Territorial of the inside of the house? how come?
Hey everyone!
Maggie has recently turned two years old. I have made a discovery about her personality that kind of stinks and enables us from getting another dog. It is the weirdest thing to me. But again, this is the first dog I have ever owned and raised as a puppy.
Maggie is incredibly social. She gets incredibly excited when she sees a person or another dog. She is very friendly and loves to play with other dogs. Our next door neighbor is my boyfriends dad, and his dog, a boxer/small terrier mix (they said he was a puggle but there is no pug or beagle in this dog) is essentially Maggie's playmate. He is the polar opposite though, he would rather be by himself outside, is not active, and really calm. When they do play though, Maggie is the dominant one. They interact quite often.
The other day, his dad was walking Toby, and stopped in to let him play with Maggie. Maggie has gone into his house and there have been no problems (so long as Toby's food isnt out as he is food agressive). However, he came into the house and Maggie went crazy! It was like a different dog!
She wasn't upset about him drinking her water or sniffing her toys, she wouldn't let him move! She was barking and growling at him, jumping on him, and she almost started biting him. She seemed really overwhelmed and upset...and It was the weirdest thing.
My questions are these:
1. How did this develop? I read in some places that if you give a young dog free range of areas of the house (she only has the hallway, living room, kitchen, no bedrooms) at a young age, they can become territorial and think it is their house. She does not act this way with people though.
2. Is it easily fixed? I am happy with one dog, but I have always wanted 2. She loves playing with other dogs...I would think she would love to have a friend all the time...but then again, I am not a dog, so I don't understand fully!
Thanks for your insights.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Cindy on
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This might be a little long.
First, who's house is it? Is it her's or your's?
As the head of the house, regardless of the dog, you own the house and it's up to you to enforce the rules that her behavior is in appropriate and will not be tolerated. But at the same time you need to figure out why she is being possessive of the house and work to fix that. Granted the other dog might be an easy going big dog, but the body language might say something different.
You can start off with teaching her some basic house manners, very much along the lines of NILIF. She will need to behave or do as asked before she gets what she wants. Anything that she "claims" automatically becomes yours ie, take it away from her and place somewhere she can't get it. Only when she is behaving, then she might get it back.
As far as behaving, what I mean is she needs to be obedient. Sit and stay before she walks out the door-even to a fenced back yard off lead. Or you can even do it inside when you go from one room to the other. When you feed her, she has to do something first before she gets her food. Down stay, sit stay or even just a stay until you release her. Etc, you control everything and she only gets something when you want her to have it, not when she wants it.
The key also is to make sure you acknowledge her good behavior with some sort of reward. Immediately, not five steps later as you walk to the cookie jar. Have the treats handy.
When you have her behaving alone, but her on a leash and bring the other dog in--on a leash and have a simple meet and great in one of the rooms. Any ill behavior gets a time out away from the action. Make sure that she's behaving-sitting quietly when the other dog enters the room and also make sure that the other dog is under control and ask it to do the same things-sit stay. Sort of kind of like the CGC test, meeting a stranger or a strange dog part.
Make is short and sweet the first few times with your dog leaving the room first and going away from the other dog to another part of the house and then when out of sight, the other dog then leaves. Alternate who leaves first.
Then step by step, both dogs still on leads, change the room, or walk together around the house. If she gets "snarky" at any point, go back to a sit or down stay until she is under control and behaving again, rewarding her at that point and then continue on.
At some point when all is going well, let the other dog loose but leave it drag it's lead. Same with your dog. That way if anything happens, you can quickly get your dog, go back to the beginning and start again.
Hope this helps. From what you posted, it looks like a simple possession issue of her resources which are not her's to control, but your's
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Permalink Reply by breanna bellefontaine on
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Okay, it helps a little, but she does behave well in every other circumstance. She waits for food. She walks properly. She does not bolt to the door when we come in, she waits for treats. She does not go where she pleases. She was not possessive of toys or food or drink, or even furniture. Literally just when the other dog was moving. So the whole meeting/on a leash thing, I do not even know how we would do that because he couldn't walk in the door without her barking at him and trying to move him. Is she just simply herding him and maybe her natural instinct for some reason comes out prominently when she is inside the house? I understand your tips, it just seems pretty impossible to try that method when the other dog can't move without Maggie being obnoxious.
