Roommate’s dogs increasing aggression towards my growing pup

[JuliePetrie]

Neither of my Roommate’s dogs particularly love other dogs but have never been physically aggressive before. After discussing it at length and getting An ok from both of them, I recently brought a new puppy into the home. Neither of the old dogs were particularly stoked about this new addition but they tolerated him just fine until recently. My pup has now been in the home for 2+ months and is 4+ months old and both of the other dogs have gotten increasingly more aggressive and vicious towards my puppy. I relied heavily on their input assuring me that their animals would be ok with this new addition but am now Afraid that That was a mistake on my part. I keep my dog in my room with my almost all of the time but when I’m in the common area cooking or when I bring him out to potty he’ll walk past the the older dogs on the couch or the floor who will growl, bark, snarl, nip and lunge at him. My puppy will also frequently attempt to bring them a toy or try to play with/near the older dogs which will cause them to have the same aggressive reactions. With the smaller Dachshund my puppy seems to not understand or respect when she growls, snarls and snaps at him and he tries to play with her, instigating her aggression and trying to get her to chase him. With the larger dog, my puppy will bring him a toy and try to play with him or just be near him on the ground or couch and will roll over and submit to him if he checks him at all but the larger dog has on several occasions recently taken this as an opportunity to to go after my puppy and gone for his face/neck when he does this. I don’t know if there’s some way to remedy this and get the dogs to all get along, if this is an issue of my puppy not understanding boundaries and there’s something I should be doing/training him to get him to be more respectful, if there’s something we all need to be doing to help the older dogs accept the puppy, if maybe my puppy is just going through a phase and eventually will respect their boundaries and leave them alone or did we just completely screw up and now i somehow have to keep my dog separate from the other dogs as long as I live here? 

[JMFS]

I'm not going to go too much into it as Adrienne is Far more experienced than I am in this, but I can give some information to get you started.  We're going through something somewhat similar and I'm going to be digging through the archives momentarily for answer of my own.  :)

Thank goodness you have roommates!  That means extra trainers.  My suggestion to get your started is this.  Have your roommate with their respective dog (and I would try this one dog at a time).  The larger dog may be easier because Dachshunds are kind of . . . jerks (that's who I'm having issues with).    So have your roommate with the larger dog sit with their dog and, at a safe distance, walk your puppy past them.  Every time the larger dog doesn't react, or reacts Positively, have your roommate give him a treat.  Rinse and repeat.  When the larger dog consistently doesn't react (or reacts positively) at that distance, shorten the distance and do it all over again.  It's boring, trust me - btdt with Momo and his food aggression.  The first week's training was me touching his bowl and giving him a treat to form a positive association with me touching his bowl.  <yawn>  A little boredom for a peaceful household is worth oh-so-very much, though.  Omg, the fights, break-ups, and resentment that can result between the humans when it comes to their dogs . . ..  Eventually the older dogs will form a positive association with the puppy and will Want to have him around because he is the bringer of yummy treats.

If the other two dogs tend to lunge it would be best to have their collars on, and probably a leash, for better control.  Eventually those could be phased out (dogs are weird - they may also associate leash + puppy as a good thing and no leash + puppy as bad).

[Adrienne]

Hi JuliePetrie,

And welcome to the forums,

Jennifer provided a nice intro into the type of behavior modification often used among dogs who are struggling with a new addition/resident dog.

So to gain a better insight of your situation, can you provide more info on the age/sex of the older dogs, their breed, whether they are spayed and neutered, your puppy's breed and whether your puppy has been spayed/neutered or if you are planning to do so in the future?

Do you an exact age for your puppy? I am trying to determine whether he's about to turn into a teenager....

Do these two older dogs ever play with each other? Do they get along perfectly fine? Do they guard items from each other (like toys, bones, sleeping areas?)

Have they ever played with your pup or showed signs of being OK with the pup? How was their relationship up until now? Is the growling  new recent behavior?

Do they have any medical conditions?

When the larger dog has gone for your pup's face/neck was there an actual bite, or a threat to bite? Has he ever made teeth contact with your puppy? Does he act this way only when the pup shows appeasement behaviors (rolling over)?

