Jealous aggression towards the other dog

[tracyaesaert]

Hi peeps,

My name is Tracy and I live in Belgium, so please forgive my not so perfect English.

I need a little advice about our little German Shepherd girl... We have had her since she was 9 weeks old, she had to leave the litter a bit earlier than normal cause the mother dog was trying to kill her cubs.
We already had a dog in our household, Yuki. She is now 7 years old and is a little mix of a Labrador and a Jack Russel (yeah, we know .... very strange combination). She was used to having the house and the yard all to herself and was a little annoyed with the coming of Rox (our GSD).
Since about 2 weeks (Rox is now about 9 months old and has her period ) the two are bitching at eachother and have now fought for the 2nd time tonight . The two times it felt like a fight to the live and dead.... And it only starts when the little one gets a tiny little bit more attention. So it really is jealous aggression and dominance towards the little one.

But now we don't know how to stop it and the only solution we feel is getting rid of one dog. And we really do not want that, but many of the GSD owners we know say that this problem will stay for the Rox' whole life. We already have a suitable home for Yuki, but we would prefer it if she could stay.

Can anybody give us an idea how we could sort this out? This is really a big problem in our household and is weighing deeply on me and my hubby..........

[billsharp]

Welcome Tracy! Your english is great--although they're called "pups" not "cubs"!

I don't have two dogs, so I have no direct advice, sorry. However, I think you have come to the right place. Use the search function on this site for "2 dogs" "2 females" "jealous of new dog", and similar phrases--there have been lots of posts by people having similar problems. Good luck!

[BR870]

Well, maybe you shouldn't give so much attention to the other dog. It's not a GSD after all.

Kidding... Sort of... No seriously, when I had two dogs I usually tried to make sure the the top dog got shown alittle more favoritism in order to keep the peace. If the GSD is bigger and more dominant you may have to make sure your show the GSD more attention.

Other than that you can make sure to make it clear to both of them that fighting is not allowed, and watch them both closely. When you see something brewing you have to nip it in the bud. Ultimately you are on top, and they have to learn to live by your rules... Which means harmony and no fighting.

But giving the older mix more attention, when the GSD is trying to assert its new place and dominance is very likely to cause issues...

[1sttimeforgsd]

Hope that you can find a solution that will let you keep both of your babies and find some peace.