Possessive of .... me??
I have two Corgis, Bertie and Ethel. Bertie is nearly 5, Ethel is 16 months. Twice in the past two months, Ethel has gotten into one of those flashy battles with another (small) dog (lot of noise and teeth baring but no blood spilled). Both times, I seem to have been the cause. In the first instance, Ethel and the other pup were playing, chasing, wrestling just fine. I was sitting on the couch and at one point the other pup jumped on the couch with me, and Ethel followed. With me in the middle, the fight broke out. The second time, a friend with 2 dogs who have been over and played with both Bertie and Ethel many times, took me out to dinner. When we got back, we let the dogs out to play together (my friend had brought hers in her car; mine were in my house, and we let them all out in my back yard). Of course, since I had been out, my guys wanted to give me an effusive greeting -- but my friend's smaller dog wanted to play, and so interfered with Ethel's greeting to me. She pounced on Ethel, who was jumping on me, and Ethel lit into her, the vicious sounds, teeth baring, the whole bit. Again, no real biting or blood, just the flashy, noisy preliminary warning sort of fighting.
Clearly, I was the cause of this. It has not happened at any other time, and Bertie and Ethel have not gotten into any fights like this since Ethel came to live with us over a year ago. Bertie and Ethel get along well, we socialize with other people and dogs all the time, and at no other time has Ethel displayed this behavior. When we are out walking, and meet other dogs, she has a great time. In fact, my friend had been over earlier in the day, and the dogs had all played together well. It seemed to be because I'd been out and just got home, and Ethel was still in "greeting" mode that this latest instance occurred.
Obviously, there are things I can do to make sure I don't put Ethel in this position -- but are there any behavioral things I can do with Ethel to prevent this from occurring? I've worked with Ethel to keep her from being protective of her food, but how to I stop this?
Clearly, I was the cause of this. It has not happened at any other time, and Bertie and Ethel have not gotten into any fights like this since Ethel came to live with us over a year ago. Bertie and Ethel get along well, we socialize with other people and dogs all the time, and at no other time has Ethel displayed this behavior. When we are out walking, and meet other dogs, she has a great time. In fact, my friend had been over earlier in the day, and the dogs had all played together well. It seemed to be because I'd been out and just got home, and Ethel was still in "greeting" mode that this latest instance occurred.
Obviously, there are things I can do to make sure I don't put Ethel in this position -- but are there any behavioral things I can do with Ethel to prevent this from occurring? I've worked with Ethel to keep her from being protective of her food, but how to I stop this?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sam on
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There are a couple of things I can suggest that you may find helpful. One is that you really need to look at Ethels behavior with you. Has she ever "told" Bertie to stay away while she is visiting you on the couch? Does she ever stand between you and Bertie? Have you found her to be one to steal all the toys and lay on them?
A possessive nature in corgis is not unusual. It is up to us to give more structure and rules to a dog that has a tendency to be more on the possessive side. An obedience class would be most helpful. You may also look in to the NILF program and teach Ethel that she needs to ALWAYS do something for you before you do anything for her. The commands you learn in obedience will be good things to start with. You may also find that teaching her some tricks will be useful and fun. This will all help with your bonding, your higher status relationship with your dog and your ability to read her better.
The other bit of advice is try not to release her when she is in high excitement mode. When dogs get over excited they also over react. In time this can become a continued behavior. She is attaining the age of maturity and probably becoming a bit bolder. Hopefully with some good training and avoiding high excitement times with her and other dogs will be most helpful.
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Permalink Reply by GoGoRainbow on
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my mom's dachshund is very protective of her too. She was just over here today and Pooka and Capri loove to play, but if they get too close to my mom, if anything goes wrong (Fight over a toy, pooka jumps on Capri while she's being pet) Capri will completely do the flashy fight (she may even be biting, I think she is, but I can't see what's going on cuz she always backs Pooka into a corner and won't stop even when Pooka is crying and I'm smacking Capri) You physically have to pick Capri up to get her to stop. I don't think she has ever bit Pooka hard cuz Pooka wants to play right away again.
We have no idea how to fix this and we'd really like to, cuz she'll fight with dogs much bigger than her over this too. My mom just really tries to stay out of it and be quick to pick up Capri when it happens. (Capri has NEVER been trained until the last few months, so maybe more training is in order just to give discipline, as Sam suggests. I think someone once mentioned that the possessive dog has to learn that its not their job to protect you, that you can handle it.)
Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanton on
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Thanks for the responses. Although we did go to puppy school and had fun, we didn't continue on, so we could do some obedience, I'll check the school's calendar, and as I recall, the teacher there was very good with behavioral issues, so I could talk to her, too. As for Ethel and Bertie, she doesn't give him that "mine" attitude toward me. If I'm petting B, she just hangs around and waits her turn, if I'm petting her, and B comes over, she lets him join in. As for toys -- she doesn't horde them or protect them, but if B has picked something up, she immediately wants it for herself. She will either do a tug of war with him (and then he usually lets her win) or lie staring at him and barking until he gives up. Once she gets the toy, though, she wants to be chased, she doesn't lie on it and growl or anything. If no one pays attention to her, she just drops it and wanders off, and Bertie will often go get it back. (Meanwhile, though, while she has it, Bertie comes over to me and barks at me to get it back for him, he doesn't challenge her for it.) She and B have never gotten into one of those "flashy" fights and have only given each other little warning growls when one has a chewy and the other wanders a tad too close (and they both respect each others warnings and wander off).
I wonder if anyone else out there has had to deal with this, and if so, what things worked for you? Meanwhile, we'll look into class (ugh, homework! I thought that was in my distant past, hahahahaha).
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