Also, does the home offer the possibility of erecting some baby gate to keep your pup separated from the older dogs?

Thanks for the extra details.

[JuliePetrie]

Pistol - 9yo, M, Plotthound with arthritis

Mitzi - 9yo, F, Dachshund with newly diagnosed Cushings Disease

Gus - 5months on February 24th, M, mixed breed : we think possibly Great Pyrenees, black lab, German Shepard. 

-All have been spayed/neutered. 

-Mitzi gets aggressive over food. Her own food and people who have food/are cooking in the kitchen. Pistol gets aggressive over toys and bones. They are now both protective of the main living room area(this is new for pistol but not for Mitzi) and attack and growl at Gus whenever he enters that area and both are now aggressive about their owners when Gus is around and getting their attention.

-Mitzi and pistol never played together but aside from resource guarding they  always tolerated each other and/or left each other alone. Pistol used to play well with Gus when they’re outside but even that seems to turn to actual aggression sometimes now.

-I believe that the main aggression from pistol started due to feeling neglected since our fourth roommate/his dad, who spent all his time home with him has now moved out/away and since his remaining owner has gotten into a new relationship and is home less. Their breakup happened right as I got Gus so I can’t help but think that Pistol has correlated Gus showing up to his dad leaving forever and his mom not being around as much and now blames Gus. 

-As of last night both of the older dogs have made contact with Gus’s face. Last night it was due to food, but it’s also been when Gus tries to play, when he’s submissive, when my roommate’s give Gus attention and not the other dogs, when there’s a toy, when Gus is just walking by, etc

-Pistol also recently attacked Mitzi so badly over a bone that he tore up her face and she had to have surgery to fix it when he has apparently never attacked another dog before. 

-The only real place to put up baby gates would be in our bedroom doorways. The downstairs is a completely open space with the living-room/kitchen/dining room included and having to walk through all of it to get out the back door to get to our backyard. Except for possibly behind the kitchen counter but it isn’t an area that we would want to keep a dog in because of the food aspect and because it’s far too cramped of an area already. We could maybe put a gate at the entrance, then I could bring Gus out the front door and through the side gate to the backyard to go outside. But does that mean I just have to accept that Gus can never be downstairs, can never interact with my roommates and I’m just going to have to crate him anytime I’m ever out of my room just so the two older dogs can sit on the couches by themselves?

Gus is in my room/his crate 90% of the day. Prior to Gus, the two older dogs would just sit on the couches downstairs in the living room but Gus has to go outside several times a day and when we come downstairs to pass the dogs on the couches they both bark and sometimes lunge at him unprovoked, or he might go right up to them and basically invite them to attack him on the way out. I’ve tried putting Gus on a leash whenever we leave my room but this was causing Gus to have issues with being on a leash and caused him to have several accidents in the house and on occasion just gave the bigger dogs an opportunity to attack Gus because they were roaming free and he was trapped on a leash. We’ve tried putting pistol in his owner’s room while she’s working to just have one dog downstairs but pistol will bark incessantly all day long if we do this. Mitzi’s owner said he’s going to get a crate for her and keep her in his room more often but she already has a barking problem so I can’t imagine that will be any better. 

Gus seems to not understand boundaries and constantly tries to approach and play with the older dogs no matter how clear they make it they want to be left alone and no matter how aggressively they go after him. I don’t want to deter Gus from being such a friendly, loving dog and I don’t want him to be scared of other dogs and/or end up becoming aggressive himself because of these constant terrible interactions he’s having with these two dogs. But I don’t get why he’s not understanding of boundaries and why he isn’t learning what the signs are when other dogs are warning him to leave them alone. 

[Adrienne]

Thanks for the extra info. I will be working on your questions based on the info provided and will be posting some tips shortly. 

[Adrienne]

Thanks for the extra details, they are very helpful.

So we are looking at two senior dogs of 9 years old, and on top of this, with some medical conditions. These are likely dogs who have been set in their own ways for some time, and who have had their own routines and therefore, the puppy is perceived as a disruption. Think grandma dealing all of a sudden with a boisterous toddler with no manners who is driving her nuts. 

