Aggression towards new puppy

badcalorie · 10-06-2011, 07:33 PM

My almost 2 year old GSD, Kona, is giving me some serious problems with the new puppy. Puppy is 8 weeks and male, Atlas is his name. First introduction happened on neutral ground. They sniffed a bit and things seemed promising. We went on a walk for about half an hour (had to carry puppy most of the time) and came home. They sniffed each other a bit again at home, but Kona tried to bite the puppy. He yelped and cried. I'm not sure if she actually made contact or just scared him. There were no bite marks. He is unharmed physically.

So, now we are keeping them separated. Their only contact is with Kona on leash and kept at a distance, or through their kennels. Once in the past week, she has growled and snapped at him when he walked up to her crate. I have a nice, leather basket muzzle on order for Kona (the cheap nylon one makes her uncomfortable and she can't breathe well). She really has no history of aggression. Gets along great with my other mutt and well with almost every other dog she has met. She is testy during first introductions, but always warmed up after a while. She has never met a young puppy prior to this.

What are some ways I can get them to co-exist together? I know that keeping the puppy safe is the number one priority (why the new muzzle is on order). BTW, the older mutt loves the puppy and I really hope Kona can warm up too.

**jocoyn** · 10-06-2011, 08:39 PM

Ok, what I did with my snarky female and Beau gthe new puppy is she met him on her terms while he was in HIS crate. When she got to where she was choosing to be with him then we got them together.

Whenever she showed polite interest I was all over how good she was. I made sure that when he went past her crate I was there to eyeball things. Now after 4 days it all seems good. And I can take them outside together no problems.

We made sure the meeting was offlead where she could get away and we could grab her if she went for him which she did not. It worked.

mysweetkaos · 10-07-2011, 10:09 AM

I'm back with a heavy heart. I need your help

Not sure if I put the link to the other thread correctly or not

There was a lot of good advice to a similiar problem in this thread. Hope it helps. I can say, while it may be very time consuming I have found the slower the integration goes the smoother it goes.

Rexy · 10-07-2011, 04:12 PM

People nowdays argue with my methods of controlling aggression but I am a firm believer of setting consequences for aggressive behaviour which has never failed me yet.

What I do with pups and older dogs is have the pup in the crate and the adult on leash and let them get to know each other first through the crate mesh. If the adult lights up at the pup, a firm no and hang the adult up and air block him/her straight away. I don't give the dog an inch to think that aggression on the dogs terms will win, it's an instant loss with an air block and is surprising how quickly they learn.

Once they are fine together pup in crate, I bring the pup out and the wife and I control one dog each the adult on leash and slowly increase their interaction together supervised.

kiya · 10-07-2011, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rexy

a firm no and hang the adult up and air block him/her straight away. I don't give the dog an inch to think that aggression on the dogs terms will win, it's an instant loss with an air block and is surprising how quickly they learn.

Bitting my tounge now.

catz · 10-07-2011, 04:56 PM

I dont think that method should be recommended for a number of reasons. Air blocking is not the way to go OP. Introductions that are slow and fun for both dogs involved are much better.

mysweetkaos · 10-07-2011, 05:02 PM

To the OP I would be very wary of treating aggression with aggression. There are a variety of reasons besides being "cruel" I would worry it teaches your older dog that around you he must behave....fact is you won't always be there, so you need the dogs to grow to trust and accept each other. It can be time consuming as I stated, and sometimes the help of a trainer is necessary. Before we adopted our foster pup, we had Kaos redo a round of obedience training, not because he needed the commands as much as the reinforcement that we were in charge.

Rexy · 10-07-2011, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catz

I dont think that method should be recommended for a number of reasons. Air blocking is not the way to go OP. Introductions that are slow and fun for both dogs involved are much better.

Yes, there will be many reasons that air blocking aggression is not recommended by positive trainers as there are equally as many reasons why positive trainers don't have a great success rate with aggressive GSD's

catz · 10-07-2011, 05:54 PM

I will ignore my personal reasons for not using this method. I am a positive trainer and air blocking is not my style. I will say however, that to use a method such as an air block you would need a proper understanding of how to impliment it. Obviously there is the danger of permantly damaging the dogs neck and to recommend that method to a person you dont know on a forum runs the risk of them really hurting their animal. You feel like you can use this method to correct your dogs behaviour but I assume someone taught you how to use it properly. A person just giving it a go because they read it on a forum could actually end up killing their pet.
I hope you can see where I'm coming from.

Rott-n-GSDs · 10-07-2011, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rexy

Yes, there will be many reasons that air blocking aggression is not recommended by positive trainers as there are equally as many reasons why positive trainers don't have a great success rate with aggressive GSD's

I think you'll find that there aren't a whole lot of purely positive trainers on this site.

