Aggression/Possession? Cruelty case dog

[LyndsayBottichio]

Help anyone if you can....I can't figure this dog out.

History: 10 month old solid black female. Was an "owner surrender" for fear of additional cruelty charges. They had her chained in a yard where the chain became wrapped around her right rear leg and she chewed off her own leg to free herself. Spent enough time in the yard after chewing leg off that it had begun to "heal" on its own. Had a mid-femur amputation to clean up her chew job and spay about 8 weeks ago and had not yet undergone any heat cycles. Was very sweet to all veterinary staff and appears to be a well-adjusted puppy.

I own a 3 year old sable female. The majority of the time, these two play together well and can even eat meals and drink water from the same dish. Randomly (usually in the very early morning), the puppy will lower her head, and suddenly snap at my older dog. She usually makes contact, but hasn't done any damage. Its not a sustained attack, just the one snap bite and then its over. When/if you catch her doing this and yell at her, she immediately becomes actively submissive towards my husband and I and tries to snuggle up to his and suck up. If we don't accept her sucking up, she barks at us (attention-seeking, I know). We also have 6 cats who she occasionally smells or nibbles on, but generally leaves alone. Has never snapped at a cat.

Why is she randomly being a Jekyll and Hyde? Any ideas? She was jealous over attention, but wasn't doing it then...just trying to come between the older dog and us as we pet her. She does this literally at the most random moments when nothing has been going on...its like she just walks by and gets a bug up her butt and decides to bite my older girl.

[KSdogowner]

Originally Posted by LyndsayBottichio

Help anyone if you can....I can't figure this dog out.

History: 10 month old solid black female. Was an "owner surrender" for fear of additional cruelty charges. They had her chained in a yard where the chain became wrapped around her right rear leg and she chewed off her own leg to free herself. Spent enough time in the yard after chewing leg off that it had begun to "heal" on its own. Had a mid-femur amputation to clean up her chew job and spay about 8 weeks ago and had not yet undergone any heat cycles. Was very sweet to all veterinary staff and appears to be a well-adjusted puppy.

Its not a sustained attack, just the one snap bite and then its over. When/if you catch her doing this and yell at her, she immediately becomes actively submissive towards my husband and I and

How long have you had this dog? If she just came to be a part of your household, this may be because she is not familiar with her new environment and structure yet and she may be trying to find out the paradigm by testing things here and there. I would suggest to enforce clear boundaries to communicate to her what is and what is not acceptable.

[LyndsayBottichio]

She hasn't been here that long...so you are correct about that. I feel like she is less testing us and more testing the older dog to see if the older dog will let her be a jerk. The older dog dominance rolled her this morning and she has kind of relaxed on the random snapping...but I just want to make sure its not some other weird thing. She does get more snappy at night....but I assume that's because she is overtired and a little sore. I don't blame her.

Is there a more appropriate way to discipline that behavior than by yelling? I will not hit her...but I have and will roll a dog to get my point across.

[ksotto333]

She may not have been well fed in her previous life. She may feel defensive about sharing a food bowl. It's scary to me how awful her life was, how lucky she has you.

[Castlemaid]

At 10 months old, she is just entering into the terrible teen phase, and like dogowner said, testing limits. Poor thing, thank you for taking it in, I cannot imagine what she had gone through previous.

Now I'm all gushy feeling sad for her, but regardless, as any teen, she needs clear, consistent boundaries and structure to understand clearly where she fits in. She is trying out the dominant role with your older dog, and acting possessive of you and your husband when she pushes in to be petted.

With possessiveness over the water bowl, see if each of them having their own water bowl will help. Female on female aggression is very common in GSDs, and two females somewhat that close in age can be a problem. They could be getting along just fine, then one day they have a serious fight over nothing, and that's it, you can never trust them again - that said, I know there are people that have multi-female households and never had a problem, but just be aware of the real possibility that your two females one day will decide to hate each other.

I'm of the mind-set that it is better to avoid problems than to deal with them afterwards. I would not make your two dogs feel like there is competition over food or water or you two, and give them their own bowls, and individual time with each. Possessiveness of your person is not allowed, and shows that she does not see you or your husband as leaders who decide how and when to dole out attention, but as resources (food, play, affection), that she owns. You'll have to up the NILF (Nothing in life is free - Google will point you in the right direction), and be clear that her possessiveness is not welcome or tolerated.

With dogs like yours that have been so neglected, they often need a bit of time to 'get' pack structure. One thing that helped immensely with my rescue who had probably been a tied dog with no understanding of people's place in a household, was obedience classes - it changed our relationship from being one of frustration and constantly struggling for control, to one of enthusiastic co-operation (the power of treats!).

Good luck with her, considering what she has gone through, there seems to be the potential for an awesome dog that will be very rewarding in the long run!

[Castlemaid]

Just saw your other post.

Do not roll her. That is asking for trouble, and can be too much and harm her trust in you. A sharp NO! will do, seems to be enough for her. If she knows any basic obedience, like sit or down, start obedience drills as it instantly gives you control and puts you in the leadership position.

Support your older girl in her dominant position over the newcomer. She gets fed first, gets attention first, gets to go out first, and so on. This will help your rescue understand that she is in the bottom of the pack. If you see that your older girl is ceding the top dog position to the younger dog, then go with that, but it doesn't seem that way, and I'd be surprised if a 3 year old will defer to a 10 month old.

[LyndsayBottichio]

That is the odd thing...she doesn't get possessive of the food or water. We have always used the NILIF training (which is why my older dog is described by everyone else as just shy of perfect). Just wasn't sure if she is like...trying to show the world that she is just as strong as a regular dog because she only has the three legs. I know my older dog is like...bring it tripawd puppy.

We've been working on obedience since day one and she appears to be doing well and eager to please...so I'm hopeful this is just a phase that she decides really isn't that fun because she is continually yelled at.

Should I be putting her in a timeout in a separate room or will that make her more resentful of the older dog?

[Castlemaid]

Time outs work! Better than another room, put her in her crate if she has one. I don't like isolating them in another room, I think that can just build separation anxiety - but play it by ear and see what works for her based on what you observe about her personality. If she isn't crate trained, that is something good to work on too.

[KSdogowner]

Originally Posted by LyndsayBottichio

Just wasn't sure if she is like...trying to show the world that she is just as strong as a regular dog because she only has the three legs. I know my older dog is like...bring it tripawd puppy.

Dogs don't think or reason that way. She is not even pondering on the fact she only has three legs. Her behavior is typical pack animal behavior. As long as she does not know her place in the pack, she will be insecure and will continue testing. She needs a pack leader to stir her into the right direction. That is you . By your implementing the suggestions already given by others in this thread, you can gain her trust and help her find a secure place in your pack.

Yelling is very ineffective and may accomplish just the opposite you want to achieve. We don't want our dogs to be afraid of us...we want them to respect and form a bond with us. Through that bond and an established pack order the dog can relax, and gladly respond to our commands. Use a lot of positive reinforcement...set her up for success. In other words, right now, she needs to be separated from the older dog because it is a stress situation for her and the household. Leaving her in that position will set her up for failure because she will have to continue to fight for position in the pack. However, if you separate them, taking that time to train her, work with her and help her to become more secure, you can get her to the place where she does no longer feel the need to challenge the older dog. By separating her, you helping her to succeed in overcoming these issues.