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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We added my son's dog a couple years ago after he went back to school. My Sparty, tends to be a little bossy, never liked her so I knew it would be a little difficult. Nothing In Life Is Free helps to identify some of the things we do that our dogs take as allowing them control even though it is not our intent. Since my problem happened rather suddenly, I started immediately going out of my way to let Sparty know that everything occurs because I want it. I also leashed him to me for a few days so I could correct any growls or bad stares. The leash in the house enables you to make it clear the behavior is not acceptable. It helped that he had some Obedience class background. Classes is where I would suggest you start if you want another dog some day. I totally agree with Cindy's advice but want you to know that this is a behavior you can and should correct.
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Okay, let's try it another way---where is she when the other dog attempts to come in the house? She should be on a sit stay away from the door. SOOOO.....when you know they are coming, put her on a lead. Have someone else hold her or you hold her--away from the door. Period. She's not allowed to greet at the door, has to wait till the other dog is in and its away from the door. She might be okay when you are alone but create a magical line where she's not to cross when the other dog comes in. It will take two people.
I think the key here is put her on lead until the behavior is corrected. She might be great alone, but with any training you need to start from scratch and on lead.
Yes to an extent it is a herding issues but it's also a dominant issue. She wants to be in control of the situation. And since you are actually in charge, if you don't like it, then you have to work to make it stop and make her understand it's not acceptable.
So keep her on lead, setup the situations to train with her and make sure to reward her when she's behaving correctly.
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ooookay, that makes more sense. Yeah, she heard him at the door and bolted to greet him.
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Permalink Reply by Jane on
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I would try having them go for a walk together first, and then go into the house together. That always seems to be what is recommended when introducing new dogs into your home (I realize this isn't a new dog, but the idea is the same).
And I agree with Cindy's advice as well. If she is uncontrollable when the other dog enters, then she needs more work. It may take baby steps. If she goes nuts when he enters the house, try having him stand right outside the door until she can be calm. Next step, enter the door but don't go any further into the house, etc. You need to correct the behavior right at the beginning of her thought process, before she can work herself into a tizzy IMO.
I don't think this has anything to do with herding instinct. It sounds like she thinks she rules the house and she wants to tell the other dog who's boss.
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They walk all the time together, which is also why I found it odd.
have any of you ever had to do this? Maggie has met 6 other corgi's of different ages and the owners said she had to be the most active and "natural herder" they had ever met. Even the 8 month old was having a hard time keeping up with her! I am just hoping these tips work! Maybe I am just a bad owner! haha
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Granted yes, herding it might not be but another way to think of herding is that it's modified prey drive. What the dog is demonstrating first is a possession and control issue but as the other dog gets a chance to move around, if any, the attempt to stop and move the dog in the direction the first dog wants it to, is actually a herding type of behavior. BUT remember, herding is something done for a human for a purpose. As a dog does it on its own in an attempt to control it's own environment, then it's more of a prey drive, hunting behavior.
But I digress. It boils down to stopping the bad behavior, giving the dog correct alternative behaviors and above all, you controlling the action in the house as you are the real master of the house!
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Hi Breanna,
1. Every dog's personality is different, some are more territorial than others, but its normal for them to be protective of their own home. It doesn't have to be another dog, it can be a cat, a baby, an object....etc. Some dogs are easily adaptable to change, some cope better than others.
2. Most dogs are perfectly happy on their own, it is often the human that desire an addition, not the dog. You know how some friendships are bffs, acting like long lost twins, everything just fits like a glove? On the other hand, some friends are just great to hang out with on occasions but not suitable for long term roommates? It's kinda like that :)
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Hahaha, gotcha! Yeah, we would love to have another, and I am certainly going to try those things, but maggie is incredibly smart, so I am just hoping that does not work against me when I try this method! I would love to adopt an older dog someday when she is older. So many older dogs get put into shelters...my hope is to correct this so when she is older and calmer, I can adpot an older dog and give it a nice retirement home! If not, she will be the only one to retire!
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Permalink Reply by Donald Till on
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We brought 4 puppies home in the last 3 years - our breeders always have assured us they would take the dogs back if we had problems. We've managed to make it all work out for our new puppies. Our original female Jeannie (12) had a degenerative disease and we brought the first two puppies home about 9 months before we lost her. My daughter with her two dogs had been staying with us for about a year and our original male Snoopy(13) had issues with her male Shelty. We had the two seperated but after Jeannie died Snoopy would become confused and attack female family members, not just single bite attacks but mauling. He was really gentle to the puppies but it all was too much. It is all about rules and order with these dogs and they really appreciate it when the owner takes control. We wish we could have done more for Snoopy. Usually things work out but not always.
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