I think you'll also find that there aren't a lot of trainers on this site that recommend this method. Heck, even Leerburg has stopped recommending hanging dogs.

There is a difference between a correction and abuse.

10-06-2011, 07:33 PM	#1 (permalink)
badcalorie New Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Posts: 12	Aggression towards new puppy My almost 2 year old GSD, Kona, is giving me some serious problems with the new puppy. Puppy is 8 weeks and male, Atlas is his name. First introduction happened on neutral ground. They sniffed a bit and things seemed promising. We went on a walk for about half an hour (had to carry puppy most of the time) and came home. They sniffed each other a bit again at home, but Kona tried to bite the puppy. He yelped and cried. I'm not sure if she actually made contact or just scared him. There were no bite marks. He is unharmed physically. So, now we are keeping them separated. Their only contact is with Kona on leash and kept at a distance, or through their kennels. Once in the past week, she has growled and snapped at him when he walked up to her crate. I have a nice, leather basket muzzle on order for Kona (the cheap nylon one makes her uncomfortable and she can't breathe well). She really has no history of aggression. Gets along great with my other mutt and well with almost every other dog she has met. She is testy during first introductions, but always warmed up after a while. She has never met a young puppy prior to this. What are some ways I can get them to co-exist together? I know that keeping the puppy safe is the number one priority (why the new muzzle is on order). BTW, the older mutt loves the puppy and I really hope Kona can warm up too.

10-06-2011, 08:39 PM	#2 (permalink)
jocoyn Moderator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: South Carolina Posts: 8,022	Ok, what I did with my snarky female and Beau gthe new puppy is she met him on her terms while he was in HIS crate. When she got to where she was choosing to be with him then we got them together. Whenever she showed polite interest I was all over how good she was. I made sure that when he went past her crate I was there to eyeball things. Now after 4 days it all seems good. And I can take them outside together no problems. We made sure the meeting was offlead where she could get away and we could grab her if she went for him which she did not. It worked. __________________ Nancy www.scsarda.org Grim (Grimmy Bear) & Beau (Bo-dee man) Waiting at the Bridge: Cyra, Toby, Rainbow, Linus, Oscar, Arlo & Waggles

10-07-2011, 10:09 AM	#3 (permalink)
mysweetkaos Elite Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: St Louis, MO Posts: 1,246	I'm back with a heavy heart. I need your help Not sure if I put the link to the other thread correctly or not There was a lot of good advice to a similiar problem in this thread. Hope it helps. I can say, while it may be very time consuming I have found the slower the integration goes the smoother it goes.

10-07-2011, 04:12 PM	#4 (permalink)
Rexy Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 34	People nowdays argue with my methods of controlling aggression but I am a firm believer of setting consequences for aggressive behaviour which has never failed me yet. What I do with pups and older dogs is have the pup in the crate and the adult on leash and let them get to know each other first through the crate mesh. If the adult lights up at the pup, a firm no and hang the adult up and air block him/her straight away. I don't give the dog an inch to think that aggression on the dogs terms will win, it's an instant loss with an air block and is surprising how quickly they learn. Once they are fine together pup in crate, I bring the pup out and the wife and I control one dog each the adult on leash and slowly increase their interaction together supervised.

10-07-2011, 04:56 PM	#6 (permalink)
catz Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Ireland, Kilkenny Posts: 443	I dont think that method should be recommended for a number of reasons. Air blocking is not the way to go OP. Introductions that are slow and fun for both dogs involved are much better.

10-07-2011, 05:02 PM	#7 (permalink)
mysweetkaos Elite Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: St Louis, MO Posts: 1,246	To the OP I would be very wary of treating aggression with aggression. There are a variety of reasons besides being "cruel" I would worry it teaches your older dog that around you he must behave....fact is you won't always be there, so you need the dogs to grow to trust and accept each other. It can be time consuming as I stated, and sometimes the help of a trainer is necessary. Before we adopted our foster pup, we had Kaos redo a round of obedience training, not because he needed the commands as much as the reinforcement that we were in charge.

10-07-2011, 05:54 PM	#9 (permalink)
catz Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Ireland, Kilkenny Posts: 443	I will ignore my personal reasons for not using this method. I am a positive trainer and air blocking is not my style. I will say however, that to use a method such as an air block you would need a proper understanding of how to impliment it. Obviously there is the danger of permantly damaging the dogs neck and to recommend that method to a person you dont know on a forum runs the risk of them really hurting their animal. You feel like you can use this method to correct your dogs behaviour but I assume someone taught you how to use it properly. A person just giving it a go because they read it on a forum could actually end up killing their pet. I hope you can see where I'm coming from.

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