Trainer HERE....

If any of you have questions about behavior I am a behavior and obedience trainer. I will go through these threads and try to offer my 2 cents.

Julie, that is great! Your comments will be appreciated!

Julie Stevenson said:

If any of you have questions about behavior I am a behavior and obedience trainer. I will go through these threads and try to offer my 2 cents.

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Perfect! Thank you.

Wonderful! I am sure we all could use a little advice, I know at least I can.... The older my little girl gets the more feisty and dominate she seems to be getting with our other two male dogs.She's only 6 months old right now. For instance last night she was laying in bed with me, and my male golden retriever jumped up in bed with us, she went off and snarled and nipped him in the face! It just seemed odd because they always sleep in bed with us, and she has never done that before.

Any suggestions on what I can do now to stop the behavior, before she gets too aggressive with him?

trishkidd24 said:

Wonderful! I am sure we all could use a little advice, I know at least I can.... The older my little girl gets the more feisty and dominate she seems to be getting with our other two male dogs.She's only 6 months old right now. For instance last night she was laying in bed with me, and my male golden retriever jumped up in bed with us, she went off and snarled and nipped him in the face! It just seemed odd because they always sleep in bed with us, and she has never done that before.

Any suggestions on what I can do now to stop the behavior, before she gets too aggressive with him?

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Hi Trish! We have the same breeds! I too have a Golden Retriever Male that is older. Tucker is 7 and is just the sweetest boy ever...we rescued him and he is submissive to most others dogs. You have a female and two other males which is perfect for figuring out domance in the household. Ultimately, you and all humans in the house should always be alpha over all dogs in the home. This will allow your family to interact with the canines without worry or concern. Once that is established your dogs will figure out their pecking order. Typically you will find that the females almost always will take over the alpha role within the canine group even if she is the younger and newer dog. Males are more laid back (generally, of course there are always your mega alpha males I have one). The boys will probably take a backseat to your younger and sounds like more dominate female which is fine as long as your boys are not putting up a fuss I would not worry about it. With that said.....it sounds like you definately need to be stepping in when she goes off like that. It sounds like you are describing territorial domanance in your female in that she is telling them they are not allowed in "her space" which in this case is your bed. It could also be she is telling them she does not want them close to you when she is near you. Not sure if you were there next to her or not in this case. My suggestion would be to make sure you are there when the dogs get on the bed and if she chooses to get bossy and growls, curls a lip or shows any signs of aggression or dominance I would step in immediately and tell her NO in a sharp low tone. Tell her that is not acceptable behavior and as soon as she stops PRAISE her. The praise is just as important as the correction. Rigth now she is learning her place in the house and you need to be sure she knows "you" are alpha and if you want all the dogs on "your" bed then that is how it's going to be. If she continues, then put her on the floor and keep putting her on the floor until she can get up and just lay down and relax with the boys there with her. She will get the hint once you put her on the floor enough that if she acts that way she loses her spot on the bed. If she can jump up then just keep putting her on the floor give her 5 mins and then try again. She needs to learn that snapping at your Golden's face is not allowed. Let me know how it goes. Poor Golden Boy....I hope he was ok? Would love to see pics of them! I need to post pics of my other two boys. We have Tank a boxer who is MEGA alpha....I have to get after him all the time. He's not big on Ollie and growls at him, but listens to me when I asset my dominance. Then we have Tucker the Golden Retriever too. All boys....I won't bring a female into the mix....I find the boys are much easier to train and manage.

One other thought. Make sure that when you are putting her on the floor that your Golden stays on the bed. She needs to see that he gets to stay and she is the one that is not allowed because of her behavior. She will put it together.....Good luck!

Cool, we would love your input. That's what makes this place so great, is we have people with different skill levels and knowledge. and are here to help each other and have some fun too.

