in morning, graze on that off on till empty .. and only when empty will they eat from the kitchen bowl ...weird.

The only thing they fight about is squeaky toys, all other toys no bother. As for the playing .... I always try and start it by interacting with both of them. Sitting on couch with knees at coffee table, one will approach from each side. Then I'll alternate playing with one, then the other. Do this with the squeaky toys and also with hand / paw jousting. Idea is letting them know that there's enough of a) me and b) squeaky toys to go around. There's nothing to get possessive about. It worked for two weeks, I am gonna have to work harder.

At least once a day they go out separately ...that's the time for one on one time. I did this with all my kids, we called the "special days". On one hand, it's hard to go to say "the aquarium" 3 times over two weeks with the same 90 minutes drive each way; on the other hand, each one was special as my memories of each one were unique.

The part that many dog owners don't like to hear is that this behavior is usually one they are at east partially responsible for. Many folks feel that corrective actions should not be employed; dog is doing something he's not supposed to do ? Distract him with something he likes ? Well there's something to be said for that in certain situations But it also can teach the dog to repeat the undesired behavior. The breed of the dog, while not an absolute, does come into play here.

There are many possible approaches to changing dog behavior. Particularly approaches will vary by breed, nurture (early life), environment, family dynamics and other factors. I was particularly taken by the paragraphs "Lack of Supervision" and "Rewarding Bad Behaviour" in the two part link below. Hate to clog the screen with multiple big boxes,so to use the links below,just delete the asterisks

Other owner experiences:

http*s://www.snowdog.guru/the-jealous-over-protective-and-possessive-husky/[/URL]
http*s://www.snowdog.guru/fixing-jealous-over-protective-and-possessive-behaviour/[/URL]
https*s://life-with-a-husky.com/2017/09/23/resource-guarding/[/URL]

Try and absorb as much information you can .... while all behavior modification techniques can be of value, to my mind, husky owners are best served by experiences of other husky owners.

BBD:

I think we are on the same page, at least to a point.

Your response the the exhibited behaviors is entirely appropriate with the behaviors you observed with your own and sister's dog fault with it, especially with puppies / young dogs...we do the same in the situation you describe. We always had multiple dogs, mostly dobies and labs, never had to deal with resource guarding or dominance issues. But, let me ask this ... is it not appropriate to tailor your approach depending on the gravity of situation ?

I don't feel it's adequate in situations where two adult dogs (who have only had a number of days to acclimate), are battling for dominance, one dog has the other pinned and, and serious injury is an immediate threat....especially when the situation repeats itself. If your GSD was 3.5 years old and pinned your sister's dog the ground on several occasions, I'm fairly confident that you wouldtake a modified approach ... if not I expect you'd have gotten quite a tongue lashing from sis.

With the 1st attack over the the squeaky toy, I wrote it off OK, they doing their pack thing, let's make the argument moot, give them another toy. With the 2nd attack, I stepped in and taught them that hey, you can both play with your own toys 2) look,you can take turns playing with your own toys, and 3 it's not gone forever. It worked .. well, reasonably enough, we went 2 whole weeks. Lay this on my shoulders a bit, doggies tend to leave their toys all over the place but not out of the den. When new dog came up to office with just one, I didn't see it and WW III ensued.

Our dogs play together all the time, they almost never stop ...outside / inside, toys / no toys, at the park they play only with one another. But it's been established that they have a trigger ... the squeaky toy, and it's not just typical intra-pack dominance behavior.

I see nothing wrong with your response w/Sis' dog, I see nothing wrong w/ OP continue as he is doing ....nothing wrong with individual play time as was recommended above by Kecha ... I do see a value in demonstrating that everyone gets their turn. Most of the time the dogs go out together, once a day in morning wifie takes them out one at a time. In beginning, the one inside would whine and pace, after a week, the one inside would just go occupy herself checking the door now and then, now at 3 weeks, if I call one, the other doesn't even get outta bed.... yeah no big deal,I'm gonna get my turn soon, let me nab a few zzzz's

But the reason I relayed my Husky mix experience is that, in the OP's case, there's history ....

-The dog tried to kill another dog (female in heat = resource)
-He has killed another small animal.
-These are Huskies; Labs are the most popular dog in the USA, Huskies I think are in the mid teens. If you were to do a web search for news stories on dog on dog violence, I'd guess that Huskies are near the top of the list ...not that there's this huge amount, but by comparison w/ other breeds
-The dog has not reached the maturity where such negative behaviors present,will this behavior escalate ?

Not much to do at this point that hasn't already been said ...but I think vigilance is warranted; given the breed and history ... Would you not agree that should negative behavior escalate to the point where the well being of one of the animals is threatened, that the response be appropriately modified to fit the situation ?