Great Training Tips to Help Two Older Dogs Get Along

We worked with two older dogs to help them stop guarding their owner to get attention using counterconditioning in this Omaha dog training session.

When I arrived I was met with two happy and kindly greeting dogs. After chatting with their guardians I learned that their main dog behavior concern was that the Great Pyreneese, Nana, who was six-years-old was sometimes being aggressive towards the smaller dog, the Boston Terrier who was nine-years-old. Although the dogs lived together for quite a few years Nana had started to become slowly more protective over objects that she got and her guardians. To help turn a bad situation into a good one we used positive reinforcement through counterconditioning to help Nana stop guarding.

As you can see in the video above, Nana was able to let the Boston Terrier, Bentley approach her guardian when she was getting a food reward. We simply changed her from thinking that Bentley was going to steal attention from her, which was a negative for her, to a positive by giving her food when he approached.

By the end of this dog behavior session both dogs were looking to their guardians for leadership and direction. As a Great Pyrenees trainer and Boston Terrier trainer I want to encourage them to keep using our Petting with a Purpose technique to keep up with this good behavior. We wrapped up this session with Bentley and Nana’s Roadmap to Success video, which you can watch below.