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I agree with you that dogs can learn from other dogs. Einstein learned quickly raised leg urination upon seeing my father in law's collie urine mark and Petra once saw me training this collie to do steps of attention heeling, but he would sort of raise his head high trying to snatch the treat every few steps and next thing I know, Petra is doing this same upward movement after just one trial of watching him and she never did this before! When potty training puppies, I always had my Rotties show them where to pee in the yard and they must have done it with such an exemplary satisfactory look on their faces that pups caught quickly and started peeing in the yard like champs. Recent research has also have found evidence that suggests that dogs can engage in social learning which includes the ability to observe the actions of other dogs and imitate them to learn new behaviors. So much so that Claudia Fugazza, a dog trainer in Italy and her colleagues have discovered that not only can dogs imitate other dogs, but they can also imitate people. Fugazza therefore crafted her own " Do As I Do protocol" and even wrote a book on it. Back to your case though, I think if this is a new behavior, we must also consider all the recent changes Abbi has gone through. Abbi can smell differently from being at the vet, Abbi is now super hungry and Abbi may appear weaker to her household companions, and these changes in state of health can sometimes cause some unexpected changes within a group of dogs living together. So I think we should factor in these changes. I have seen this even with my dogs. When Petra was weaker, for the first time ever in her life she got in a rather serious squabble with Einstein. By serious, I mean of the type that for this first time ever I had to almost intervene because things were getting rather intense. What happened is that Petra had some food in front of her that she didn't seem like she wanted to eat, and Einstein must have noticed that, so he decided to try to snatch it from her. The moment he decided to try to approach the food he was met with loud barking and teeth snapping in all directions, and Einstein who normally would have backed away when she was healthier, this time was barking back and they were both at it. It was ugly to hear and watch. Lesson learned: Petra was weaker, but just because of that, she wasn't willing to allow Einstein to have a free pass and give up her food to him. No way- even if she didn't want it. But Einstein must have felt that with her being weaker, he could have taken that chance and acted bolder than he would have usually done in the past. So from that day on, I made sure that Einstein wouldn't approach when Petra had food (he always responded well to his go to mat cue) and if she didn't eat it within a certain timeframe, I would remove it so to not institute in her a need to feel tense and propense to guarding. Petra was always propense to guard things from Einstein, most of her life. When she had a valuable item such as a bully stick, she would go to her spot and Einstein better not approach. That was fine, Einstein respected that. Indeed, they were fed bully sticks at the same time, so this was never an issue, if he finished first and I would see him approach, I would redirect him back to his mat. If for some reason though he would approach her, he knew better not to mess with her as Petra was very serious about boundaries when in possession of something valuable. Here's the thing: When Dog A guards food and Dog B respects that, usually there is no problem. Sure, it's not fun to see dog A growl and act protective, but it's still ritualistic aggression, dogs using their words to avoid real conflicts. Problems start when for some reason Dog B decides to act bolder and push things further. It may not always be that dog B gets bolder though, that may just be our perception. It could be also that, as dog A gets older or weaker, he or she may may no longer communicate effectively as before and gives mixed messages that cause dog B to get in trouble. For instance, Petra would normally grab her bully stick and walk far from Einstein to eat in peace, with her head hovering over the possession. Instead, when sick, she would rather stay in one spot and place her head on her paws and appear to nap and act disinterested. Einstein might have taken that as a sign that she was not interested in the food so he may have felt more compelled to 'test the waters" than he would have in the past when she was more actively guarding. So I think we must consider the recent changes. Abbi is more hungry than usual, on top of this, steroids can cause behavior changes and Gertie must be sensing she's getting weaker, and this whole ordeal creates tension, and changes are difficult in dogs who have shared the household for so long. So I think strict management may be the safest option at this point since you're sort of between a rock and a hard place considering that Abbi may not be feeling well and her threshold for aggression may have lowered. On top of this, Gertie may be sensing weakness and these are such subtle changes that, even though we can certainly work on changing the underlying emotions, it may be difficult to change these physical/behavioral changes (both due to illness/aging and side effects of meds) and perceptions.

It's very frustrating when there are inaccurate weight readings, let alone mismatches of medical records and test results! Reminds me of when I once boarded Einstein when he had Valley Fever and the attendant forgot to give him his fluconazole meds for his entire stay. I gave them a bottle of 10 pills and he came home with a bottle of 10 pills! Ironically, I boarded him in a veterinary hospital because I felt he would get better care due to his illness so I paid extra just for the extra peace of mind of having medical staff attending to him. I was so angry at that time! Thanks for sharing the picture, Abbi looks comfy and that's what counts. She's surrounded by those who love her in familiar surroundings and it's great that she's in no pain and that she still has an appetite. With Petra, our oncologist reassured us that she would not be in pain, but that she would just start getting gradually weaker, but I still kept pain meds on hand and luckily our main vet was happy to prescribe those just in case. We really never needed them fortunately, but it was reassuring to have them on hand just in case. My vet was also on call should her condition have gotten worse and it was reassuring knowing that she did house calls. Her illness was made of many normal days initially and then some ups and downs. It was emotionally draining as we were often worried about what the next day brought around the corner. Nights and weekends were worrisome because our home is in a rural area and the only emergency vet open at those times was almost 2 hours away. We decided though to make the most of her time and so we pampered her a lot (Einstein seemed to understand fortunately). To change subject completely...I love donut beds especially for smaller dogs and great idea on using pee pads to catch water bowl messes!