Growling At Other Dogs

[Guest Furmom]

We just added a third dog to the pack (Camp). For the first three weeks we fed her in another area near the others because a) We wanted to assess her food issues if any and B Our other two girls eat REALLY slow - sometimes leave their meal unattended - walk away, come back - so we had to get them back into a "timed" feeding schedule. So this weekend we felt we had made progress to put them all together - Camp knows not to go bug the other girls after she vaccums down her food (happily trots off to the living room now to play toys without us having to tell her), has shown no signs of food agression - Old dogs know that if you are hungry eat, if not dinner is tonight at 6..lol. First four days of feeding all together in the feeding room went off without a hitch. Everyone comes in the room sits down gets food (DH or I stay and supervise). This AM - Camp growls at one of the old dogs in the doorway to the feeding room as old dog is trying to get in. I don't get it - her old feeding space was very close, old girls had to walk past Camp to get to the room for 3 weeks now with no issues.

 

So I am thinking that Camp might be gaurding the room now? Her feeding station is closest to the door - maybe moving her to the back of the room furthest from the door would help? Or should I move her back out of the room? If I move her back out what can I do to work on getting her back in the room? Any ideas are welcomed as you GTers are such a great group to bounce solutions off of

[Guest KennelMom]

Don't move her bowl, resolve the behavior. If she stands in the door and growls, shoo her off and make it clear that's not tolerated. I'd probably do an "Eh, I don't think so! Go on, git!" It's not a "NO, bad dog!" voice-of-god kinda thing...more like a, homey-don't-play-that step down from a serious correction. The idea is to diffuse and redirect the dog rather than match or elevate any aggression that may be there. Make sure she leaves the immediate space. Be consistent...if you are good enough, you can probably time it so you catch her right as she goes into the guarding mindset and before she ever lets out a growl. Look for her moving into position and stiffening/tensing up or hardening her eyes a bit.

 

Things like this usually wane over time anyway, as the dog melds with the pack and realizes there's nothing to "protect."

Edited July 15, 2010 by KennelMom

[Guest scfilby]

If this were me, I would do as you suggest and move Camps spot to the back of the room. Or, you can try to feed camp first, then the other two.

 

We feed our three in the same room with two in the back and one in the front. Our old Mickey and the beagle get fed together in the same bowl, and Cy gets his own. Mickey gulps down her meal and B-lines for Cy's bowl. Cy always gives a small growl, and then proceeds to let Mickey join in..

[Guest Furmom]

Don't move her bowl, resolve the behavior. If she stands in the door and growls, shoo her off and make it clear that's not tolerated. I'd probably do an "Eh, I don't think so! Go on, git!" It's not a "NO, bad dog!" voice-of-god kinda thing...more like a, homey-don't-play-that step down from a serious correction. The idea is to diffuse and redirect the dog rather than match or elevate any aggression that may be there. Make sure she leaves the immediate space. Be consistent...if you are good enough, you can probably time it so you catch her right as she goes into the guarding mindset and before she ever lets out a growl. Look for her moving into position and stiffening/tensing up or hardening her eyes a bit.

 

Things like this usually wane over time anyway, as the dog melds with the pack and realizes there's nothing to "protect."

 

Wow - I knew I would get some good advice - THANK YOU!!! My husband kinda did that this morning (shooed her away and made room for old dog to enter) but I think he was a little shocked. I think that a good lesson I really need to get through my thick skull is to think of better solutions like you have suggested instead of the fall back of avoiding the situation.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

I agree with not moving food bowls, you need to work on the behavior. Maybe try to have the hounds sit in their respective stations while you prepare the food. Then put the bowl down, having them sit and not eat the food. Then release one at a time to eat. This reinforces your role as the leader (one reason your hound may feel the need to guard food) and directs their attention to you and the food, not the other hounds in the room. Should anyone get snarky or move, they are put back into a sit and wait. You could try that. Of course that depends on your level of training with your hounds. I make my hounds sit and wait for my release before they eat food (too many times on walks they have picked up chicken bones and such on garbage day).

 

Chad

[Guest 4dogscrazy]

Adding a third makes it a pack, so don't be surprised if some juggling is done to see who is boss, and boundaries are tested to see how far they can get a away with things. After adding the third hound, the boy, my females started bickering with each other too, and it was peaceful here for a year before he came! Imagine how the new one feels, (or thinks or whatever you think dogs do) she must be trying to fit it, to put it in human terms. I had to do a lot of adjusting when I added my third hound, muzzles in the yard for one. I also ended up crating the two youngest at night because after a week or two they started snarking over beds at night, and it was escalating. I guess I took the easy way out and started feeding them in their crates too, and that stopped the mealtime snarking too. I'm happy to say that kennelmom is right, the pack will level out and soon she will feel there is nothing to protect, so things will get better. I probably prolonged that process by removing any situations where they might need to snark at each other, but hey I guess I should be happy the results are the same.