Here's the thing, in older dogs, a puppy may not cause a "rejuvenating effect" as one would hope. Often, these dogs just want a quiet retirement and the same routines. If they have medical conditions, such as arthritis, they may feel even more motivated to growl/attack because it may be painful to remove themselves from the puppy.  Play may be the last thing they may be interested in. Dogs with Cushings may also become more protective over food and can have mood swings and irritability.

However, the good thing is that, in general, with time, many dogs eventually get used to (or better say tolerate) being around the puppy at some point (as long as the puppy doesn't act too boisterous) once the whole novelty factor has worn off and the stress has subsided.
 
It sounded like indeed, everything was starting to go smoothly- until recently. You mention indeed "they tolerated him just fine  until recently. My pup is 4+ months old and the other dogs have gotten increasingly more aggressive and vicious towards my puppy. "

This is not surprising. As puppies get closer to being an adolescent, the older dogs may perceive the puppy as more of a threat. The puppy license which grants some forgiveness is taken away. This takes for a good part place at an olfactory level. When the puppy is young, he rolls over and pees to tell the older dogs that he's just a puppy, indeed, the chemistry of the pup's pee tells the older dogs that puppy is just young and therefore socially illiterate and means no harm.

However, things change though as the puppy matures. Dr. Ian Dunbar explains that testosterone levels tend to rise in the male pup's urine when the puppy reaches four to five months old, peaking at ten months and then falling to adult male levels by eighteen months of age. 

Dunbar then goes on to explain how older dogs react towards this change, revoking the puppy license to misbehave, as if the older dogs were saying "Let's educate the young fellow right now, while we still can." And sure enough, most adult dogs (especially males) start to harass developing male pups to put them in their place before they become a significant challenge on the social scene."

So this *can hypothetically be* what is happening here. I don't know when you had your puppy neutered, but consider that testosterone levels in puppies once neutered falls about a month or two after the surgery. It is a slow and gradual decline versus a one-time thing.

However, not all is hormonally driven. Behavior changes can occur just because the puppy is getting bigger, possibly pushier and more confident (and thus perceived more threatening to an an older dog). 

Your pup is now approaching the doggy adolescent stage, a time when several changes take place just as it happens with human teenagers. It's not unusual for such changes to happen and it can feel alarming at times. Studies have shown that doggy brains undergo rewiring during this time, sometimes resulting in problematic behaviors. You can read more about this stage here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/

And then there may be breed predilections at play as well.  For instance, if there is truly Pry blood in the mix, consider that this breed can act pushy towards other dogs because these dogs were bred to think independently and some may not get along with dogs of the same sex as adults. GSD may too struggle at times with same-sex dogs. 

Good compatibility is important and this is not something easy to predict. In some cases, just like marriages, things work well, sometimes they do not. Nobody is at guilt here, there are too many variables when it comes to interactions among dogs sharing a household.  

So I will be posting some general tips and ideas, but I think options may grossly fall under these:

1) Strict management-meaning that all dogs are separated to prevent mishaps (baby gates, exercise pens). This can be challenging to implement (a baby gate can be left unlatched, the puppy may bark because he wants to play with the older dogs, older dogs may not enjoy being closed when they were previously free). 

2) Less strict management meaning that dogs are free to move about but all sources of conflict are removed (toys, food) and triggering circumstances are prevented from occurring (puppy is not allowed to interact with the older dogs) and all dogs are always supervised and trained to respond fluently to verbal cues (especially for respecting boundaries). 

3) A combo of management, training and behavior modification- management to prevent rehearsals of troublesome behaviors, training to have dogs under verbal control and behavior modification to change the underlying emotions of the older dogs.  

4) Re-homing the puppy or moving into a new place with no other dogs (unless proven  to be more compatibile (e.g opposite sex, younger)- this is the worst case scenario where nothing works and a behavior professional has assessed the situation and found it to be in the best interest of all dogs. 

These following tips below may help ameliorate the situation, although no guarantees can be ever made on the outcome of training or dog behavior modification (no ethical dog trainer/behavior consultant should provide guarantees). 