Fabulous advice, thank you very much! I will definitely try all your suggestions. She is too small to jump on the bed herself so it will work out great for me to put her down if she does this again. I also noticed her do it one other time when I was eating a snack on the couch. All dogs were of course starring intently at me while I ate. My boxer/pit stepped a little closer to me and she went after his face. Seemed like the same behavior as when on the bed with our Golden... So I will be sure to correct it if we see it again.

ALSO it sounds like we have the exact same house hold as far as pets go I also have two older dogs, a 5 year old male Boxer/ Pit mix and a 4 year old male Golden Retriever mix. Here is a picture of our pack of dogs ha.

Oh and you are absolutely right about her being the alpha already when it comes to our boys. My Golden (who is also an abused rescue) is the sweetest most docile dog I have ever met, while our Boxer mix is a little more confident and assertive. Both of them seem to basically bow down to her (and they each have at least 50 pounds over her).... BUT the one thing I have been happy to see, is that if they are tired and no longer want to play and wrestle, if she continues to nip and try to jump on them, they will growl at her and move away so she gets the hint they are done playing. Otherwise the dynamics in our house seems to be working great, other then a few minor issues... We just want to address them while she is young.
We definitely have a little terror on our hands with our frenchie, but that's part of her character

Excellent to have you.... love how we can all learn from each other

Julie Stevenson said:

If any of you have questions about behavior I am a behavior and obedience trainer. I will go through these threads and try to offer my 2 cents.

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So awesome, I will definitely be taking you up on this offer!

trishkidd24 said:

Fabulous advice, thank you very much! I will definitely try all your suggestions. She is too small to jump on the bed herself so it will work out great for me to put her down if she does this again. I also noticed her do it one other time when I was eating a snack on the couch. All dogs were of course starring intently at me while I ate. My boxer/pit stepped a little closer to me and she went after his face. Seemed like the same behavior as when on the bed with our Golden... So I will be sure to correct it if we see it again.

ALSO it sounds like we have the exact same house hold as far as pets go I also have two older dogs, a 5 year old male Boxer/ Pit mix and a 4 year old male Golden Retriever mix. Here is a picture of our pack of dogs ha.View attachment 1231

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WOW - yes we sure do have the same packs! Our Boxer Tank is 4 (we think he is a rescue), Tucker the Golden is about 6 ish and Ollie is the baby at 5 months. I will see if I have a pic of our pack and post it! So glad I could help and I look forward to hearing how my suggestions work or not.

That's so generous of you, Julie.

I am in the middle of re-modeling my living and dining rooms. Cosette has begun peeing and sometimes pooping in unexpected places. Had blood work done so I know it's behavioral. She is walked often and is a very happy dog but the re-modeling is making her uneasy. Any suggestions?

Julie Stevenson said:

WOW - yes we sure do have the same packs! Our Boxer Tank is 4 (we think he is a rescue), Tucker the Golden is about 6 ish and Ollie is the baby at 5 months. I will see if I have a pic of our pack and post it! So glad I could help and I look forward to hearing how my suggestions work or not.

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Here are my boys....

Hi Julie! I look forward to any advise. I am a first time Frenchie owner of my little Leo. I don't see really an bad behavior from him yet and he is pretty laid back.. The only issue we are having now is marking/housebreaking, but we are working on it and hopefully some of that will be addressed once he is fixed.

Julie Stevenson said:

Here are my boys....View attachment 1232View attachment 1233View attachment 1234View attachment 1235View attachment 1236

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They are all beautiful! Ha I just had to show my husband your pictures because to me its so ironic we have identical dog households lol. Even our frenchies have similar fawn markings, even though yours is a blue
All of our dogs are family couch dogs as well that sleep in bed with us and are our babies. Looking forward to chatting more with you and learning how to control my pack lol...

trishkidd24 said:

Fabulous advice, thank you very much! I will definitely try all your suggestions. She is too small to jump on the bed herself so it will work out great for me to put her down if she does this again. I also noticed her do it one other time when I was eating a snack on the couch. All dogs were of course starring intently at me while I ate. My boxer/pit stepped a little closer to me and she went after his face. Seemed like the same behavior as when on the bed with our Golden... So I will be sure to correct it if we see it again.

