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Dogomania

Jealousy!?


Lucky Chaos

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As most of you know, I adopted another dog yesterday. At first everything was going fine, and Chaos was in love with him.
But.....Yesterday at dinner time just after my mom poured the food, Chaos attacked Riley. He was probably too surpirsed to fight back. My mom grabbed Chaos's front legs and dragged her away. When they went on their walk later, they were fine. They ran and ran and tired each other out.When we got home Riley came up to me I could pet him, and Chaos attacked again. This time Riley fought back but we were able to get them seperated.


They were seperated the rest of the night, and in the morning they acted like nothing happened. But later that morning Riley dropped a ball in my lap and Chaos attacked him again. They were seperated for the day, so no incidents. After school when they were both on leash, Chaos snarled a little but no attacking. But, weirdly enough, its only me who can't touch Riley. My parents have no problem.

My question is, is Chaos jealous of Riley or just being dominate? And why can everyone but me interact with him?

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LuckyChaos may be trying to prove his dominance in the pack. If he considers yuou the pack leader, and Riley is trying to "butt in" and get in good with you, he could see this as a reason to prove his dominance again. Are you the main alpha over Lucky? That's what it looks like.

and, yes, it is a form of jealousy, though not like we know it. Lucky does not want to lose his place to this youngster.....and if Lucky considers you alpha then your attention to Riley is a threat to his place in the pack.

You might want to take the time to pet Lucky first, play with him first, etc...to let him know you will maintain his role in the pack. Then play with Riley. see if that helps.....

:)

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Guest Anonymous

[quote name='courtnek']LuckyChaos may be trying to prove his dominance in the pack. If he considers yuou the pack leader, and Riley is trying to "butt in" and get in good with you, he could see this as a reason to prove his dominance again. Are you the main alpha over Lucky? That's what it looks like.

and, yes, it is a form of jealousy, though not like we know it. Lucky does not want to lose his place to this youngster.....and if Lucky considers you alpha then your attention to Riley is a threat to his place in the pack.

You might want to take the time to pet Lucky first, play with him first, etc...to let him know you will maintain his role in the pack. Then play with Riley. see if that helps.....

:)[/quote]

I thought it was Chaos who had the problem... and Chaos is a girl :wink:

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[quote name='HazelNutMeg']I thought it was Chaos who had the problem... and Chaos is a girl :wink:[/quote]

Yes it is, but I got the point of the post :D. Thanks courtnek I'll try giving Chaos everything first, although thats pretty much how it worked out anyway, but it seems even after 10 mins of scratching Chaos's belly i can't even touch Riley. I don't think that I'm the main alpha so much as my parents are, but Chaos does act like my dog most of the time.

Would Riley automatically become the leader because he is older? He's about a 1 1/2 years and Chaos is 10 months.

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[quote]

Would Riley automatically become the leader because he is older? He's about a 1 1/2 years and Chaos is 10 months.[/quote]

No, Riley won't become the leader just because of his age.....
I have 3 dogs- a 2yr. Jack Russell, an almost 2yr. Lab/Rott and a 1yr. old Jack Russell , ALL Female !!
Guess who's the top dog in the pack ?? The 1yr. old Jack Russell !! :o
At first the 2yr. old, Sassy was the leader , but as Maisy (1yr.) got to be about 6-7 months old she took over !! And she does get snarly if she doesn't get the attention first !!
Imagine 20lb. Jack Russells being dominant over a 95lb. Lab/Rott !! :o
You should see that in action .... it's a hoot !! :lol:

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Ah... this sounds all too familiar to me!!! :wink:
Chaos is what they call "status seeking", pretty much means that they want things and nobody else is allowed to share!!! Lilys the same, she protects me, food, balls... anything that makes her "special" :wink:
What you have to do with dogs like these is show them that they are not the ants pants and that every other dog has just as many rights as them. That could mean you playing with the other dogs, cuddling up to them etc while someone else who Chaos doesn't find so important distracts her with food, as long as she is not eying the other dog. Another thing is to let the dogs in the house randomly, teach them to sit at the door until you let each one in by name, it always has to be random so that none of the dogs get the idea that they are being treated as 'special'.
I have been doing this sort of thing with Lily for a while now, feeding the other dogs first, letting them inside first and generally letting Lily know that she hasn't got the right to stomp all over the others. I also rouse on her pretty severly (no hitting, just yelling and standing her down so she knows that I'M the boss) and put her on the chain while I tend to the under dog, while she looks on. As soon as she is settle and has excepted that she was in the wrong and that I'm allowed to pat the other dog, I let her off and give her a big hug and a treat.
This has worked wonders for us!!!! No more fights and I can even roll around on the floor with Tessa AND Lily now and its all tail wags and doggie grins!!!
You have to work up to this gradually though, slowly introducing things that demote the dogs feelings that they are special until you can do things with the underdog with no conciquences, but I can assure you once you are there you will be alot happier for it, and so will your dogs :D