-Provide outlets for the pup's energy. Walks, brain games, training and play with other dogs he gets along with. The puppy should not rely on the older dogs for play if it is not welcomed. This because, an older dog may have a hard time telling the puppy to stop and with the pain of arthritis or other medical issues, the older dog may not be much in the mood for play. A growl that is not effective will cause the older dog to escalate. See the ladder of aggression:

 https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dogs-dont-bite-blue/ A puppy should therefore not be constantly pestering an older dog that just wants to relax and conduct a laid-back life.

-Consider that there need to be boundaries set by the humans as part of the equation. The older dogs need to feel safe from intrusion and therefore the puppy needs to be taught manners (boundaries) to avoid conflicts. So training is a must. 

-Train your puppy to respond fluently to some important cues. For instance, train him to "leave it" when he approaches the older dogs who want to be left alone. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/

Train him to go to his mat :https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/

 Train him to come to you when called: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/recall/

When giving treats to reward make sure they are given away from the older dogs to prevent resource guarding. You can buy some time by creating a "bridge," for instance, you can mark the desired behavior with a verbal marker such as yes! that informs the pup he has done right, and then the puppy must follow you to a safe zone where treats are handy (like on a shelf behind a baby gate where he can eat his treat knowing that no other dogs see him and develop hard feelings (yes, studies have shown dogs feel jealousy).

Older dogs in general feel calmer once they see that the puppy is well trained and under good voice control. The puppy at the same time learns to respect the older dog's wishes and this is also a great lesson in impulse control. Some of my client's puppies learned the best skills from my Rotties when they turned older. They learned to respect a growl and not by pushy because if our dog's growled, we quickly followed up with our request to leave them alone. This helped them avoid future bad situations in their interactions with other dogs. 

-Teach your puppy to seek you for play so that he doesn't keep pestering the older dogs. 

-Make sure your puppy has had some rest as tired puppies can be particularly cranky and more likely to misbehave.

-Always reward calm behavior that your puppy displays. Take notice when he willingly decides to lie on a mat, when he stops trying to bother the adult dogs, when he shows good impulse control. 

-If there is resource guarding, keep all resources out of the way. This may be easier said than done when sharing a home with room mates, but it's crucial to avoid conflicts. So no more food or toys around to limit problems, also considering the last incident between the older dogs. Careful also with crumbs, and things that can be perceived as toys. Feed dogs in separate areas and do not give toys when they are spending time together. With nothing left to guard, management, therefore, helps prevents rehearsal of the problem behavior and works as well as a stress-reduction strategy.

-Encourage bonding. There are activities that can be particularly bonding among dogs. One of them is parallel walking (one handler per dog with dogs at a distance they are comfortable with each other) or even hikes.

-If your home is open plan, baby gates may not be an option for some rooms, but you can gets exercise pens or extendable pet gates to keep dogs separated as needed '(ensure they are sturdy and suitable for the size of the dogs). Keeping your puppy in an exercise pen provides the older dogs the luxury of having a quiet place to retreat to that is puppy-free.

-Ensure that the older dog's health conditions are managed properly. Health issues can certainly make older dogs grumpier and create a lower threshold for aggression. Arthritic dogs may benefit from pain meds and dogs with Cushings should be managed well. 

-Behavior modification can help, but this will require the in-person intervention of a behavior professional for safety and correct implementation. It would involve to some extent what Jennifer has described, creating positive associations with your puppy through desensitization and counterconditioning in an open bar/closed bar method. 

