What do you do if one of your dogs growls at the others out of what appears to be jealousy?
I actually get this question about once a week. I’m writing this post so I have an post to share.
I’d also like this to be a place where people can ask questions or give advice.
The scenario is typically like this:
You try to give affection to your small dog. She jumps onto your lap and you pet her. then your big pet dog techniques and sticks her head on your lap for some attention too. This is when the small pet dog proceeds to bark and growl at the big dog.
It wouldn’t have to be small pet dog vs. big dog, but let’s face it – it typically is! but it could also be two big dogs or two small dogs.
Maybe one pet dog tends to lie at the owner’s feet growling as the other pet dog approaches. Or maybe one is on the couch and growls as the other comes near.
See my post: how to stop a small pet dog from guarding me.
So what’s happening here?
Well, it’s always good to seek advice from with a professional trainer if your’e anxious about aggression. Every situation is different, and it’s impossible to give recommendations on a certain dog’s behavior over email or in a general blog post.
But here’s my general feedback:
This type of growling or “guarding” makes sense. The pet dog is resource guarding and YOU are the resource.
If the pet dog doing the growling is normally the “weaker” of the two dogs, this may be the only time you ever see her growling or standing up for herself because she’s protecting her power source (YOU). You make her feel a lot more powerful and she may even feel like you’re backing her up or protecting her.
And sadly, if one dog is very pushy or bossy, the only time your a lot more sensitive or “weaker” dog might get attention in any way is when she sits on your lap or on the couch next to you. So you bet she’s going to guard you in those situations, it’s the only real affection she gets!
People might describe this as “jealousy” but it’s normally resource guarding, which is normal pet dog behavior but something we normally don’t want to encourage. See: how to break a dog’s possessiveness.
So here’s what to do:
How to stop my pet dog from getting jealous and growing at my other dog
1. Remember, you get to decide who approaches you.
You are the person in charge, right? So, YOU decide which dog sits with you and you decide which dog gets your attention and when. Your dogs don’t get to decide, not when it’s resulting in aggression or guarding. So that’s my first tip. Be aware of who you’re giving attention to and make sure you really are the one making that decision!
2. Enforce a no dogs on the furniture policy for now.
Do this especially if being on the furniture is part of what’s triggering the guarding/jealousy. I have a cat (Beamer!) who likes to sit on my bed. When my pet dog so much as walks by the bed, Beamer swipes and hisses at the dog. He’s being a bully and possessive of the bed!
So what do I do?
I immediately remove the cat from the bed and put him on the floor. It changes his state of mind and energy instantly.
See my post: how to stop my pet dog from growling on the bed.
3. Don’t allow the pet dog to sit at your feet guarding you.
Once you actually think about this you might realize, wow, my pet dog really does sit and guard me at my feet! If you catch either pet dog doing this, shoo her away, tether her across the room or put her in a down/stay on her pet dog bed. Or, simply get up and step somewhere else so she can’t guard you.
I run into this problem with my foster dogs quite often. The foster pet dog will lie at my feet guarding me from my pet dog Ace and I don’t even realize it because Ace doesn’t protest. The poor person just goes and lies down across the room! So be aware is all I’m saying. (2019 update: Ace has passed away.)
4. Don’t allow your other pet dog to barge up and hog your attention.
Likewise, you shouldn’t allow your other pet dog to barge up and steal your attention away when you’re choosing to give affection to the first dog. Låter det vettigt? Don’t allow either pet dog to sit and guard you and don’t allow either pet dog to barge up when you choose to give affection to one or the other.
When a pet dog tries to barge in and hog the attention, block him with your body, tell him “no” or put him in a down/stay across the room.
5. work on general obedience with both dogs.
Obviously, you want to work on general training with both your dogs. Every pet dog must learn to lie down and stay on command for up to 20 minutes or a lot more with no distractions. If your dogs can’t do that, then stKonst med 15 sekunder.
Alla hundar måste lära sig att lyda “sitta” och “komma” och vänta tålmodigt innan du äter eller går genom dörrar. Jag har alla möjliga artiklar om hur man utbildar dessa beteenden. Välj bara ett eller två mål att börja med men träna dina hundar. Välutbildade hundar är mycket mer respektfulla för sina ägare och de har en högre nivå av självkontroll.
Behöver du hjälp med en viss träningsproblem? Maila mig – lindsay@thatmutt.com.
6. Belöna lugnt beteende från båda hundarna.
Försök att komma ihåg att belöna/berömma lugnt beteende från båda hundarna. När du delar ut godis, belöna lugnt beteende inte hektiskt beteende. När du hälsar dina hundar efter jobbet, ge tillgivenhet till husdjurshunden som inte hoppar. Om du ser en av dina hundar ligga tyst på hennes husdjursäng, diskutera och beröm henne.
Och det säger sig självt, men se också till att båda hundarna får massor av träning! I allmänhet får hundar i USA inte nästan tillräckligt med träning.
Se mitt inlägg: Idéer för att utöva en husdjurshund inomhus.
Så det är mina allmänna tips!
Låt mig veta dina egna upplevelser eller idéer i kommentarerna!
Relaterade inlägg:
Hur man hindrar min lilla husdjur från att skydda mig
Hur man bryter hundens äganderätt
Min husdjurshund knorrar på andra hundar
Vad du ska göra när dina hundar inte kommer överens