ALSO it sounds like we have the exact same house hold as far as pets go I also have two older dogs, a 5 year old male Boxer/ Pit mix and a 4 year old male Golden Retriever mix. Here is a picture of our pack of dogs ha.View attachment 1231

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Cuties!!! Gidget has done the snappy thing in bed to 2 of our cats. I think she was woken up and didn't like it. I fussed at her for it and I think she got the idea.

Cosette Girl said:

That's so generous of you, Julie.

I am in the middle of re-modeling my living and dining rooms. Cosette has begun peeing and sometimes pooping in unexpected places. Had blood work done so I know it's behavioral. She is walked often and is a very happy dog but the re-modeling is making her uneasy. Any suggestions?

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How old is Cosette? You are probably right in that she is uneasy about the remodel and dogs will do odd things sometimes when things in the house are moved or when they are moved to new surroundings. My suggestion would be to start the fed water walk routine with her and go back to potty training 101. I like to have my dogs on a schedule. It helps everyone and it regulates their bowels which allows me to be better prepared to "catch them" if I need to correct behavior. Here is the routine I use adjust to your schedule as needed. The basic principal is to get them eating and drinking on a schedule and that should regulate her bowels too. In order to correct any behavior you have to catch them in the act in order to correct. If you see the mess later you can't correct becasue they don't coralate the behavior with the punishment. So in order to correct you need to be watching her, this is where baby gates come in very handy to keep them in the room you are in so you can watch them. My schedule:


5:30AM - Wake up take all three out to potty.
6AM - Feed and put water down for them to drink
6:15AM - back outside to potty - praise when they go if potty training

5PM - Feed and fill water
5:15PM - outside to potty praise
6PM - pick up the waer bowl for the night.

During the day I always leave water down as they have to drink but I was keeping the puppy in an area where it ws OK to potty and easy clean up (kitchen). I never scold when I got home. Just take him out often when I was home and when he would potty outside I would always praise him and give a small treat. He learned quickly that when he pottied outside he got treats. I tapered off the treats as he got the idea. Now if you have older dogs this HELPS a lot as they learn from one another. My puppy would follow the big boys outside right after meals and would potty with them. He's 5 months and we leave him in the house with the back door open and he goes outside to potty, no messes when I get home. Now if he can't get outside he will make a mess but it's only if he can't get outside and he will scratch at the door already too. He's s smart one I got lucky.

Hang in there. Go back to the basic's of potty training and retrain and start a schedule if you can, it will help. In the meantime, grab a bottle of lysol kitchen spray and some paper towels and be ready to clean up the messes and realize these things happen. Love your girl up when she does well and correct when you catch her. Just say NO in a firm, loud sharp LOW tone. No hitting with anything. Your voice should be enough of a correction.

Let me know how it goes.

trishkidd24 said:

They are all beautiful! Ha I just had to show my husband your pictures because to me its so ironic we have identical dog households lol. Even our frenchies have similar fawn markings, even though yours is a blue
All of our dogs are family couch dogs as well that sleep in bed with us and are our babies. Looking forward to chatting more with you and learning how to control my pack lol...

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Ditto. I was telling my spouce about your posts this morning and telling him how suprised I was to meet someone that had the same breeds we do and the ages are close too. I love your golden with the one blue eye. Very interesting.

Hi, Julie. Thank you for the wonderful suggestions.

Cosette will be three next month. I keep her on a schedule especially the morning and night. I will definitely try the reward system for every time she potties outside. I also like the water suggestion at night!
The builders were not here for a week and she had no accidents but returned today and she urinated in the hallway. Luckily they have dogs too and pet her often so she doesn't fear them; it's the loud noises that make her anxious.

Thanks so much and welcome!