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Aw, so sorry u're going through this Steph, it's hard stuff, I know. :( Sorry that I can't really help u out here, but I've been following the suggestions that people here gave me, and things seem to be good between my two. :) I'm sure more suggestions will come in that'll prove to be helpful........ :)

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Thanks so much Aroura I'll try it! :D I'm not sure if I should try the food distraction thing though, because she can be food aggressive to other dogs (but never to humans, I can stick my hand in her food bowl, maybe it had something to do with being bottle raised) And i'm afraid that she would see the food and attack Riley to "protect" it from him :-?.

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Thats ok Lucky, glad to be of help. I was quite suprised when I first heard of the technique, after the old belief of maintaining the 'pack order' by doing things with the 'dominant dog' first, but new studies have proved that thats not how it works with domestic dogs, thats when this idea came in and I'm so glad too because otherwise Lily would never have gotton over her aggression problems!!! :D
With the food sharing thing, the dogs are normally on lead so that they are all under control, but the main thing to make sure of is that you are treating Chaos ONLY when she is NOT eying the other dogs (I'm sure you know what I mean by 'eyeing', its different to just looking at them...).
Anyway, good luck and I hope it all works out for you! :angel:

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I would discipline the attacker, I take this as possessiveness of ME. I do not allow my dogs to prevent other dogs from coming to me. I do allow dogs to run another dog away from me--this is simple pack order. (such as, I am petting one, dog two comes up, I allow dog one to walk away) But for a dog to try to train the other that I am "off limits" is unacceptable.

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When you say "attack" what do you meen?
When the boys were settling things here there was snapping, growling, posturing, pinning and roughness but basically it was all settled without anything more than that. The only time I interferred was if someone was getting hurt, or seemed scared. I also made sure they all got their allotted food, and some treats each, although for a while one might get more than the other. I would make time to spend with each of them in a day and if nec. crate the one not scheduled but otherwise I played with or patted whoever was there and if Kavik walked up and wormed in past Zaphod I wasn't to worried, same with toys, if he made a larger fuss I would sternly tell him "that's enough" and continue with Zaphod for a bit and if he didn't fuss more and only wriggled or pushed I'd pet him. Otherwise they settled it on their own - without bloodshed. They get along very well now, occasionally they test one another but its all posturing.

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Lucky, it's looking like you will need to be a strong alpha to get through this.
I agree with the post that said dont let the other dog walk all over the new one....it's still pack behaviour tho...the alpha will not allow serious fighting in the pack. A few scuffles, but nothing more. You need to stomp down
on Chaos when she misbehaves. YOU are alpha, and that's it.
They need to obey you. When she shows aggression to Riley, I would suggest seperating her from you, if that means crating her, or putting her somewhere in another room, but definitely dont let her continue to think she can get away with hurting Riley. Dogs dont like to be away from the Alpha, it's a definite punishment in a pack. And when she is behaving around Riley, then reward her. Positive reinforcement whenever possible,
but you may have to seperate her from you at times to get the point across.

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I've tried that Courtnek, but everytime I do my dad just tells me to let them work it out, because their dogs :( . I seperate them anyway, and put Chaos in the little bathroom for 5 mins or until she stops crying. I don't think that I'm the Alpha, I guess my mom would be cause Chaos likes women more then men but the fights usually start when she's at work. But whatever I've been doing is getting worse rather then better.
Even if I pet Chaos for 10 mins or so, and then my mom pets her and holds her on a leash all she does is growl at Riley.

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I'm sorry Lucky....no one else has any influence in what I do with my dogs. It's hard when someone else is in control....

Can yu get your mom to cooperate? and your dad?

Lucky needs to be toned down. It may take your mom or dad to do it.

If she doesnt see you as Alpha, she is bothering Riley because she
wants position. And only the Alpha can determine that. Maybe if you explain that to them they will help you?

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