Tips to Stop a Dog From Fighting its Roomates
By: David Codr
Published Date: February 19, 2020
For this Omaha dog training session we share tips to stop a dog from attacking another dog to stop 8 year-old Shiba Inu mix Leia from going after 13 year-old Chihuahua Dolce and 20 year-old Lab Aussie mix Rosie.
We started out going over a number of dog behavior tips to make sure that the humans weren’t sending a mixed signal to Leia. As Omaha’s Dog Behavior expert, I frequently discover that the humans often unintentionally do things that cause the dogs to think they need to protect them or correct other dogs in the house. In situations like that, its not a case of dog aggression, its a confused dog that has fallen into a bad habit.
As Taylor went over the importance of exercise, rules and structure, I practiced a leave it command with Leia. She is a very focused dog so it took a little more practice that normal. I wanted to get her started so that later in the session Taylor could walk the guardians through this positive dog training exercise.
I also went over a Focus command with Leia. This is a great way to redirect a dog’s attention away from something they may disagree with. Again her determined nature made this more challenging than other dogs, but we stuck wit it and was soon focusing on me on command.
After sharing a number of tips to make sure the dogs see and respect the humans as leaders, I handed Taylor my camera so she could film a free dog behavior training video with some tips to stop the dog (Leia) from going after the other dog (Dolce).
In this case I don’t think that Leia is an aggressive dog, I think she is both jealous of attention and confused into thinking its her job to correct Dolce from what she perceives as taking advantage of the humans or doing things she finds inappropriate.
Teaching Leia and Dolce to move away from one another is a great way to increase distance, an smart thing to do if dogs are about to get into a conflict.
It will also be important for Leia and Dolce to practice being together in a calm and balanced state of mind. Dogs are very much creatures of habit. The longer the dogs stay around one another without any dog attacks, the less likely they will be to get into fights in the future.
Teaching Leia the leave it command, and practicing it often will also be a great way to stop her dog aggression before it starts. One of the secrets to stopping dog fights is to increase the distance or distract the dogs at the first sign of territoriality or conflict. The guardians have become attuned to Leia’s warning signs, following them with a timely command to move away, leave it or focus on them are 3 ways they can help prevent dog fights.
While the guardians are not professional Shiba Inu mix dog trainers, they have the patience and attention of one. They both quickly mastered the exercises we showed them in the session. It will be important to practice often (3 or more times a day each exercise with each guardian) for a few weeks to help the dogs really get it and perfect their timing and technique. This will mostly be with Leia, but some of it should be with Dolce too.
Rosie should just practice getting belly rubs, butt scratches and some ear rubbing. She is in fantastic shape for a 20 year old large breed dog. What a sweet girl.
Adding in an appropriate amount of exercise is another great way to set them up for success. But it will also be important that the humans are relaxed when this happens. Using a small X-pen or fenced in play area is a great way to achieve this.
To help the guardians remember all the things we covered in today’s in home Omaha dog training session, we filmed a roadmap to success video that you can watch below.
Categorized in: Dog Behavior