Help With My Dog(s) PLEASE!?
ByMy husband and I have a 2 year old Lab/Golden Retriever mix named Daisy. She was a great dog, quiet and fun loving. We moved about a year ago and shortly after adopted a puppy named Belle. We noticed Daisy becoming more tense and aggressive, but never harming Belle. Now she barks at every car that drives by the house and growls anytime there are people outside. I can not walk her because she acts this way, and she is too strong for me to hold onto. She sees dogs or people walking and the hair on her back raises up and she growls and barks at them. If she approaches them she then wants to play, but it frightens the other dog owners or the people and it frightens me! We tried getting her to interact with other dogs on a weekly basis but the other dog owners became intimidated by her behavior and the weekly visits stopped.
Daisy loves having visitors, getting the attention from anyone and everyone, but she scares them before they get through the door, then she is so rambunctious with her greeting that she nearly knocks them over! It makes people afraid to come over if the dogs are not locked away in a room!
Now Daisy has started playing rather rough with Belle. Her hair standing on end, loud growling (which I know to be normal for most dogs to do when playing), and literally grabbing Belle by the mouth, throat, or back of the neck and either shaking her head or dragging her! Belle is a very carefree dog and thinks its fantastic, but it scares me!
Not to mention I am almost 9 months pregnant!
WHAT CAN I DO???
2 Comments
November 2nd, 2011 at 11:38 AM
Yikes, something has happened that has made Daisy fearful. I highly suggest for your family’s safety that you hire a professional behaviorist/dog trainer in your area. This is not an issue that you can deal with with internet advice. Sorry, hope you can work through it.
November 2nd, 2011 at 12:27 PM
It sounds like your older dog is having territorial issues. Some dogs never get used to the idea of having to share their house/owners with another dog. Also, very frequently having 2 females together or 2 males together can cause more conflict than having opposite sex dogs. This isn’t always, but it does sometimes happen. Make sure that Daisy is still getting the same amount of love and attention as she always received so that she doesn’t feel like the new dog is taking over. Try separating them for a while if possible (with a baby gate or something similar) so that Daisy can get used to the new dog being around, but not taking over the attention or anything. It will take a lot of patience but with time, you might be able to get them to get along. If needed, take them both to obedience training together. Sorry it isn’t working out so well!
EDIT: Also, dogs don’t adapt to change very well. The fact that you moved and then adopted a new dog probably confused her and made her feel very uncomfortable. When I moved it took several months for my dogs to get used to the new neighborhood and the new apartment.