Hi,
I have a 2 year old female Cocker Spaniel named Siena that is very aggressive/protective of her household. She is a loyal dog and knows her role in our family. We just recently added a new Cocker to our family about 4 days ago. A 8 week old male named Halo. He is a very quiet dog and we picked him out for that reason. Siena is obviously acting different with the new addition to the family. She is not very playful with him, ignores him at times....but then will show some playful emotions at time. But then when he wants to play with her she will growl. Tonight was the last straw though.... they were playing and Siena lunged at Halo and tried to bite him. I'm not sure if it was to injure him but regardless it was not playful. So after some whimpering from Halo, things calmed down and they were playing. Now to top it all off, about an hour layer I caught Siena peeing on our bed. She knew she was in the wrong and took off like a bat out of hell. I do not hit my dogs but I was yelling with a lot of rage. Why is she acting like this? I can't trust her now with Halo and i'm concerned about the future. We got another dog so my girlfriend and I could each walk a dog, have a playmate for Siena, and of course add more happiness. Are there any suggestions or advice about this? We have tried to calmy introduce the 2 on neutral groud, taken a lot of advice from others. I am a bit lost on what to do... I'm considering behavioural advice from a professional in the area. Comments?

i'm not a professional, but it sounds like your older dog is expressing her dominance. it should sort itself out in a few weeks.

I would let them hash it out. Until you see blood of course. My older dog was 1.5 when I brought a new puppy home. She would be so mean to him, would ignore him, push him down, etc.

Now they are the best of friends, cuddling, grooming, and playing with each other 24/7.

Really, it's normal what your older dog is exhibiting.

I had posted about a similar problem myself. Everyone said the same thing, just let them work it out. That is good advice to take. Our older dog is still not thrilled with my puppy, but she is beginning to come around now.

I guess its just hard for me to imagine that things can get better. I would think they can only get worse or not change at all. I am in agreement that my older dog is expressing her dominance...that totally makes sense. but it was just odd that she would urinate on OUR bed to express it. It felt to me like she was mad or 'pissed off'.

I will keep a close watch on them and hopefully it sorts out. For the people that posted here, did you use any tips or tricks to help them bond together. I've been trying to slowly play with them one at a time and get them to see we are all playing. My older dog seems to come around and then out of no where decides she is 'too good' to play with the younger pup.

I brought a male puppy into our house when our dog was almost 11 years old. She wouldn't let other dogs come into our house without letting them know it was her house. You have only been dealing with this for four days, that is nothing. It will take weeks. I got an exercise pen and put the puppy in it. She barked and growled at the puppy, but she couldn't hurt him. You have to give her all the attention and none to the puppy when she is around (it is a pack order thing). You have to give her the respect of being the alpha dog. The puppy will understand and accept not getting attention because he has been in a pack (mom and brother and sisters). He is the low man on the totem pole. You will have a harder time with doing this than the dogs because you are not a pack animal, but if you want them to become friends and have peace restored to your house this works. My male is five years old and he has never tried to become the alpha dog and he loves the 16 year old dog. She got over it when I stopped making over the baby and stopped telling her to stop barking. She doesn't ever bark or growl at him because he is always kissing up to her. Their relationship has been peaceful ever since we changed how we treated them.

When I got my second male 4 months later she accepted him right away. We have more problems with them to this day because she didn't make him understand that she was the alpha dog in the house. He has always played too rough, but she liked to play with him and she let him get away with being rough because she was a tough little terrier. He still plays too rough, but two years ago she had health problems that caused her not to be able to play rough anymore. When she let him know it they fought(not a good thing since he is bigger and stronger than her and she wasn't in good health). I have had to seperate them when she has had enough of him (this has been going on for the last two years because she can't control him and if they fight she will get hurt). Yesterday he was playing rough and she asked to go inside to get away from him because she knows she doesn't have a chance in hell of winning a fight. He is the youngest, but he is now the alpha because the other dogs let him get away with bad behavior at a young age. It is hard to put a strong male in his place a three when you never did it when he was younger. Her and my other male created a monster.

Your female is doing the right thing. She is just putting him in his place (mother dogs do this to their puppies all the time). The good mothers teach their puppies to be good social animals in the pack. Respect your elders -this is the same concept. Males want to be alpha more than females so they will test the waters more to see if and when they can be the alpha.

You are helping him rise to be higher in the pack thus hurting her so she is mad at you, but she knows she has to be passive aggressive with you (pee on your bed) because you are the highest dog in the pack.

it's only been 4 days...........you have to give it time, especially since she's been there 4 years and now has to get used to sharing things with this *intruder*

I would crate the puppy and not allow him to jump and run all over her. Let her rule the roost for a while. The puppy is too little to really defend himself and will most likely submit if she pushes the issue.

You said she's dominant, well, with her peeing, she's telling you just how she feels about this new dog. ;-) This too shall pass...

I adopted a 10 yr old female Saint Bernard many years ago that HATED cats and I had 4 cats. Call me crazy, but she was so old and slow, and the cats were very dog savvy. Eventually they all became civil to each other and she learned to live harmoniously with them, but trust me, it was much longer than 4 days....

My advice, give it time and take it slow....

Good luck!

