Help!

good_doggie

New Member
Hello. You know that I have 2 dogs. but, there's something wrong with my new dog,stein. Stein is very hyperactive. Because of that, he keeps on playing rough with philip. I just want them to be friends and I really need the help of you all from philip being body slammed. Please give me some tips on how to make them friends.Thank You!
 

snooks

Experienced Member
it's not that something is wrong with him, he just doesn't know how impolite this is to other dogs. Nobody apparently taught him. he needs your guidance in how to properly interact with other dogs. your existing dog needs to be protected and given a break from the overly hyper new guy until things settle down. i would supervise all of their interaction and don't be afraid to crate the new dog with a nice kong full of goodies while giving your other dog a break for a couple of hours.

Hyper dogs usually aren't getting enough exercise, training, mental stimulation, or could be eating the wrong food. there is also a possibility a hormone imbalance or other medical issue could be causing this hyper behavior. go to the vet first and be sure he's healthy. ask about and start an exercise program for both dogs. tired dogs are happy dogs.

when my two play to rough I intervene by distracting, redirecting, and rewarding. when puppy would go nuts and just bug the heck out of my older dog i started by touching or making silly noises or anything to distract, at the moment her head started to turn I would click/treat. if you work on this you can eventually put a word cue to it like "excuse me" or "leave-it." your goal is to have a verbal cue that gets attention and the dogs know that if they come to you they get a treat. this worked very well.

preventing this overly rough play is very important so it doesn't become habit. it's too rough as you already decided with your other dog and might provoke a fight at a dog park if he did it to the wrong dog. it's just bad doggie manners and he needs your help to learn the right way to interact and be rewarded for doing the right thing. try also to catch him doing something right like just lying by your other dog calmly and click/treat that.

a clicker is so easy because you don't have to be right there and since they move faster than you you can't always step in and physically stop what's going on.

one test is to separate the dogs, if the one you believe is being bullied re-initiates play then he isn't disliking the interaction. good luck. i have two girls and after having dogs in the past that fought i watch these two like hawks. luckily all the diligence is paying off and they get along great. same sex dogs exp bitches can develop some dangerous aggression issues if you don't prevent it from happening to start with. it can be done with some time and training.
 
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