In desensitization, one takes small baby steps in exposing the dog to its triggers in a systematic, structured way so that the dog does not react fearfully to the stimuli and is able to take treats. If you overwhelm and flood a dog exposing him/her to full intensity situations, you risk sensitizing him, which means you make him more reactive and more fearful/aggressive. To learn more about desensitization read here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/desensitization/

In counterconditioning,  the goal is to change a dog’s emotional response by using treats or anything the dog finds rewarding. The moment the dog sees the threatening stimulus at a distance where the dog is calm,  he/she is fed treats, the moment the threatening stimulus disappears, no more treats.  The goal is to make it clear that great things happen when the trigger is in sight. Read more on desensitization here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/counterconditioning/

When we create positive associations and work diligently taking baby steps, we must ensure the dogs are under threshold: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ and we should aim to create what's known as a positive conditioned emotional response: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/conditioned-emotional-response-cer/

Here is a read on Jean Donaldson's Open Bar/Closed Bar method: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/open-bar-closed-bar/

For instance, if an older dog doesn't want the puppy near when he's being pet, one can do the following exercise under the guidance of a dog behavior professional:

-A helper holds the puppy on leash and practices walking the puppy at a distance, while the older dog is being pet. Every time the helper moves with the puppy towards the older dog and the older dogs sees the puppy, the older dog is praised and fed high-value treats. When the helper moves the puppy away and the puppy is no longer in sight, all the praising and treat delivery abruptly stops. The goal here is to clarify that great things happen contingent upon the puppy approaching. From dreading your puppy near, the older dog may be more tolerant or even look forward to it. This technique is based on Jean Donaldson's Open/Bar Closed/Bar method.

The same can be done with other scenarios an older dog may struggle with. For instance, if the older dogs are a bit nervous when the puppy walks by, they are fed  tasty treats as the puppy walks by, always aiming for a conditioned emotional response, where upon seeing the puppy walk by the older dog looks forward to the treats. Once the puppy has walked by, no more treats. For safety, all dogs should be leashed and given some distance from one another if prone to resource guarding. The behavior professional can help create these setups with safety in mind and ensure that the older dogs remain under threshold as much as possible. 

-The older dogs seem like they would benefit from a stress-reduction program. All sources of triggers should be removed, and if not possible to be removed, at least they should be reduced as much as possible. Calming aids may help (pheromone-based sprays, collars or diffusers, calming supplements etc). 

-A plan should be in place in case a fight should ever occur.  A loud noise can help such as using a maritime pocket size air horn or clashing two pot lids together. It's a good idea to have these always handy. Some dog owners have success ringing a doorbell. Touching the dogs to separate them should be avoided as it can put owners at risk for redirected bites. These bites are generally not intentional but more due to the fact that dogs who are fighting are over reactive. All household members must be adept in recognizing early signs of a fight about to happen so to redirect at a moment's notice (leave it, smacking sound https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/) -if one is too late, the dogs may be too over threshold to respond. 

You asked: "does that mean I just have to accept that Gus can never be downstairs, can never interact with my roommates and I’m just going to have to crate him anytime I’m ever out of my room just so the two older dogs can sit on the couches by themselves?"

This is a difficult situation. Your puppy shouldn't pester the older dogs, and the older dogs shouldn't be in the position of having to repeatedly correct the puppy over and over.  A growl should mean that the pup should stop and back off. Yet, your puppy is likely dying to play and it's natural as that's what young puppies do. Find suitable playmates for your puppy so to maintain his socialization skills with other dogs. Drain that energy. However, consider that as puppies reach a certain age, they may start getting picky over who to befriend or they may no longer get along well with some types of dogs (as you have read in the adolescent dog article). It's important to respect that, and don't force interactions the dog isn't pleased with. 

At the same time, the puppy may mature and become more confident as he grows and he may start challenging the older dogs and things may deteriorate further. This can happen, although not always. It is difficult to predict how things may turn out as interactions among dogs sharing the household can be complex as there are many variables involved (personality, age, stress-coping mechanisms, medical issues, breed predispositions, behavioral issues, owners' commitment). Once again, it's like marriages, who can ever predict which marriage will persist and which one will end with a divorce? For sure, this relationship has had a rocky start, but not all is always lost. I have seen older dogs get calmer as they pups mature-although I must admit I have also seen cases where things deteriorated further.  

I hope this helps.

Best,

Adrienne 

Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping, biting) for safety, please consult with a dog behavior professional who uses force-free behavior modification techniques for direct in-person guidance. Articles, videos and general info found in the forums or course are not meant to replace in-person training/instruction. By using this course and forum, you are waiving any liability claims or other type of claims related to any dog's behavior against you.