I just came here to read and to find out if anyone had a similar problem. Looks like it is pretty common.
I have a 10 large breed mix (male), a 12 year old red heeler (female). They are both out door dogs. I have a 6 year old Giant Pom (male) and just added a 2 year old Alaskan Klee Kai (male). My problem is with the two younger males. The new dog thinks he can be the alpha dog and the pom is letting him. The AKK will at times "attack" the pom and the pom will run away. I am sure they will work it out, but I just feel bad cause the pom seems a bit depressed. We are all trying to give the pom some extra attention by spending some extra grooming time and alone time with him. The AKK is the smallest of all the 4 dogs, so maybe he is just trying to find his place. Oh yeah we also have a cat that is the exact same size as the AKK. The AKK and the cat seems to get along well. Maybe the AKK dont see the cat as a threat.
I dont really know what my questing is, maybe I just need reasuring that with time everything will work out :)

Hugs,
Soto

Mommy to:
Beatrice - 12 yo Red Heeler
Skye - 10 yo German Shepherd / Doberman mix
Napoleon - 6 yo Giant Pomeranian
Cadence - 2 yo Alaskan Klee Kai
Tony the Terror Cat from Hell - 1 yo - recovering pit bull victim.
And whatever other animals that may come to the door to be fed.

Has Siena been to obedience classes? All dogs can benefit from it. A behaviorist could also help. The peeing in your bed would concern me.

Be glad it was just pee. I had a dog that pooped (diarrhea)on our bed to show that she was unhappy with us. She didn't like the new cat we brought home, even though she knew him and played with him all of the time. It will pass, she eventually got over it - but not before we had to replace our mattresses and sheets!!

I have to say a big thanks to all who have replyed to this thread. Your advice has been awesome!

Yes, Siena is well trained. She listens to me like a bell. I am able to call her off from the agressive behavior (but now I am thinking I may let them sort it out now after reading some comments). As well, Siena is smart enough to know which toys are hers and which are Halo's.

Last night was a pretty clam night for the dogs. Not too much playing...a bit of cuddling but then Siena would jump up and walk away. She has this look when she is staring at Halo like "What the heck are you!?" I am going to continue with what I am doing but I started giving Siena a lot more attention. Part of me wants to feel sorry for Halo but like someone said in this thread, he is use to it. As humans our emotions always get the better of us. Siena started to come around yesterday with all the attention she is getting.

I will keep reporting on progress.

(For the person with like 50 dogs, and 20 cats (just kidding), I would just keep watching this thread as well. I will let you know any successes and failures I have. If my situation doesn't change in 6 months I will be contacting a dog behaviorist. Lets hope everything gets sorted out by then.)

It is going much better now. A couple of days ago, Napoleon started sniffing the new dog a lot, and then went to nip him on the neck. No big fight or anything, just a small nip to say that he was in charge. Since then both dogs have been living together quietly. Last night they were even on my chair with me at the same time without anyone getting upset.

Hugs,
Soto

Mommy to:
Beatrice - 12 yo Red Heeler
Skye - 10 yo German Shepherd / Doberman mix
Napoleon - 6 yo Giant Pomeranian
Cadence - 2 yo Alaskan Klee Kai
Tony the Terror Cat from Hell - 1 yo - recovering pit bull victim.
And whatever other animals that may come to the door to be fed.

DENIM- Interesting theories but not much substance with todays domesticated dogs. Not all dogs want to be incharge and the pup at this stage is nothing more than playing. The dog did not pee on your bed because it was mad at you! It is a dog not a human and its mind does not function that way. CRAZY COCKER most people here have the right idea and take on the situation but I'll add a little. You need to understand that dogs are creatures of habit. They develope rituals based on their environment and how it reacts to their presence. You older dog sees your new pup as a big change to all of that and change is difficult for her. Couple that with the dogs inherant desire to know where everybody falls into the sceme of things, or pecking order. The aggression is probably more of a way to see where this new pup fits in. The aggression you're seeing is in short "communicating your older dogs position and checking the change in the environment" The dominance thing is secondary and alpha status theory is very questionable in todays domestic dogs. But they certainly want to know that someone is leading! Does your dog by chance sleep on your bed? The urination is probably remarking territory because of the changes or she could have felt uncomfortable about the pups presence and since it can not jump on the bed she felt she could just go there without being bothered, or she could be unsure of her place and be checking the only way she knows how. You seem concerned so I'll help you by giving you something to do and be involved. You seem to be a person that uses your voice as a negative reinforcer with your dogs so do this. Allow the dogs to continue to play but when the elder gets to rough in your opinion use your voice to repremand her and then when she quits immediately praise her both physically and vocally with strong firm praise. This will condition her to quit when it gets to rough. After a few times you can just go to verbal praise. This will give you an active role and also possibly avoid the pup being hurt. It is very important that you use the praise to show the dog it is ok to continue to play. Good luck and all will work out over time! Your older dog is also still not confident with her postion because she is only two and still somewhat immature.

drhogan What is the difference between pecking order and pack ranking? What is the difference between Alpha and leader? I know the new puppy wants to only play now, but one day that puppy will want to move up in the pecking order (your term). Mother dogs do decipline their puppies (the mother is the leader). In a litter their is a pecking order. When a new dog comes into a house he is the lowest and he can either stay their or move up. If the humans helps him in his move up there is more conflict in the house than if you let the dogs handle it themselves. The problem with peeing on the bed could also be caused by stress or wanting attention (good or bad).

People can do what they want in their house. I was only explaining what happened in my house and how I handled the same problem.

From the feedback I have read here and on other sites most households were more peaceful when they let the dogs work it out or removed the new dog not the older dog when things heated up.